Nine killed as car drives into Vancouver crowd ahead of Canada election
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The news: Nine people have been killed and several others have been injured after a car drove into a crowd of festival-goers at a street party, two days before the country’s federal election.
The context: A 30-year-old man was arrested after driving his SUV at high speeds into the large crowd of people celebrating Lapu Lapu Day, a Filipino festival, at around 8pm local time on Saturday.
While it remains unclear as to whether the incident was an intentional attack, Vancouver police said on social media that: “at this time, we are confident that this incident was not an act of terrorism.”
Responding to the incident, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said he would pause campaigning on Sunday, the final day to make pitches to voters ahead of the country’s election on Monday.
In a post on social media, Carney offered condolences to the Filipino community after the incident, “We are all mourning with you,” he said.
Also offering condolences, Carney’s key rival, conservative leader Pierre Poilievre, said he was “shocked” by the “senseless attack”, but has not yet responded about whether he will proceed with a rally scheduled for Sunday in Ontario.
Carney is currently ahead of Poilievre in the polls, with the conservative leader struggling to shake off an association with US President Donald Trump. His ‘common sense’ campaign which gained endorsements from Trump allies including Elon Musk and Joe Rogan has been poorly received by Canadian voters.
The sources: Reuters, FT, Carney X post, Poilievre X post
