OTTAWA — Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney’s Liberals retained power in the country’s election on Monday, but fell short of the majority government he had wanted to help him negotiate tariffs with US President Donald J. Trump.

Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre conceded defeat to Carney’s Liberals and said his party would hold the minority government to account.

The Liberals were leading or elected in 164 electoral districts, known as seats, followed by the Conservatives with 147, with votes still being counted.

The Liberals need to win 172 of the House of Commons’ seats for a majority that would allow them to govern without support from a smaller party.

Shachi Kurl, president of the Angus Reid Institute, a polling firm, told Reuters the Liberal win hinged on three factors.

“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-center voters and traditional Liberal voters to come back to the party,” Mr. Kurl said, referring to the resignation of unpopular former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

Mr. Carney had promised a tough approach with Washington over its import tariffs and said Canada would need to spend billions to reduce its reliance on the US But the right-of-center Conservatives, who called for change after more than nine years of Liberal rule, showed unexpected strength.

Minority governments in Canada rarely last longer than 2-1/2 years.

The result capped a notable comeback for the Liberals, who had been 20 percentage points behind in the polls in January before Mr. Trudeau announced he was quitting and Mr. Trump started threatening tariffs and annexation.

“I look back to as recently as December, when everyone was writing the Liberal Party off,” Liberal Transport Minister Chrystia Freeland told CTV. “People were even talking about whether we would retain official party status in the next election. Tonight, when it is clear that we are going to form the government, from my perspective, that is an outstanding result.”

Freeland’s resignation from the Liberal cabinet in December after a clash with Trudeau led to his resignation.

WAVE OF PATRIOTISM
Mr. Trump’s threats ignited a wave of patriotism that swelled support for Carney, a political newcomer who previously led two G7 central banks.

Mr. Trump re-emerged as a campaign factor last week, declaring that he might raise a 25% tariff on Canadian-made cars because the US does not want them. He said earlier he might use “economic force” to make Canada the 51st state.

Mr. Carney has emphasized that his experience handling economic issues makes him the best leader to deal with Mr. Trump, while Mr. Poilievre tapped into concerns about the cost of living, crime and a housing crisis.

Trump, in a social media post on Monday, reiterated his call for Canada to become the 51^st state.

“Good luck to the Great people of Canada,” he said. “Elect the man who has the strength and wisdom to cut your taxes in half, increase your military power, for free, to the highest level in the World, have your Car, Steel, Aluminum, Lumber, Energy, and all other businesses, QUADRUPLE in size, WITH ZERO TARIFFS OR TAXES, if Canada becomes the cherished 51^st. State of the United States of America. No more artificially drawn line from many years ago.”

Tensions with the US have caused supporters of two smaller parties, the left-leaning New Democratic Party (NDP) and the separatist Bloc Quebecois, to shift to the Liberals. NDP leader Jagmeet Singh conceded defeat in his own district and said he planned to quit as party leader.

The Conservatives appeared on track to make gains in the seat-rich Toronto area to prevent a Liberal majority government, but Mr. Poilievre was trailing in his own Ottawa-area district, with votes still being counted.

The Liberals are the last party to win four consecutive elections in Canada, accomplishing the feat in 2004.

Mr. Poilievre focused his campaign on domestic issues and the need to fix a country that he said the Liberals had “broken.” — Reuters

WASHINGTON — The policy chief of Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party on Monday called on US President Donald J. Trump to reconsider his plans for reciprocal tariffs, saying they could negatively impact Indo-Pacific security.

Former defense minister Itsunori Mr. Onodera said Tokyo was particularly concerned by the effect in Southeast Asia, shown by the current visit there by Japan’s Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba.

Speaking at Washington’s Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank, Onodera warned that countries of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations “may become more distant” from the US because the tariffs.

“That’s a concern that we have,” he said, speaking via an interpreter. “I hope… the Trump tariffs will be reconsidered.”

Mr. Trump hit Japan with 24% tariffs on its exports to the US and ASEAN nations also have been targeted, although, like most of the levies, they were paused until July to allow for negotiations. A 10% universal rate remains in place, as does a 25% duty on cars, a mainstay of Japan’s export-heavy economy.

Japan’s trade negotiator Ryosei Akazawa is due in Washington for a second round of negotiations this week.

Mr. Onodera said Mr. Ishiba was profoundly concerned about ASEAN. “The Trump tariffs can have a very big impact, not just on economics, but to our ally in the US, we’d like to say they could have a potentially very big impact in security as well,” he warned.

Mr. Onodera said stability in East Asia required the US and Japan to offer improved deterrence, and added: “We hope that the Trump tariffs will not damage that.”

Washington should keep in mind maintenance work Japan conducts on US naval vessels and other security collaboration, amid increased tensions and threats posed by China, Russia and North Korea, Mr. Onodera said.

He said Japan was the No. 1 foreign investor in the US, creating many jobs and US exports, and cautioned: “With the Trump tariffs, Japanese companies could be weakened. If so, then they wouldn’t be as capable of investing in the US.”

