Leaders for the 5 main parties pitch why they should be prime minister

The race to choose Canada’s next prime minister began Sunday with each of the main party leaders making their pitch for why they are uniquely qualified to lead the country through a crisis. 

The first day of the campaign gave them the opportunity to tell Canadians a bit about their background and values — and how that dovetails with the crisis the country is facing. 

That crisis: the political, economic and existential threat posed by the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump. 

Here is a look at how each of the leaders for the Liberals, Conservatives, New Democrats, Bloc Québécois and Green Party kicked off their campaigns.

Liberal Leader Mark Carney

For Carney, the big pitch is that he is the person to not only tackle Trump, but also to refocus the economy and make life easier for Canadians. 

“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 said on the steps of Rideau Hall in Ottawa after asking Gov. Gen. Mary Simon to dissolve Parliament. 

“Our response must be to build a strong economy and a more secure Canada,” he said. “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 then leaned in to his love of country, saying Canada “has given me everything” and he’s in the race “because I want to give it all back to Canada.”

Watch | Carney says Canada is ‘stronger together’ in election pitch to voters: 

FULL SPEECH | Carney says Canada is ‘stronger together’ in election pitch to voters

Liberal Leader Mark Carney, speaking as he kicked off a federal campaign, laid out a vision for Canada that includes a tax break for the middle class, standing strong against U.S. President Donald Trump’s threats and making it easier for younger generations to get ahead.

Then the Liberal leader looked to his closest competition, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre, to make the argument that the Tory leader isn’t the one to stand up to Trump or make life more affordable for Canadians.  

“It’s easy to be negative about everything when you’ve never built anything, when you’ve never had to make a payroll,” he said. “But negative slogans aren’t solutions. Anger isn’t action. Division isn’t strength. Negativity won’t win a trade war.

“Negativity won’t pay the rent or the mortgage. Negativity won’t bring down the price of groceries and negativity won’t make Canada strong,” Carney said. 

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre

For Poilievre, the pitch is that the Conservative leader and not the Liberals are the ones to tackle Trump, slumping economic growth and affordability. 

“The Liberals are asking for a fourth term in power after swapping Justin Trudeau for his economic adviser and handpicked successor Mark Carney,” Poilievre said in Ottawa at the top of his first election speech. 

“But after the lost Liberal decade, the question is whether Canadians can afford a fourth Liberal term,” he added. 

Poilievre said he would ensure Canada is able to stand up to Trump “from a position of strength” as he rebuilds the economy.

“The action we must take is to become that nation that’s strong, self-reliant and sovereign,” he said, “capable of standing on its own two feet and standing up to the Americans.

Watch | Poilievre pitches Conservatives as a vote for change: 

FULL SPEECH | Poilievre pitches Conservatives as a vote for change in campaign kick-off

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre, delivering his first speech of the election from Gatineau, Que., says a Conservative government will put Canada first and stand up to U.S. President Donald Trump ‘from a position of strength.’

“We will stare down this unprovoked threat with steely resolve because, be assured, Canadians are tough, we are hardy and we stand up for ourselves,” he said. “I will protect Canada and I will always put our country first.”

Like the Liberal leader, Poilievre said Canada has “given me everything I have” and that he “got into politics to protect and preserve” the Canadian dream. 

Despite that shared narrative, Poilievre took aim at Carney, urging voters to see not just the current Liberal leader, but the party that has governed the country for the last decade.

“Liberals have replaced Justin Trudeau … but a Liberal is a Liberal is a Liberal,” Poilievre said. “It’s the same old Liberal MPs, the same Liberal ministers, the same Liberal advisers, the same Liberal elites, the same broken Liberal promises of the last 10 years.”

NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh

For Singh, it was not enough to say he is the leader the country needs to stand up to Trump, but also the leader who can stand up to Poilievre and Carney. 

“Right now, it can feel like a storm is closing in on us,” he said in Ottawa. “People are looking for shelter, for protection, for someone to keep them and their families safe.

