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Canada to hold national election in major test for PM Stephen Harper Canada set for longest election as PM Stephen Harper focuses on economy
(about 5 hours later)
The Canadian prime minister, Stephen Harper, on Sunday triggered a general election campaign, with the vote set for 19 October. Harper said on Sunday he had asked Canadian governor general David Johnson to dissolve parliament. The longest Canadian election campaign since the Victorian age began on Sunday morning, when Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced the country would go to the polls 78 days from now, on 19 October.
Related: Canada's Liberals face bleak future – is it too late for Justin Trudeau to save them?Related: Canada's Liberals face bleak future – is it too late for Justin Trudeau to save them?
Harper, 56, said the election would be about keeping the economy strong and Canadians safe from terrorist attacks. He said now was not the time for inexperience and “political correctness”, referring to the opposition leftist New Democratic party. Warning about an “uncertain and unstable” economy, as well as the threat of a “violent global jihadist movement”, Harper appealed to Canadians to extend his nine-year stint in power by another four.
“Our wellbeing depends on the economy and the wrong leader will do real harm,” he said. “Now is not the time for the kinds of harmful economic schemes that are doing so much damage elsewhere in the world.” “This is no time for risky plans that could harm our future,” he said. “It is time to stay the course and stick to our plan.”
After serving as prime minister for nine years – the last four with a handsome parliamentary majority – Harper faces a career-defining battle in his fifth election as leader of the Conservative Party of Canada. The election call comes in the midst of more ominous news for the Canadian economy, which has stalled in the aftermath of the world oil price collapse and appears to be in recession.
He enters the campaign trailing New Democratic leader Thomas Mulcair in opinion polls, facing down an economic recession that has shattered his promise to deliver a balanced budget, and doing it all without the aid of several key ministers who have recently resigned from the Tory front benches. Figures released this week showed that Canadian GDP shrank for a fifth month in a row in May, and the Canadian dollar has dropped to 77 US cents as oil companies have laid off thousands of workers and manufacturers continue to sputter.
Although a clear majority of Canadians have told pollsters they want Harper gone, the result is no sure thing. The loyalties of anti-conservative voters are once again split between Mulcair’s New Democrats and the Liberal Party under freshman leader Justin Trudeau, both of which espouse broadly similar centre-left policies. In their responses to the election call, both opposition leaders focused on the need to end Conservative fiscal austerity.
As a result, both opposition leaders enter the election under strong pressure to agree that they will cooperate to oust Harper and form a coalition government in the event of a hung parliament. “We will kick start the economy and get Canadians back to work,” said Thomas Mulcair of the centre-left New Democratic Party. “This is our No1 priority.”
In addition to the advantage of a divided opposition, Harper enters the fray as the most successful street fighter in modern Canadian politics, having survived previous minority parliaments and opposition coalitions with fierce skill and iron discipline. He added: “Wages are falling, incomes are stagnant and household debt is skyrocketing. Middle-class families are working harder than ever but can’t get ahead.”
His party’s brutal attack on Trudeau, using ads mocking him as a trivial ingenue who is “just not ready” to lead the country, have almost certainly contributed to the Liberal leader’s precipitate drop in popularity and the accompanying rise of the more experienced Mulcair, a former Quebec cabinet minister, as the electorate’s first choice to replace Harper. If people want change in this country, it is because the economy is not working for them
The prime minister’s main challenge remains an economy that has been brought to a virtual standstill by the collapse in oil prices, leading to mass layoffs in the Tory-friendly “oil patch” of western Canada and the sharp devaluation of the Canadian dollar. Speaking in Vancouver, Justin Trudeau, leader of the third-place Liberal Party, echoed Mulcair’s concerns.
Related: Canada's anti-terror legislation faces legal challenge by free speech advocates “If people want change in this country, it is because the economy is not working for them,” he said, claiming Harper’s economic plan had failed. “You want change that works for you.”
The Conservatives had planned their campaign on the basis of ongoing cost cuts to achieve a balanced budget, a goal many experts now consider impossible to achieve. In addition to a slump that has damaged his reputation as an economic manager, Harper will fight his fifth campaign without the help of several key ministers who left the Tory front benches in the months prior to the election call. Polls show that only about 30% of Canadians intend to vote for the government, compared to roughly the same for the New Democrats and 26% for the Liberals.
Their current campaign focuses on increased spending, in particular a child-care dividend described as “Christmas in July” by Conservative minister Pierre Poilievre. But the Conservatives enjoy the advantage of a divided opposition, which ensured their victory in 2011, and Harper is by far the most successful street fighter in Canadian politics, having survived hung parliaments and opposition coalitions with unerring tactical skill and fierce discipline.
Opposition parties blame Conservative austerity for plunging Canada into recession while its major trading partners thrive. Related: Canadian recession fears grow as interest rate drops to another record low
But at the same time, they fear that worried Canadians will once again turn to the Conservatives, with their traditional reputation for sound economic management, to help solve the crisis their policies helped to create. His party’s brutal attacks on Trudeau, mocking the untested Liberal as an ingenue who is “just not ready” for office, have almost certainly contributed to a precipitate drop in Trudeau’s popularity and the rise of the more experienced Mulcair, a former Quebec cabinet minister.
The Conservatives had planned to campaign on their promise to achieve a balanced budget in 2015, a goal it now appears they are unlikely to reach. In the weeks before the election call they turned to spending, beginning with a childcare bonus that was described as “Christmas in July” by Conservative minister Pierre Poilievre.
Since then the government has distributed more than $1bn in grants, according to Canadian media, with a large majority of the cash going to ridings (electoral districts) held by Tory MPs.
Although both opposition parties are eager to blame Harper for the country’s economic distress, economic management is generally considered a Conservative strength. By emphasizing stability and continuity, the prime minister is hoping Canadians will trust him to solve the crisis his policies are said to have caused.