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| PM Justin Trudeau calls Canadian general election for 21 October | PM Justin Trudeau calls Canadian general election for 21 October |
| (38 minutes later) | |
| Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has called a federal election for 21 October. | Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has called a federal election for 21 October. |
| Opinion polls are indicating it will be a tough race for Mr Trudeau, who is seeking a second term in office. | Opinion polls are indicating it will be a tough race for Mr Trudeau, who is seeking a second term in office. |
| The campaign is expected to focus on issues of affordability, the economy and climate issues. | The campaign is expected to focus on issues of affordability, the economy and climate issues. |
| The prime minister visited the Governor General, Canada's acting head of state, on Wednesday morning to formally launch the campaign. | The prime minister visited the Governor General, Canada's acting head of state, on Wednesday morning to formally launch the campaign. |
| Mr Trudeau touted his accomplishments in an announcement, saying: "Canadians get to vote once again for the country they want to live in". | |
| Canada has a federal fixed election date and Canadians must head to the polls every four years. This campaign will be a relatively short 40 days, or just over five weeks. | |
| Over the summer, the rival parties have been honing their message, focusing on the economy and cost-of-living. | |
| Climate change is also an important issue to voters, according to opinion polls. | |
| Mr Trudeau will have to defend his record, including his handling this year of an ethics crisis that proved politically costly. | |
| The prime minister was found by a federal ethics watchdog to have improperly tried to influence a former minister over the prosecution of SNC-Lavalin, a major engineering and construction company facing a criminal trial. | |
| The campaign is currently shaping up to be a battle between two parties: the Liberals and the Conservatives. | |
| National polls indicate they are in a dead heat, with both on just over 30% support. | |
| The NDP are polling nationally in third place, on roughly 13%-14% support, with a slight lead over the Green Party. | |
| Who's in the running? | |
| Mr Trudeau was an untested leader in 2015 when he won a majority government. Now, it's his turn to face opponents who are unproven campaigners. | |
| His main rival is the Conservative Party's Andrew Scheer. | |
| Mr Scheer, 40, formerly the youngest-ever speaker in Canada's House of Commons, took the helm of the right-leaning party in 2017. | |
| Another fresh face in federal politics is Jagmeet Singh, 40. | |
| The leader of the left-leaning New Democrats (NDP), he is the first person of colour to have taken the helm of a major federal political party in Canada. | |
| The separatist Bloc Quebecois, under new leader Yves-Francois Blanchet, will be competing for seats against the Liberals, Conservatives and the NDP in Quebec, a crucial battleground province in federal politics. | |
| The Bloc only runs candidates in that province. | |
| The Green Party, led by Elizabeth May, will be focusing efforts on trying to break through in British Columbia and Atlantic Canada. |