Good evening to you.

Wednesday on the campaign trail began with Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre outlining his party’s plan to give police the “legal power to remove dangerous encampments” during a campaign stop in Stoney Creek, Ont.

Poilievre also faced questions about the economic projections underlying his party’s platform and whether they were too rosy considering worries of a global recession, largely owing to U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariff sabre-rattling.

“Now, you ask me in a period of economic weakness, after the Liberals have been in power for three terms, whether it is wise to campaign on economic growth? It’s not only wise, it’s essential for a change that we grow our economy,” he said in response.

Across the country, Liberal Leader Mark Carney visited Victoria, B.C., where he touted his plan to protect Canada’s westernmost province from the Trump administration by, among other things, incentivizing the construction of millions of new homes using B.C. timber/lumber.

During the question-and-answer period, Carney was pressed about Melanie Joly’s speech last night, where she called for a Liberal majority. He said having a “clear mandate” will put the feds in a stronger position in impending, post-election trade talks with the U.S., but ducked a follow-up on whether he’s asking for a majority government, saying he’s asking for “a series of single votes from Canadians for a Liberal party that is determined to build the country if [we’re] given that honour.”

Meanwhile, NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh spent the day in Edmonton, Alta., where he talked about his party’s plan for a national rent control program.

You can keep up with all the news by checking out iPolitics‘ live blog, which will run everyday until the federal election. Also, stay tuned to our daily Campaign Countdown newsletter for a recap of the day’s events. You can find that here.

In other news, new polling suggests that Trump has become less of a factor in motivating voters in the final days of the federal campaign, though it hasn’t been enough to push the Liberals out of the lead.

The latest survey from Abacus Data has the Liberals narrowly leading the Conservatives 40 to 37 per cent, with the NDP far back at 11 per cent, the Bloc Quebecois at 7 per cent and the People’s Party and Greens tied at 2 per cent.

It’s a slight dip from the six point lead the Liberals had over the Tories earlier in April; Abacus had the two main parties tied at the onset of the campaign in late March.

But perhaps the biggest change flagged by the pollster has been in how voters are seeing the race.

Abacus’ latest poll, conducted between April 18 and 21 from a selection of online panelists, shows that fewer respondents say that they’re basing their decision on what party is best equipped to deal with Trump and his threatened tariffs.

Marco Vigliotti has that story.

Speaking of Trump, he’s upended several areas of Canada-U.S. collaboration. Whether its defence or commercial trade, the president’s intensely protectionist policies have forced Canadian politicians to consider how our country can ‘Trump-proof’ various sectors of the national economy.

Notably, Trump’s commitment to American energy independence has jeopardized Canada’s reliance on the cross-border infrastructure that provides Ontario and other eastern provinces with the bulk of their energy.

For 75 years, Canadian oil extracted in Alberta has passed through the U.S. before returning to Ontario, mostly through Enbridge’s pipeline network.

Unlike the TransCanada pipeline, which transports natural gas across the Prairies, up-and-around the Great Lakes, and down through Ontario, there’s no west-east pipeline dedicated to oil.

In a sense, what was once a model for bilateral energy cooperation has become a source of consternation for Canada — the U.S. is reliant on Canadian oil, but many Canadians are equally dependent on energy infrastructure that traverse the U.S.

Davis Legree explores the re-emergence of the pipelines debate in this election campaign.

In Other Headlines

Internationally

An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 6.2 shook Istanbul and other areas of Turkey on Wednesday, prompting widespread panic and scores of injuries in the city of 16 million people, though there were no immediate reports of serious damage.

At least 236 people were treated for injuries they suffered while trying to jump from buildings or for panic attacks – most of them in Istanbul, where residents are on tenterhooks because the city is considered at high risk for a major quake.

The earthquake had a shallow depth of 10 kilometres, according to the United States Geological Survey, with its epicentre about 40 kilometres southwest of Istanbul, in the Sea of Marmara.

AP has the latest.

Elsewhere, Yemen’s Houthi rebels launched a missile early Wednesday toward northern Israel, the first such attack by the group to reach the area as a monthlong intense U.S. air strike campaign continues to target them. The Houthis separately claimed shooting down another American MQ-9 Reaper drone over Yemen.

Sirens sounded in Haifa, Krayot and other areas west of the Sea of Galilee, the Israeli military said.

“An interceptor was launched toward the missile, and the missile was most likely successfully intercepted,” the Israeli military said.

Those in the area could hear booms in the predawn darkness.

AP also has more on that.

In Other International Headlines

The Kicker

Professional women’s hockey is heading to the West Coast!

The PWHL announced on Wednesday that the league will expand to Vancouver for next season, which makes the unnamed franchise the first expansion team in league history.

As CBC reports, the PWHL is also hopeful it will add a second expansion team sometime within the next few months.

And with that, we’ll see you tomorrow…