By Anthony Carbone, Leena El Daghaili, Rayana Daniel, Shreejit Shelar, Zhenyang Miao, Kathryne Bergeron and Lisa Yeung
Torontonians had their eyes on the U.S. election results at watch parties across the city, and at one King Street West event, the discussions were nothing short of lively.
Akwāa Consulting Agency and Selest Security joined forces to host a U.S. presidential election viewing party at Oria on King restaurant on Nov. 5. Both companies’ founders were on hand to lead the festivities, which included group discussions alongside live results shown on screens around the restaurant.
Christine Dikonguè, founder of Akwāa Agency, said the 47th president should strive to live “with intention and live with love,” and also think about and prioritize the diversity of America’s population.
“So for me, my advice would be to give a lot of emphasis on the multiculturality of the United States of America,” she said, “so that America understands that the landscape of what it is, how to be an American, and how an American looks like has changed. I think that would be very important.”
Americans were given the choice between Democratic nominee, Kamala Harris, a former prosecutor of Jamaican and Indian descent, and Republican nominee, Donald Trump, the former president who campaigned on the promise of mass deportations of undocumented immigrants. In the end, voters chose Trump, who had secured 295 electoral votes at time of publish.
An attendee who is an avid news watcher said he supported Harris, but had some advice for her.
“I stand for Harris. Her policies will help U.S. to be a better society, have a better economy, and I think a stable U.S. and a prosperous society of U.S. will help Canada as well,” said Bob, an Irish-born news enthusiast who has lived in Canada for ten years.
“I want to say, Harris needs go and find out why that so many people voted Trump and try to engage them and address their concerns.”
Others were more direct about their opinions of Trump.
“I really do see him as a cult leader because he can do and say anything and really, get away with it,” sales closer Atlantis Alveal said.
Trump was the 45th U.S. president and was convicted earlier in 2024 on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in relation to a hush-money payment made to an adult film star during the 2016 election campaign.
He was also charged over his efforts to overturn the 2020 election results, in which current President Joe Biden won. Trump also faces several other criminal and civil cases.
Despite all the controversy surrounding Trump, and the fact he has promised to put significant tariffs on imported goods from other countries, one watch party attendee with a background in finance wasn’t worried about the future of the U.S.-Canada relationship.
“Whatever the results may be, I strongly believe that Canada has historical and excellent ties so whether Trump comes or Harris comes I don’t think there will be any adverse impact,” said Rahul Malhotra, a graduate of the University of Toronto with experience in the financial field. “Canada is a part of NATO, but it’s a part of lots of economic groups from the U.S. and we are partners.”
The night also included some thoughts on involving people younger than the current voting age of 18 in the voting process.
“When it comes to our young people, there’s a study that says that the the earlier you start to vote, the more better it becomes,” said Velma Morgan, Chair of Operation Black Vote Canada.
“It becomes a lifelong thing that you do. A lot of people in our community, they don’t bring their kids out to vote. So, their kids don’t see them voting. So it doesn’t become a lifestyle for them. So, I say when the next rounds of elections are coming up, if you have children, nieces, nephews, Bring them out to vote let them see what it is like to vote.”
Canada will see a federal election in October 2025, provided the opposition governments to the Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberals don’t bring forward more non-confidence motions, and if they do, that those motions fail to pass.
