By Quinton Amundson, The Catholic Register
[Canadian Catholic News] – Canadian voters have given the Liberal Party a fourth term in power as Mark Carney maintained his hold on the Prime Minister’s office.
Whether Carney’s government was a minority or majority remained unanswered until later on April 29 — following the Register’s press deadline — as Elections Canada paused the counting of 2025 federal election special ballots for several hours overnight. Latest results show the Liberals secured 168 seats, four seats short of a majority government.
The Conservative Party has secured in 144 seats; the Bloc Québécois has netted 23 seats, and the NDP’s parliamentary presence is reduced to seven seats, while the Green Party has one seat.
Political scientist Charles Smith, who teaches at St. Thomas More College in Saskatoon, remarked on the scale of how Canadian politics shifted in just four months. The Liberals were on their way to electoral obliteration until Justin Trudeau’s resignation on Jan. 6, the Conservatives poised for a huge majority.
“To see Liberals have a quick leadership election, elect Mark Carney, who has never been elected, and now he’s just pulled off at least a minority if not majority government,” said Smith. “I mean it’s just an incredible turnaround in such a short period that it does make your head spin a little bit and certainly unprecedented in Canadian political history.”
During his victory speech from Ottawa, Carney said “my message to every Canadian is this: no matter where you live, no matter what language you speak, no matter how you voted, I will always do my best to represent everyone who calls Canada home.”
Propelled by voters who viewed relations with U.S. President Donald Trump as their chief concern, Carney repeated his line from the campaign trail that “our old relationship with the United States, a relationship based on steadily increasing integration, is over.”
For over a year, Pierre Poilievre was the prohibitive front-runner to become Canada’s next prime minister. While he did lead his party to a gain of at least 20 seats and its highest vote share (41.4 per cent) since 1988, he stunningly couldn’t hold on to his own Ottawa-area riding which he held for two decades.
During his concession speech, Poilievre signalled he would continue championing the causes of Canadian conservatism going forward.
“Now I know that some of you might be disappointed that change did not get over the finish line tonight,” said Poilievre. “Change takes time. Most of all, it requires that we never give up because our people and our country are worth fighting for. I will never give up on fighting for everyone who stood with us today and the millions of people who voted for other parties.”
Yves-François Blanchet’s Bloc Quebecois’ seat count will diminish by at least nine seats. The electoral decline of the NDP, led by Jagmeet Singh (who will step down after losing his Burnaby Central riding), is even more dramatic. The New Democrats lost official party status after falling from 24 to seven seats.
Jacquie Newman, an associate professor of political science at King’s University College, a Catholic post-secondary institution federated with Western University in London, Ont., said it will be a “very good Parliament for Quebec” as that province and the plummet in NDP support benefited the Liberals. She mused about a possible overture that could come to the francophone province.
“It could be backing off even more from Bill C-21 and the religious symbols in Quebec,” said Newman. “But the other thing we have to remember is that the more the federal government focuses on Quebec, the more likely it is to antagonize and alienate the Prairie provinces.”
Newman noted that Carney in his speech did strike “a voice of unity” and a desire to collaborate.
“It makes sense, particularly at the moment when Conservatives will not have a leader in Parliament,” said Newman.
Smith suggested that there will be pressing challenges for Carney to contend with as he seeks to hold onto the power given to him by traditional NDP and Bloc voters. Multiple NDP seats also flipped to the Conservatives.
“One of the questions I would have is whether (the shift) is permanent or will we see a rebound back to sort of quote-unquote normal in the next election,” said Smith. “(Another) issue is about how the new government will deal with Donald Trump, how they’ll deal with tariffs, how they’ll deal with the relationship with the United States.
“(Also) how (will) they deal with some of the big policy questions on the economy, productivity, questions on unemployment, possible recession down the road. All of that is going play an important role. Mark Carney is becoming Prime Minister at a very tenuous time.”
