Trudeau calls for snap election in Canada in September

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW:

• Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has called for a snap election.
• Trudeau hopes that his efficient COVID-19 management would enable him to form a majority government.
• Opposition leaders were against holding the elections as of the present.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has called for a snap election in a bid to win a parliamentary majority after leading a minority government since 2019. He is hoping that his COVID-19 handling would translate into citizens voting for his party to form a majority government.

Trudeau met with Governor General Mary Simon to request for a dissolution of parliament on Sunday morning. Simon approved the request,

“The decisions your government makes right now will define the future your kids and grandkids will grow up in… So in this pivotal, consequential moment, who wouldn’t want a say?” Trudeau told reporters after the meeting.

Trudeau had been dependent on opposition parties such as the leftwing New Democratic party (NDP) to pass legislatives measures, fundings and other COVID-19 related policies over the last years. In recent months, though, he has alleged that opposition parties were halting his government proposals.

The Canadian leader was looking for an opportunity to gain back the majority following his country’s superior vaccination rates and recovering economy amid the pandemic.

Trudeau was planning to embark on the provincial leader’s success in the last elections. Canadian voters, by history, have voted in favor of incumbent provincial governments with their legislative candidates.

Per the recent polls, Trudeau is poised to get over 170 seats which were essential to secure a majority government. Liberals were leading by five points against the Conserative opposition, according to the Angus Reid Institute data.

Meanwhile, Trudeau’s political rivals were showing lack of interest ahead of the election.

In late July, New Democratic leader Jagmeet Singh urged Simon through a letter not to grant the prime minister’s request to dissolve parliament.

In his letter, Singh argued that Canada’s election law states that every general election must commence on the third Monday of October once every four years.

While the government can request an early election if it already lost confidence in the House of Commons, Singh stressed that Trudeau’s party had been victorious on all significant House votes.

“It’s not the right time to have an election,” he said earlier this week. “People might say ‘that that’s what governments do’… I don’t think that’s what governments do when you’re in the middle of a pandemic.”

Meanwhile, constitutional experts were backing against the idea that the governor general will object to the prime minister’s request.

While the recent poll notes that Singh’s NDP would gain additional seats, Canada’s conservative wing is likely to lose some of those. According to Conservative opposition leader Erin O’Toole, the country should currently focus on an impending resurgence of COVID-19 cases due to the highly-contagious delta variant.

“Canadians are worried about a fourth wave of COVID-19… Now is not the time for an election. We can all wait and go to the polls when it’s safe,” O’Toole said in a video shared on social media this week.

Source: The Guardian