Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper calls for October election

As tourists swarmed Parliament Hill and blinding summer sunshine bathed Rideau Hall, Harper emerged to confirm that Gov. Gen. David Johnston had indeed dissolved Parliament, launching the longest campaign in Canada since 1872. Now is not the time for the kind of risky economic schemes that are doing so much damage elsewhere in the world.

That remark followed the pitch he made Sunday night to nationalists in Quebec, where his party only won five seats in 2011.

Mr. Harper is the second-longest serving leader among Group of Seven country leaders.

“His centre-right Conservative Party has been in power since 2006”.

Harper fired back at those with concerns.

Canada’s economy has been badly affected by falling oil prices.

The Conservatives have an advantage in terms of money at the national level and can outspend the other parties, but at the local level, not all the held ridings have the money to meet the maximum spending limit especially in the ridings where Conservative incumbents are retiring.

That would leave Harper at the mercy of the two main center-left opposition parties, who could unite to bring him down.

The narrow contest suggests Canada is poised return to a minority government, in which no party can unilaterally push through its agenda and elections are more frequent. Its profile and credibility grew in May when the party’s branch in Alberta ended 4 1/2 decades of Conservative rule in that province.

The party – which has removed references to socialism from its constitution but remains a member of Socialist global – became the official opposition for the first time in 2011, only to see then-leader Jack Layton die that year.

The NDP said the early call of elections was a cynical ploy that would do nothing for the economy.

Speaking in Laval, Que., on the first full day of the 2015 election campaign, Harper says negotiators will continue to defend Canadian interests, notably the country’s supply management system, which protects dairy producers.

The results show the Conservatives holding a miniscule lead over the NDP and Liberals, with 2.2 percentage points separating the first- and third-ranked parties. She said the defining issue of the campaign was likely to be the economy. “No”, Bjerrisgaard said. “It’s just the nature of the beast with the oil”.

“After all, they’ve had a pretty good 10 years”, he joked.

Trudeau was the last major party leader to speak after the election writ was dropped, but he said it was important for him to keep his promise and catch his flight to Vancouver to march in the Pride parade. Trudeau, son of late Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, is in the running to be the next prime minister.

“When the middle class does well, so does the entire country“, the Liberal leader told a crowd of reporters and supporters in Jack Poole Plaza on Sunday.