TORONTO (TNND) — Canadians will decide on Monday whether the Liberal Party will stay in power or if the Conservatives will take over as they vote for the new Prime Minister Mark Carney, or populist opposition leader Pierre Poilievre.

The election is happening as President Donald Trump continues to insist that the country become the 51st state and threatens its independence.

Trump suggested on Truth Social Monday that he was on the ballot and incorrectly claimed that the U.S. subsidizes Canada.

"Good luck to the Great people of Canada. 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 51st," he wrote.

"State of the United States of America. No more artificially drawn line from many years ago. Look how beautiful this land mass would be," Trump continued. "Free access with NO BORDER. ALL POSITIVES WITH NO NEGATIVES. IT WAS MEANT TO BE! America can no longer subsidize Canada with the Hundreds of Billions of Dollars a year that we have been spending in the past. It makes no sense unless Canada is a State!"

In retaliation, many Canadians have begun to cancel U.S. vacations, refuse to buy American goods and possibly even vote early.

“The Americans want to break us so they can own us,” Carney said recently, laying out what he saw as the election's stakes. “Those aren't just words. That's what's at risk.”

Carney was elected to replace Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in March and took over dealing with the United States trade war.

Since taking office in January, Trump has imposed a 25% tariff on most Canadian goods and a 10% tariff on Canadian energy products.

Trudeau retaliated with 25% tariffs on more than $100 billion of American goods, with Carney vowing to keep the retaliatory tariffs in place until "the Americans show us respect."

At the beginning of April, Carney said the country would be responding to the U.S. auto tariffs by matching the 25% tariffs on all vehicles that are not compliant with the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA).

Poilievre, a firebrand who campaigned with Trump-like bravado, had hoped to make the election a referendum on former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, whose popularity declined toward the end of his decade in power as food and housing prices rose and immigration surged.

But then Trump became the dominant issue, and Poilievre's similarities to the bombastic president could cost him.

Canada has been dealing with a cost-of-living crisis for some time. And more than 75% of its exports go to the U.S., so Trump's threat to impose sweeping tariffs and his desire to get North American automakers to move Canada's production south could severely damage the Canadian economy.

Both Carney and Poilievre said that if elected, they would accelerate renegotiations of a free trade deal between Canada and the U.S. in a bid to end the uncertainty hurting both of their economies.

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Editor's note: The Associated Press contributed to this article.