Hello politicos!

Welcome back to Campaign Countdown, our now daily newsletter devoted to covering everything about the 2025 federal election.

Here’s our recap of the day it’s been on the trail. Want real-time updates? Check out iPolitics each day for our live blog.

(If you’re enjoying Campaign Countdown, share this link with your friends so they can get it too.)

Enough chit-chat, let’s get to the news!

Campaign Digest

A Radio-Canada report that said U.S. President Donald Trump made reference to Canada becoming the 51st state in a call with Mark Carney last month dominated the campaign trail on Thursday.

Reporters grilled the Liberal leader on why he said Trump respected Canada’s sovereignty in the call and didn’t disclose the 51st state comment. Carney, however, remained defiant, suggesting that Trump has often made this claim and he didn’t buckle and even got the president to agree to post-election trade and security talks.

“The president brings this up all the time,” he said.

“To be clear, I have said, well before that call and virtually every time that I’ve spoken since that call, that President Trump, and the Americans, want to break us so they can own us… [and that] is why we have the plan.”

Carney also denied that he was being somehow not truthful when he initially stated that Trump respected Canada’s sovereignty, saying that although he brought up the 51st state, this was “a discussion between two sovereign countries.”

“There were a number of issues that were discussed, and what was important was the conclusion… [and] in each case, the conclusions were clear.”

NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh and Bloc Quebecois counterpart Yves-François Blanchet were less than impressed with Carney.

Asked about the Radio Canada report, Singh said Carney “was not being straight up,” in “saying one thing when kind of the opposite thing happened,” and reiterated his pitch that the best way to respond to this, or anything else, really, is to “send more New Democrats to Ottawa.”

Blanchet said it raises doubts about Carney’s credibility and resurrected his criticism that while the Liberal leader talks a big game about his capacity to deal with Trump, he lacks the track record.

“It seems more and more to have been a stunt,” Blanchet said of the call.

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre was also asked about this and said his Liberal counterpart needs to explain himself.

“Well, that’s a question for Mr. Carney to answer. I wasn’t there, but what’s clear is we will stand up for our sovereignty. We will never be an American state.”

Keeping with the Conservative leader, he said he’ll do away with the Liberal electric vehicle mandate if he becomes prime minister after Monday’s election.

Also, don’t forget the final two editions of our Battleground Breakdown series. Our own Davis Legree takes a look and Milton East—Halton Hills South and Vaughan—Woodbridge.

Polling talk

It’s a bit of a mixed bag for the Conservatives when it comes to new polls.

Let’s start with the good (for the party).

A new survey from Innovative has the Liberal and Conservatives tied at 38 per cent, with the NDP at 12 per cent. But perhaps most encouraging for the Conservatives is the regionals have the party leading in Ontario and B.C.

Now for the not so positive. Nanos shows the Liberals leading the Conservatives by four points (43 to 39 per cent), while Mainstreet has the Liberals leading by 3 points (43 to 40 per cent). Liaison also has the Liberals leading by three points too (42 to 39 per cent).

That’s all from us today. Watch your inbox every day for our latest campaign dispatch as we keep you posted on everything about the 2025 federal election.

Also, send us your feedback and news tips to [email protected].

Take care!