HAMILTON, Ontario (Reuters) -Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney delayed election campaigning on Sunday after at least nine people were killed when a man drove through a crowd at a Filipino community festival in Vancouver, Carney’s campaign said.
Sunday is the final day for Carney and Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre to make their pitches to voters ahead of an election on Monday that has centered largely on U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs and threats to annex Canada.
It was too early to tell if the mass casualty event in Vancouver would have any impact on the election. Police said they had arrested a 30-year-old Vancouver man who was “known” to them. A number of people were injured in the incident.
In posts on social media, Carney offered condolences and Poilievre said his thoughts were with Vancouver’s Filipino community after the “horrific” news coming out of the festival.
He was expected to give a statement this morning.
The Conservative Party did not immediately respond to a request for comment about a rally Poilievre has scheduled in Oakville, Ontario, at 11 am eastern time (1500 GMT).
Carney spent Saturday in the most populous province of Ontario, arguing that he is best placed to steer Canada through a crisis triggered by Trump’s tariffs, while Poilievre has emphasized the need for change after nearly a decade of Liberal rule under former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
Carney, a two-time central banker and former college hockey goalie who took over this year after Trudeau resigned, referred to the country’s most popular sport as he campaigned ahead of Monday’s election.
“We are in the equivalent of Game 7 of the Stanley Cup in the last two minutes,” Carney, 60, said in a speech north of Toronto, referring to the National Hockey League championship.
NARROW LIBERAL LEAD
Pollsters say Carney’s Liberal Party holds a narrow lead in popular support ahead of final voting, after Trump slapped tariffs on Canada and repeatedly referred to the once-close ally as the 51st U.S. state. Trump’s comments enraged Canadians and reversed a lead of some 20 points for Poilievre, whom the Liberals have compared to Trump.
British Columbia’s 43 electoral districts, are among the country’s most closely contested battlegrounds.
A Nanos poll on Sunday said the gap between the two front-running parties was approximately 4 percentage points, slightly wider than it had been on Saturday.
The poll put national Liberal support at 43% versus 38.9% for the Conservatives.
That result in national voting would usually translate into a Liberal win, because the party’s support is more concentrated than the Conservatives’ in urban areas rich with electoral districts, or seats. It is unclear if it would result in the Liberals winning a majority of seats to govern without a smaller party’s help.
Nanos surveyed 1,600 adult Canadians between April 24 and 26. The poll is accurate to 2.4 percentage points.
Poilievre’s promises of change and his pledges to curb living costs have resonated with young men, among others, leading to large crowds at rallies.
“We can’t afford four more years of the Liberals,” Poilievre told supporters in British Columbia on Saturday as they cheered “bring it home” and waved placards reading “change.”
Carney, who has distanced himself from Trudeau’s policies since taking over in March and has attracted mainly older voters to rallies, had been expected to hold a frenetic four-province canvassing sprint on Sunday.
(Reporting by Promit Mukherjee in King City, Ontario and Allison Lampert in Montreal; Editing by Rod Nickel, Gareth Jones and Mark Porter)
By Promit Mukherjee and Allison Lampert
