Truth Social News: Trump Cheers Canada’s Election Wins
President Donald Trump spent Tuesday cheering the winners of two Canadian provincial elections, using his Truth Social account to congratulate a separatist premier in Quebec and a Conservative premier-designate in British Columbia, and framing both results as a setback for Prime Minister Mark Carney. The latest truth social news arrived as a pair of short posts praising Paul St-Pierre Plamondon, whose Parti Québécois returned to power in Quebec earlier this month, and Lorne Doerkson, whose Conservatives swept to a majority in British Columbia on Sunday. Trump also shared an article from the Irish Times that described the Quebec result as a blow to Carney and a possible obstacle to the prime minister’s efforts to hold the country together. Analysts, however, say the president’s reading of the two races is wrong, and that neither result was a verdict on Carney or on the federal government in Ottawa.
The posts were brief, celebratory, and aimed as much at the audience at home as at the winners themselves. “Congratulations to Lorne Doerkson on his Big Victory. Conservatives are moving strong in Canada!” Trump wrote about the British Columbia result. In a separate message he added: “Congratulations to Paul St-Pierre Plamondon on his WIN!” The messages came two days after Trump had already highlighted the British Columbia outcome on Sunday. The congratulations landed while Carney’s government was locked in a difficult trade dispute with Washington, and while the two countries were trying to repair a negotiation that collapsed in August. For the president’s critics, the posts were another example of Trump inserting himself into another country’s politics; for his supporters, a straightforward celebration of conservative victories north of the border.
Election Results: A Historic Night in British Columbia
The British Columbia result was the more dramatic of the two. On Sunday, October 25, the Conservative Party of British Columbia won 64 of the 93 seats in the provincial legislature, a clear majority that ended nine years of rule by the left-of-centre New Democratic Party, which fell to 27 seats. It was the first time the Conservatives had won a provincial election in the province since 1928, breaking a drought of nearly a century. The Conservatives took about 48 per cent of the popular vote, and their leader, interim leader Lorne Doerkson, won his own riding with nearly 77 per cent of the vote, a margin that underlined the scale of the shift.
The outgoing premier, David Eby, had called a snap election in the hope of renewing his mandate, and the gamble backfired. Voters frustrated with the cost of living, healthcare pressures, housing costs, and the government’s drug decriminalisation policies turned against the incumbents, and the Conservatives, the only party to field candidates in all 93 districts, were the beneficiaries. Eby resigned as party leader on election night. Doerkson, who led the party on an interim basis, is now set to take office as premier.
Doerkson’s platform was built around energy and the economy. He promised to double natural gas production by 2032 and more than triple it by 2035, alongside faster permitting, looser regulation, and major tax relief. In his victory speech he put it bluntly: “I believe in energy… We will cut red tape like it’s never been cut before.” The incoming government has also pledged to overhaul carbon pricing and remove emissions caps for liquefied natural gas projects, a sharp break with the NDP, which had opposed new oil pipelines and supported a ban on tankers along the province’s northern coast.
Election Results: Quebec’s Separatists Return Without a Majority
The Quebec result was older, but no less consequential. On October 5, the Parti Québécois won 60 of the 127 seats in Quebec’s National Assembly, returning the sovereigntist party to government after years in opposition. The party took 28.02 per cent of the valid ballots, with voter turnout reaching about 66.9 per cent. But the victory was not a clean sweep: the PQ fell four seats short of the 64 needed for a majority, which means St-Pierre Plamondon will govern as a minority premier and will need support from other parties to pass legislation, including anything related to his party’s central cause.
That cause is a third referendum on Quebec independence, and the election result did not deliver a mandate for one. Post-election polling by Léger, conducted from October 9 to 12, found support for Quebec sovereignty at 29 per cent, while only 20 per cent of respondents wanted St-Pierre Plamondon to hold a referendum during his mandate. The premier himself has been careful about timing. He has pledged to pursue another vote on independence, but he has said it will not take place until after Trump has left office, arguing that such a consequential decision needs a calmer environment, free from disruption by an unpredictable American administration. His timetable rules out a referendum before January 20, 2029, when Trump’s term ends. Quebec voters have twice rejected independence, and a third vote would need far broader public support than his party currently commands.
US Politics: Why Analysts Say It Is No Rebuke of Carney
The Washington Post’s account of Trump’s reaction carried a pointed qualification: analysts say the two provincial wins are no rebuke of Carney. Both elections were fought on provincial questions, not on the federal prime minister. In British Columbia, voters were weighing the cost of living, healthcare, and the trade dispute as a matter of provincial economic survival, not as a referendum on Ottawa. In Quebec, the vote was shaped by language, identity, and the outgoing government’s record, not by Carney’s leadership. Neither campaign was run as a proxy contest over the prime minister, and neither result can credibly be read as one.