“People who are afraid of a Pierre Poilievre government might make them think they have no choice but Carney, but this is like being told you have to pick between … a house with a leaky roof or a cracked foundation,” he said. 

“Those houses are not the same, but neither will hold up when the storm hits because neither was built for you.”

Watch | Singh says NDP will ‘fight like hell’ for Canadians: 

FULL SPEECH | Singh says NDP will ‘fight like hell’ for Canadians

NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh touted his party’s accomplishments around health and dental care and urged Canadians to vote for his party, saying the NDP will ‘fight for every Canadian.’

Drawing on his immigrant roots, Singh said his parents chose Canada because they believed in the promise that working hard would deliver a good life. 

“Where we look out for one another and no one gets left behind. That’s who we are. That’s what makes us Canadian,” he said. “That’s the Canada I love, and that’s the Canada worth fighting for.”

Singh reminded voters that during his party’s supply-and-confidence agreement with the Liberals under Trudeau, the NDP managed to deliver pharmacare, dental care and anti-replacement worker legislation. 

Yet he did not suggest that his party, currently sitting below 12 per cent in CBC’s Poll Tracker, should once again take up the position as a parliamentary partner to the Liberals. 

“I’m running to be prime minister of this country because I believe people deserve a prime minister that’s working for them every single day,” he said.

Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet

Blanchet acknowledged that the trade war Trump launched against Canada will be at the centre of this federal election and said he is the leader who will stand up for Quebec. 

“I’m not hearing today, what is needed or what it will take for Quebec to be in good hands if we entrust our destiny … to questions taken by others,” he said in Montreal. 

“In other words, why not ensure that decisions about Quebecers will be made by other Quebecers?”

Watch | Quebec will ‘express our own voice’ in election, says Bloc leader: 

FULL SPEECH | Quebec will ‘express our own voice’ in election, says Bloc leader

During an event in Montreal, Bloc Québécois leader Yves-François Blanchet said decisions for Quebecers need to be made by Quebecers, and that members of the Bloc are the ones best suited to advocate in Ottawa for the future of Quebec jobs, resources and clean energy development.

While Carney, Poilievre and even Quebec Premier François Legault are talking about building a pipeline across Canada, including Quebec, to get to the Atlantic coast, Blanchet is still having none of it. 

“There are so many reasons why I do not agree. I can repeat them easily because this is such a bad idea,” he said. 

With the Bloc’s polling numbers in decline and the Liberals taking the lead in Quebec according to CBC’s Poll Tracker, Blanchet remained unfazed. 

“I read Newton,” he said. “What goes up goes down. If that’s good for me, that’s good for Mr. Carney.”

Green Party Co-Leader Jonathan Pedneault

With only two seats in the House of Commons, Pedneault, who does not have his own seat, kicked off his party’s campaign alongside co-leader Elizabeth May railing against unfairness. 

“This system is rigged and it is rigged against us,” he said. “Canada is not broken. It is affected by a system that takes our time, our resources and our future in order to enrich some people at the expense of the majority.”  

“We must not listen to what some are saying. These people want to make us believe we can’t change anything. They are trying to fool you,” he said. 

Watch | Vote like Canada — and the planet — depend on it, say Greens in election launch: 

FULL SPEECH | Vote like Canada — and the planet — depend on it, say Greens in election launch

Green Party co-leaders Jonathan Pedneault and Elizabeth May said to Canadians it is their ‘patriotic duty to vote’ in this election, and that a team approach of all parties working together is strongest to face the challenges Canada is facing.

May said all political stripes in the country need to be playing for Team Canada, not just in the fight against Trump, but against billionaires the world over.

“There’s not just one threat, one person whose name is Trump. There’s a global billionaire class of oligarchs who seek to destroy democracies all around the world,” she said.

May said voter turnout has been declining for years and it is the “patriotic duty” of everyone 18 and older to get out and vote in what could be the most consequential election in generations.