As Americans are preparing to cast their ballots in their midterm election on Tuesday, their northern neighbours are in the back of their mind as Canadians are paying close attention to what the outcome could mean on this side of the border.
For the Republican Party, they are looking to hold onto their slim majorities in both chambers of Congress, the House of Representatives and the Senate, and whether or not they will continue to control the legislative agenda for the last two years of Donald Trump’s second presidency.
Meanwhile, the Democrats are hoping to flip the House and Senate to attempt to restrain Trump’s unprecedented use of presidential powers.
Polling shows Democrats are favoured to take the House, where a net gain of three seats would give them a majority.
The future of the Senate is less clear. Democrats need a net gain of four seats for a majority, and some polling shows that is within reach.
Trump has largely governed through executive orders in order to get around Congress to further his tariff and trade agenda.
Canada was an early target of Trump’s tariffs and Canadians were shocked and appalled by the president’s repeated threats of annexation.
Tensions escalated further in August when trade talks collapsed and Trump slapped an array of Canadian goods with 50 per cent tariffs, banned imports of other Canadian products and signed an executive order to rename Lake Ontario as Lake America.
On Sunday, Prime Minister Mark Carney said he had a good conversation with Trump about a trade deal, but did not provide any details.
CityNews is in Washington ahead of the elections where some voters have told us that Canada will be in the back of their minds when they cast their ballots on Tuesday, many who said they were opposed to his treatment of their northern neighbour.
“It’s the closest embassy to the capital,” said one voter. When asked about what he thought of Trump’s treatment of Canada, he said, “It’s the horror story. It’s horrible. They’re our best neighbours.”
“I think it’s unfortunate that one of our biggest allies and trade partners, we’re now in this situation in which we, the American people, don’t agree with. We didn’t ask for it, and here we are having to bear the brunt of the bad news,” said another voter.
Another said they believe the former North American Free Trade Agreement hurt the manufacturing sector in the U.S.
“My perspective is that there needs to be fair trade across … I personally like our northern neighbours tremendously. But in the same sense, I’m not a fan of tariffs either way with a country as long as they’re treating each other fair,”
The top issue to most voters CityNews spoke with was the affordability and the cost of living, with some saying the economic impacts of Trump’s policies acting as major motivators in the midterms.
CityNews 24/7 will provide live coverage of the U.S. midterm elections throughout Tuesday evening. You can watch it the CityNews website here.
With files from The Associated Press
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