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Beyond election, Catholics must stay engaged – Marquardt
By Quinton Amundson, The Catholic Register
[Canadian Catholic News] – Matthew Marquardt’s message to Canadian Catholics is simple yet significant: active citizenship must continue resolutely in the days, weeks, months and years following tonight’s 2025 federal election outcome.
The executive director of Catholic Conscience, a non-partisan civic engagement organization, offered some post-election advice, particularly for voters who may feel “politically homeless” because the platforms of the leading parties did not contain pledges for issues close to their hearts.
The first step, naturally, is to pray.
“We’re all different parts of the Body of Christ,” said Marquardt. “We all have different strengths, passions and interests. If we all pray, reflect and do what we think God wants us to do, then God will guide us, and we can all get there together.”
Contemplation will inspire some to become more actively involved in Catholic and non-Catholic organizations associated with the causes neglected by politicians.
For instance, there is not a single mention of medically-provided death (known as MAiD) in the platforms for Mark Carney’s Liberals and Pierre Poilievre’s Conservatives.
Marquardt suggested that concerned citizens keep their passion for this issue enkindled by donating to, or becoming more involved with, organizations working “to keep these conversations alive.” He noted how Canadian Physicians for Life, the Delta Hospice Society and others are involved in an important judicial fight to keep faith-based palliative care spaces free of euthanasia.
Positive deeds for the common good can also be achieved by interacting with your elected representative, whether or not it’s the individual you voted for, suggested Marquardt.
“Getting to know and communicating with them is very powerful, more powerful,” he said. “I’ve talked to a number of elected politicians, and they all say that it’s thoughtful, unique communications from citizens that go a lot farther than people give them credit for.”
While television interviews and clippings from the House of Commons shared on social media often showcase elected representatives at their most combative, Marquardt said if you sit across from an MP in his or her riding office, you’ll discover they are keen to hear your stances respectfully.
“They might disagree with you, but they’ll listen and talk to you,” said Marquardt. “(If) enough of us do that they’ll begin to think, ‘hmm, there’s something to this.’ They could report it up the chain and maybe (create) some action that way.”
The Toronto-based Catholic suggested that it is sensible for each Catholic to be aware of their MP’s activities by joining the representative’s mailing list and researching their parliamentary duties.
Marquardt also suggested joining a party and speaking up at local riding meetings.
“You find that very often there’s not a whole lot of involvement there,” said Marquardt. “You have more sway than you would think to be persuasive (and) start changing the way parties think.”
Catholic Conscience has enjoyed its most successful election cycle to date in 2025. The Catholic Conscience momentum began in the immediate aftermath of the 2024 U.S. presidential election. Traffic to the organization’s website magnified with the cabinet resignation of Chrystia Freeland in December, even more with Justin Trudeau’s resignation announcement in January and reached a peak when Carney won the Liberal Party leadership contest on March 9, 2025.
There have been well over 100,000 visits to the website in advance of election day — a huge rise from the 10,000 people who interacted with the site in 2021.
Beyond comprehensively documenting the positions and pledges of each federal party, Catholic Conscience also urges visitors to the site to reflect upon the Catholic social teachings and let these principles guide them as they participate in public life.
Reflecting upon and living out these Gospel values offers a pathway to heal divisions, said Marquardt.
“I think for a lot of reasons we are doing it to ourselves, and I think maybe in some cases, opportunists are encouraging us to focus not on what pulls us together, but what distinguishes us. We’re all being told to be our true best selves without really thinking about how we relate to others. If you think about it for a few seconds, you realize that Christ told us that our greatest commitment is to love God, and the best way of doing that is to take care of the people around us.”
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Canadian Catholic News (CCN) is a national news service, with members including Catholic newspapers, organizations, and individuals: CanadianCatholicNews.ca
Communications and Catholic Saskatoon News is supported by gifts to the Bishop’s Annual Appeal: dscf.ca.