Canada: Trudeau calls snap general election

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has called a snap general election citing polls indicating his minority government can form a majority.

Earlier today, Trudeau went to Mary Simon, the Governor General of Canada, who is the representative of Queen Elizabeth II, Canada’s head of state, and asked her to dissolve the Parliament. On September 20, Canadians will vote two years ahead of schedule.

In 2019, Canadians granted Trudeau’s government a minority in the Parliament and he had to rely on the opposition to get his agenda passed.

Recent surveys had suggested that Trudeau’s government is popular with people, and the Pandemic is to dominate the campaign, the opposition is criticizing the government for calling an election during the fourth wave. The virus has taken the lives of over 25,000 Canadians and with the country battling the fourth wave, public opinion to the response will be divided and the Opposition will make full use of it during their campaign trail.

Trudeau’s government has also been criticized over the lack of local vaccine production and the slow vaccine rollout, but Trudeau is hopeful of gaining a majority as the country has picked up pace in its vaccine rollout and the COVID positive cases are below that of last year.

By having a minority in the house, governments are always in fear of a vote of no confidence move in the House of Commons. Losing the vote would result in the dissolution of government and so the axe is always hanging. In a preemptive move, the Prime Minister can also ask the Governor General to dissolve the Parliament and call a snap election.

Justin Trudeau battled quite a lot during his 2019 campaign, images showing him in a blackface surfaced online and he faced a lot of backlash with his popularity also taking the toll. As a result, he lost the popular vote and also the majority in the house the same year.

Climate change and the cost of living along with the country’s handling of the Pandemic will be the most discussed issues at the campaign trails. Trudeau announced to take in 20,000 Afghan refugees in a bid to gain popularity amongst liberal voters. He had also announced a vaccine mandate for all federal workers and air, rail travelers. The vaccine mandate will enforce strict measures that will have unvaccinated workers lose their jobs.

Trudeau is still considered the favorite as the opposition Conservative Party is facing issues with its leadership and its failure to explain how it would tackle the issues that have the average voter concerned.

His vote could be dented if the progressives tilt towards the NDP and Quebec’s separatist party. If the progressives do tilt against Trudeau then we may see him out of office.