Canadian PM Carney calls snap election, says Trump wants to break Canada

By David Ljunggren and Fergal Smith

OTTAWA (Reuters) -New Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney on Sunday called a snap election for April 28, saying he needed a strong mandate to deal with the threat posed by U.S. President Donald Trump, who "wants to break us so America can own us."

The comments showed the extent to which relations between the U.S. and Canada, two long-time allies and major trading partners, have deteriorated since Trump imposed tariffs on Canada and threatened to annex it as the 51st state.

Although the next election was not due until October 20, Carney is hoping to capitalize on a remarkable recovery by his Liberal party in the polls since January, when Trump began threatening Canada and former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced his resignation.

Upon being sworn in as prime minister on March 14, Carney had said he could work with and respected Trump. On Sunday, however, he took a more combative approach.

"We are facing the most significant crisis of our lifetimes because of President Trump's unjustified trade actions and his threats to our sovereignty," Carney told reporters after the Governor General - the personal representative of King Charles, Canada's head of state - approved his request for an election.

"Our response must be to build a strong economy and a more secure Canada. President Trump claims that Canada isn't a real country. He wants to break us so America can own us. We will not let that happen."

Carney, a former two-time central banker with no previous political or election campaign experience, captured the Liberal leadership two weeks ago by persuading party members he was the best person to tackle Trump.

Now he has five weeks to win over Canadians. Polls suggest the Liberals, who have been in power since 2015 and badly trailed the official opposition Conservatives at the start of the year, are now slightly ahead of their rivals.

"We moved from an election where people wanted change to an election that's really much more about leadership," said Darrell Bricker, CEO of Ipsos Public Affairs.

"The ability of the Conservatives to attack the Liberals has been greatly diminished, because people are focused on the here and now and the near-term future, not on what happened over the last 10 years," he said by phone.

The Conservatives have sought to portray Carney as an elitist who plans to continue the Trudeau-era policy of high government spending. They also accuse him of being less than clear about how he transferred his personal financial assets into a blind trust.

Carney bristled last week when asked about the trust, and accused the reporter asking of engaging in "conflict and ill will". The prickly reaction could give hope to the Conservatives that Carney might stumble during what will be his first campaign.

Key to any victory will be a good performance in the predominantly French-speaking province of Quebec. Carney had trouble at one press conference when asked to respond in French, first misunderstanding the question and then answering in English.

Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre, on the other hand, speaks flawless French and is a seasoned politician who has fought seven elections.

Laura Stephenson, a politics professor at Western University in the Canadian city of London, said Carney's inexperience might not be that important given the Trump factor.

"There's a different kind of comparison that's being made right between the leaders and what are they going to be able to do," she said. "I have a feeling we're going to see a little more grace extended than is usually given to politicians during this campaign."

An online Angus Reid poll of 4,009 people released on Monday put the Liberals on 42% public support and the Conservatives on 37%. Angus Reid said the margin of error was around 1.5%, 19 times out of 20.

An online Leger poll of 1,568 people for the National Post released the same day put the Liberals on 42% with the Conservatives on 39%. Leger said the margin of error was around 2.5%, 19 times out of 20.

(Reporting by David Ljunggren and Fergal Smith, editing by Deepa Babington, Louise Heavens, Ross Colvin and Nia Williams)