The seat of Canadian power is up for grabs as voters head to the polls soon on April 28.

The country’s voters do not cast their ballots for prime minister directly, but the leader of the party which wins the most seats in Parliament traditionally assumes control over the government.

Polls show a tight race between Mark Carney, the Liberal leader, who took over as prime minister from Justin Trudeau, and Pierre Poilievre, leader of the Conservatives.

• Poll tracker: Who will win?

Carney signalled confidence in his party’s own chances at holding power when he opted to call the snap election months before the constitutionally-required October date. Poilievre, meanwhile, was a runaway favourite until recent weeks as a mounting trade war with the US put a spotlight on his comparisons to President Trump.

Here is a closer look:Canada’s 2025 federal election candidatesMark CarneyTIMES PHOTOGRAPHER RICHARD POHLEMark Carney made his money as a Goldman Sachs banker before becoming the governor of the Bank of Canada, steering the country through the 2008 financial crisis. He was later appointed the governor of the central Bank of England, leading Britain through the financial turmoil that followed the Brexit vote.Carney has already moved the Liberal Party to the right, scrapping Trudeau’s signature carbon tax and reversing a capital gains tax increase. He also announced a middle class tax cut on Sunday.Since his swearing-in as prime minister, he has travelled to London and Paris to deepen ties with “reliable allies”, in a dig at President Trump.Carney calls Trump tariffs an “attack” on the countryHe has no political experience, which is highly unusual for the head of a party in Canada.Carney supported dollar-for-dollar retaliatory tariffs during the Liberal leadership campaign and pledged to keep the levies in place “until the Americans show us respect.” However, he has since softened his language suggesting Canada, with a much smaller GDP, would not be able to weather such a fight.Pierre PoilievreTHE CANADIAN PRESS/ALAMY LIVE NEWSPoilievre, 45, is a career politician and firebrand populist who says he will put “Canada first”.Poilievre on Sunday blamed a “lost Liberal decade” and a “radical, post-national, borderless order with a globalist ideology” for cementing underlying weaknesses that have left Canada more vulnerable in the face of Trump’s threats.But Poilievre’s combative political style also has drawn comparisons to the US president, raising questions about how he would handle Trump if the Conservatives win the election and he becomes prime minister.In echoes of Trump, Poilievre has vowed to defund Canada’s public broadcaster and won’t allow media on his campaign buses and planes.Carney said the choice for Canadians is a “Canadian Trump or a government that unites the country.” He said “we have seen what negativity and division has led to in the United States.”Jagmeet SinghJagmeet Singh is leader of the left-leaning New Democratic Party. The NDP had been in a coalition with Trudeau’s party in government but turned on the former leader last summer.A practising Sikh, Singh, 46, is a former provincial Ontario legislator and lawyer by training.The former human rights activist ran on pledges to forgive student loan debt, to drastically reduce Canada’s carbon emissions and to ensure universal prescription drug coverage.Singh has been a strong advocate for universal pharmacare, aiming to make prescription medications free for all Canadians.He recently proposed a 100 per cent tariff on Tesla products in response to US trade policies under President Trump. He also suggested a $10,000 government rebate for Canadian-made electric vehicles to support local businesses.Yves-François BlanchetBlanchet heads the French-speaking Bloc Québécois, which advocates for Quebec’s sovereignty and the protection of its distinct culture and language.The party only runs candidates in the French-speaking province, and it has in the past formed official opposition in the House of Commons.The 59-year-old Blanchet worked as a teacher and later led a music non-profit in Montreal before being chosen leader of the Bloc in 2019.Quebec supplies 60 per cent of the aluminium used in the US and would be hard hit by tariffs.Part of Blanchet’s proposed negotiation strategy is to diversify Quebec’s trading partners. “Over the last weeks, I’ve met with representatives from France … people from South Korea, Japan, Taiwan,” he told voters.The CBC News Poll Tracker, which aggregates polling data across Canada, had the Liberals with 37.5 per cent support compared with 37.1 per cent for the Conservatives as of Sunday. The NDP was in third with 11.6 per cent, followed by Blanchet’s Bloc Quebecois at 6.4 per cent.