Canada Liberals gain from backlash

CANADIAN Prime Minister Mark Carney's Liberals staged a major political comeback to retain power in parliamentary elections, fuelled by a backlash against US President Donald Trump's tariffs and comments on making Canada the 51st US state.

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Preliminary results from Elections Canada showed the Liberals leading or elected in 168 electoral districts, followed by the Conservatives with 144.

Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre, who just three months ago had looked certain to sweep the polls, was on track to lose his own seat in the Ontario district of Carleton to Liberal Bruce Fanjoy.

The Liberals, who have been in power for more than nine years, were 20 percentage points behind in surveys in January before the unpopular Justin Trudeau announced he was quitting as prime minister and Trump started threatening tariffs and annexation.

"It was the 'anybody-but-Conservative' factor, it was the Trump tariff factor, and then it was the Trudeau departure ... which enabled a lot of left-of-centre voters and traditional Liberal voters to come back to the party," said Shachi Kurl, president of the Angus Reid Institute polling firm.