Mr. Onodera also expressed concern about dismantling of the US Agency for International Development and said China would step in where the US has pulled out. He said Japan could help fill the gap.

“We hope that this structure will be eventually rebuilt, but in the meantime, maybe there’s something Japan can do. Maybe this is the time for Japan to support the United States.” — Reuters

VATICAN CITY — Heavy is the white mitre worn by the pope. Whoever emerges from the coming conclave as the new leader of the 1.4-billion-member Catholic Church will face a myriad of problems.

Among the pressing issues are a widening gap in Vatican finances, church attendance is sliding in many Western countries, and doctrinal debates over issues like ordaining women as clergy and LGBTQ Catholic inclusion portend coming divisions.

The Vatican’s financial crisis was one of Pope Francis’ last headaches.

Three days before his last hospitalization in February, he ordered the creation of a new high-level commission to encourage donations to the Vatican, which is facing a budget shortfall and growing liabilities for its pension fund.

Although the Vatican hasn’t published a full budget report since 2022, the last set of accounts, approved in mid-2024, included an €83-million ($94-million) shortfall, two knowledgeable sources told Reuters.

The shortfall in the pension fund was estimated to total some €631-million by the Vatican’s finance czar in 2022. There has been no official update to this figure, but several insiders told Reuters they believe it has ballooned.

Rev. Thomas Reese, a Jesuit priest and commentator who has written about the Vatican’s finances, said the budget woes could have a “tremendous impact” on who the cardinals entering the secret conclave in the coming days choose as the new pope.

“They’re going to have to elect somebody who’s a fundraiser, not a pastor,” said Reese.

If the cardinals are looking for someone who is familiar with where to make funding cuts across the Vatican’s complicated bureaucratic structure, they may turn to Italian Cardinal Pietro Parolin.

A leading papal contender, he was the Vatican’s number-two official for nearly all of Francis’ papacy.

But Parolin also led the Vatican’s Secretariat of State when it was embroiled in a scandal over the messy investment of more than $200-million in the purchase of a building in London.

Cardinal Angelo Becciu, once one of Parolin’s key deputies, was later convicted of embezzlement and fraud by a Vatican court and sentenced to five-and-a-half years in jail.

Becciu denies all wrongdoing and is free pending an appeal.

DECLINES IN EUROPE
Across the world, the Catholic Church has grown slightly in membership in recent years. According to the latest official statistics, there were 1.405 billion Catholics globally at the end of 2023, up 1.15% from 1.389 billion at the end of 2022.

The highest proportion of Catholics are in the Americas, with 64.2% of the population in North and South America being baptized Catholic. Europe follows at 39.6%, Oceania with 25.9%.

But, generally, the rate of infant baptisms, a key indicator of growth for the faith, are highest in developing countries.

The highest ratios of infant baptisms per 1,000 Catholics, according to Vatican statistics, are in American Samoa (71.2), several islands in Oceania (37.7 to 21.8), Burundi (23.6), Cambodia (22.3), East Timor (20.3) and Myanmar (20.1).

Meanwhile, many European countries are experiencing declines. The German bishops’ conference reported earlier this year that only 29 new priests had been ordained in the country in 2024, an historic low.

They also said around 321,000 German Catholics had left the Church that year. The total number of Catholics in Germany, whose population of 83 million was once about half Catholic, is now under 20 million.

Looking at the patterns of growth, some cardinals searching for the new pope may wish to turn away from Europe towards Asia or Africa. In that case, a likely contender is Filipino Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle.

A former archbishop of Manila who Francis asked to lead the Vatican’s evangelization office in 2019, Tagle is known for a charming, down-to-earth persona and would be the first pope from east of modern-day Turkey.

The Philippines, a country of nearly 115 million, is almost 80% Catholic.

When Francis visited the Philippines in 2014, he attracted the largest crowds in papal history. An outdoor Mass in Manila included an estimated 7 million people.

But Tagle was also embroiled in a scandal. In 2022, Francis removed him from a job leading a Vatican-based confederation of 162 Catholic relief, development and social services organizations working in more than 200 countries.

Francis fired the entire leadership of Caritas Internationalis following reports of bullying by management. Tagle’s role, akin to chancellor of the organization, was mostly ceremonial.

DOCTRINAL QUESTIONS
In terms of doctrinal disputes, Francis largely sought to open up the Church to new conversations. Topics such as women’s ordination, taboo for decades, were allowed to be debated.

The pope created two commissions to consider ordaining women as deacons, who are ministers like priests but cannot celebrate the Mass. One of the commissions has not yet completed its work.

Francis also allowed for priests to bless same-sex couples, on a case-by-case basis.

His moves drew criticism from conservative Catholics, including a few cardinals, who feared he was watering down the faith. Some cardinals are now calling for a change of direction.

Cardinal Gerhard Mueller, a conservative, said the next pope should not be a successor of Francis, but a successor of St. Peter, the first pope.

Francis, Mueller told La Repubblica newspaper, was “a bit ambiguous” with doctrine. With regard to same-sex blessings, “you must not jeopardize the Catholic doctrine on matrimony,” he said. — Reuters