Liberal leader Mark Carney spent a second day in Newfoundland and Labrador as he took his campaign tour to Gander Monday.

The federal election call came as no surprise to two political scientists. In fact, political scientist Alex Marland wasn’t surprised by mark carney’s snap election call.

“In fact it would’ve been a surprise if it had gone on any longer,” he said.

While Marland says history isn’t on the Liberals’ side, pointing out the party’s losses under new leaders in the 1984 and 1993 elections, he says the ‘wild card’ now is the U.S. president as the polling gap closes between the Liberals and the Conservatives.

Memorial University political science professor Amanda Bittner says a lot has changed over the last few months, shifting the country’s political landscape. While issues such as the cost of living and food insecurity have been consistent, tariffs and the threat of Canada becoming the 51st state have been added. Those changes have had an impact on polling numbers.

“If I was Mark Carney I’d probably call an election now, too,” she says.

Bittner says for the last two years there’s been a foregone conclusion for the next federal election, but things have changed drastically with the recent changes to the Liberal’s leadership. She says people are also paying more attention to what’s happening in Ottawa.

While the focus has been the polling gap between the Liberals and the Conservatives, Marland says it’s clear from public opinion polls that the NDP is struggling, which raises questions about how viable candidates from the New Democrats will do in Newfoundland and Labrador.

“So paying attention to how the NDP performs is going to ultimately have on the effect of the overall outcome of a lot of election races,” he says.