Liberal leader Mark Carney joined thousands of supporters at the Bingemans Conference Centre in Kitchener on March 26 as part of his federal election campaign. 

This comes after the Prime Minister called a snap election on March 23, setting the date for Canadians to vote as April 28, six months ahead of the fixed date. The call for an election came only nine days after his new ministry was sworn in, and with only a five-week campaign, Carney has opted for the shortest campaign period legally allowed. 

As part of a visit to southwestern Ontario, Carney started out the day in Windsor, Ont. to make an announcement in front of the Ambassador Bridge. CTV news reported that the Liberal leader promised to help Canada’s auto sector by creating a $2 billion fund for the industry to help withstand the U.S tariffs. 

Carney then went on to tour facilities in Windsor and London before arriving at the Bingemans Conference Centre in Kitchener,  where he was joined by local Liberal candidates, including Waterloo MP Bardish Chagger, Cambridge MP Bryan May and Kitchener-Conestoga MP Tim Louis, among others. 

Approximately 3,500 supporters attended the rally and spirits were high, as sentiments of patriotism were shared amongst attendees. The venue reached capacity before the Prime Minister arrived as some supporters had to wait outside due to fire regulations. 

Erin Roberts, a young attendee at the rally, shared how impressed she was by the turnout saying, “I wasn’t expecting like thousands of people to show up, so seeing everyone here definitely gives me more hope.”

In his speech, Carney rallied supporters by discussing his love for Canada and his commitment to addressing issues such as high housing prices, tax hikes and health coverage. 

“We need big changes in this country. That’s why I put my hand up when I first went to run for Liberal leader because I felt we needed big changes to get our economy back on track and to get all Canadians ahead,” said the Prime Minister.

The Liberal leader went on to discuss the relationship between Canada and the U.S, stating that to protect itself, Canada needs to reduce its reliance on America and look for new markets. Carney also explained the importance of building strength within Canada in light of the recent U.S tariffs.

“What we’re doing is to be strong here at home, so we are unlocking major infrastructure projects. We’re going to build Canada into an energy superpower in both conventional and clean energy,” Carney stated in his speech. 

During the rally, three separate hecklers attempted to disrupt the Prime Minister’s speech. All were ejected by security while the crowd boo’d them out of the room before cheering in support of Carney. 

Support for Canada’s auto sector was also brought up during the rally, continuing the sentiments the Liberal leader shared in Windsor that morning while also responding to additional tariffs that Donald Trump had announced that afternoon.

The Prime Minister explained the unprecedented nature of the tariffs and stated, “What we are facing now though is the most significant crisis of our lifetime, because of President Trump’s unjustified tariffs and his threats to our sovereignty…just a few hours ago, [Donald Trump] announced further tariffs on our auto sector going against decades and decades and decades of cooperation in that sector since before I was born, that’s how long.”

Many volunteers from local Liberal candidate campaigns were also in attendance and shared the excitement of the many supporters at the rally.

Josh Coutts, a volunteer for Chagger’s campaign and Wilfrid Laurier student, described how he felt about the federal election candidate after the rally. “I think right now people are realizing that we need more candidates like this and less divisive people like Poilievre where they don’t necessarily have the most trustworthy ambitions,” he said. 

Coutts discussed his optimism for the chances of the Liberal party in the upcoming election but that he hopes the momentum can be kept up in the weeks to come. 

Chagger also shared her excitement after the rally about the diversity of demographics within the attendees and how she thinks this bodes well for the election moving forward.

“I was also pleased to see the demographics whether it came to age, whether it came to diversity, whether it came to intersectionality and the whole nine yards, the fact that people saw themselves within the vision that the Liberal Party and Mark Carney are advancing, so for me it was really uplifting,” said the Waterloo MP.

Chagger addressed the responsibility that the Liberal Party has moving forward to gauge the younger generation, especially students, to give them a reason to participate in democracy. 

“I think people can see issues of importance to them within our platform, within stuff that we’re fighting for…So I do think it’s up to all political parties, including the Liberal Party, to give students a reason to engage,” Chagger said. 

Bardish Chagger, being a UW alum, expressed the importance of students within her campaign and how she wants to focus on finding new ways of informing students of the work that her campaign, but also the Liberal Party in general, is doing to support them.