Canada’s Harper sets general elections for October

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper dissolved Parliament on Sunday and called an election for October 19, kicking off a marathon 11-week campaign, Reuters reported. The move appeared designed to give the Conservative Party an edge in campaign spending.

During his news conference, at which journalists are limited to five questions with no opportunities for follow-up queries, Harper faced several queries about the state of the Canadian economy.

Trudeau will campaign in Mississauga today, Prime Minister Harper is expected in north-end Toronto, and N-D-P Leader Tom Mulcair will attend an event in Montreal after taking yesterday off. “When the plan isn’t working, the real risk is sticking with the status quo”. Thanks to the bottom dropping out of the global energy market, Canada’s oil-and-gas-dependent economy has hit the skids. And despite a corresponding drop in the value of the Canadian dollar, there has not been a hoped for jump in exports of Canadian goods.

It’s not “picking on Harper”, as my friend suggested, it’s the reality. With this election, the House of Commons is being increased to 338 seats from 308.

“By referring to (Trudeau) by his first name, (Harper) is using a social convention that indicates either familiarity and fondness — not likely — or that the person is younger and of less stature”, Loewen said in an email on Tuesday.

And if Canada is, in fact, now in a recession, this won’t do anything to ease it. Mr. Harper says the tax credit won’t come into effect until “mid-mandate”, or roughly two years from now.

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

If the Liberals had voted against the legislation, it would have given the Conservatives an opening during the general election campaign to say that Trudeau was on the side of terrorists, which is what the Conservatives are saying right now about Mulcair and his New Democrats.

The only Island Conservative seeking to return to Ottawa, John Duncan is starting his eighth federal election campaign in the new Courtenay-Alberni riding. According to opinion polls, the three parties are tied statistically, with only a couple of percentage points separating them.

In a country where summer can be all too brief, it is rare for politicians to call elections early unless forced to do so. “Doing that when people are on their docks, not thinking about politics – I can see it being about as welcome as a root canal”.

“It’s gamble though, quite frankly, for the Prime Minister to have such an extended campaign”. He predicted Harper would win a minority government based on polling, but noted most Canadians won’t start paying attention until September.

Liberal leader Justin Trudeau says Albertans have been taken for granted by the Harper Conservatives.

The seat total in all the other provinces and the territories remains unchanged.

“We are also enthusiastically in favour of a trade deal with our Pacific partners, but what is going to happen?” Mechanical problems with one of the Conservative campaign buses forced party staffers and journalists to switch vehicles in Laval before resuming the trip to Kingston.

“I think what it shows is the entire country matters, that we can not pick and choose the part of the country we want to reach out to”.