There is also a basic problem with Trump’s framing: both men he congratulated have gone out of their way to distance themselves from him. Doerkson has rejected the idea that he is aligned with Trump, and St-Pierre Plamondon has done the same. The Quebec premier’s position is especially awkward for the president’s narrative, because he has explicitly cited Trump himself as a reason to delay the separatist project. The congratulations were extended to leaders who do not want the association.
Events elsewhere in Canada complicate the picture further. A recent vote in Alberta halted a similar separatist push there, a reminder that the current Trump celebrated is not sweeping the country. The British Columbia victory cannot credibly be reduced to voters embracing Trumpism, even if Trump is now trying to attach himself to the result: the province’s Conservatives campaigned on provincial issues, and their win owed more to frustration with nine years of NDP government than to any signal from Washington. Canadian television coverage made the same point, treating the posts as a dig at Carney and focusing on what the episode revealed about the two leaders’ relationship.
White House News: The Trade Fight Behind the Cheers
The backdrop is the Trump tariffs dispute that has dominated the relationship between the two countries. Washington and Ottawa have been trying to settle a confrontation over tariffs affecting billions of dollars in cross-border commerce, and the effort has been uneven. Negotiations collapsed in August, and the two sides have been working since then to get them back on track. Speaking on Monday in Mississippi, Trump accused Canada of “charging us massive tariffs” and said the country has “treated us badly.” Despite the tensions, White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett said on Sunday that negotiations have “picked up” and are “gathering steam,” suggesting a possible breakthrough. The Trump administration recently exempted certain Canadian imports from 50 per cent tariffs following pressure from Senator Susan Collins, a Republican from Maine, according to Axios.
The friction has not been confined to trade. Days before Trump’s congratulations, the United States Embassy had accused Canadian leaders of trying to influence American politics through tariffs, adding a diplomatic edge to an already tense relationship. Inside Canada, the Quebec premier has been publicly at odds with Carney over a summit snub, warning that “Quebec is sovereign in its fields of jurisdiction internationally, so it will have the last word.” Carney has maintained that Quebec was consulted, saying federal officials had already held three discussions with provincial representatives. Quebec’s delegate general in Brussels, Hélène Drainville, told Politico that federal and provincial officials were working together, adding that “right now, all the signals are green,” while insisting Quebec “has to be at the table” on matters of provincial jurisdiction. The episode showed a federation under strain — but the strain runs between Ottawa and the provinces, not as a verdict by voters against the prime minister.
That context is what makes the posts politically charged rather than routine. They arrived while the prime minister was trying to hold together a country whose provinces are pulling in different directions, and to negotiate with a president who has used tariffs as leverage. For Carney, the challenge stretches beyond tariffs: Ottawa must protect Canadian economic interests while keeping domestic divisions from becoming Washington’s leverage. By celebrating the results in public, Trump turned routine congratulations into a message with a clear target.
What Happens Next: Two New Premiers and a Trade Clock
The immediate future belongs to the two new premiers. In British Columbia, Doerkson will form a government and begin putting his energy programme into practice: the LNG expansion, permitting reform, and tax relief that defined his campaign. His government will face the practical test of turning promises into projects, including whether overseas demand and port capacity can support the scale of gas production he has promised. In Quebec, St-Pierre Plamondon will govern without a majority, so his separatist ambitions will have to wait on the arithmetic of the National Assembly as well as on the calendar he has set himself. A referendum is not on the table before 2029, and the polling suggests the public is not asking for one.
For Carney, the task is to keep the trade negotiation moving while managing the provinces. The signs from the White House are mixed: Hassett’s optimism sits alongside Trump’s public criticism of Canada and his celebration of provincial results that complicate the prime minister’s position. A deal would ease the pressure on both sides, but the president’s posts are a reminder that the trade dispute is also a political instrument, and that Trump is willing to use Canada’s internal politics as part of it. The next test is whether the two governments can convert the current momentum into an agreement before the dispute hardens further.
Trump has shown no sign of stepping back from the story. The congratulations were the latest in a pattern of the president commenting directly on other countries’ elections, and they fit a week in which he has been campaigning hard at home ahead of the November 3 midterm elections while claiming credit for developments abroad. Whether the Canadian results help him at home is another question. The voters who decided the British Columbia and Quebec elections were not voting about Donald Trump, and the leaders they elected have made it clear they are not his allies. The president claimed the wins as his own, but the wins belong to the provinces, and the politics that produced them will stay Canadian.
Source: The Washington Post