Three things to watch as a Canadian federal election draws nearer

Three things to watch as a Canadian federal election draws nearer

By Shachi Kurl, President

Goodbye pandemic, hello campaign trail. Having gutted through a year and a half of a deadly and unprecedented health emergency, I know it’s nowhere among the things we’ve been looking forward to most. But the federal election drums are beating loudly. Called to mark our ballots we will be. Here are three things to think regarding the road ahead.

Political watchers love to tut-tut when politicians call elections timed to their advantage. Some cite Ontario’s David Peterson scenario as a rule, rather than as an example, of what happens when voters appear to punish an incumbent leader for going to the polls too soon.

Indeed, a majority of those surveyed, including almost 60 per cent of past Liberal voters, tell the Angus Reid Institute it would be “inappropriate” to call an election before September. But since when did propriety and politics go hand in hand? Last year, three incumbent premiers called elections, to the objections of reporters, the opposition and many voters. They won majority mandates.

For the rest of this piece, please view it on the Ottawa Citizen’s site where it was initially published.

Image – GREG PERRY


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