Are Canadians Headed to the Polls Soon?
Prime Minister Appears in Election Mode, Election Yet to Be Called
Sep 4, 2008
The signs are clear that a federal election is on the horizon. Prime Minister Stephen Harper has been making whistle stops in various parts of Canada and making announcements that seem very much like election promises. His party, the federal Conservatives, have put ads on the air that portray “ordinary voters” stating their support for Stephen Harper, his leadership and his party. The last speaker on one of the ads states, “I will be voting for the very first time. I will be voting for Stephen Harper”.
Newspaper headlines reflect the predicted election will be held on October 14th, 2008. Other political parties are gearing up their campaigns and preparing for what promises to be an interesting electoral circus. The Green Party, the newest emerging political party on the federal scene, appears to have retained a lawyer to force its way into the traditional television election debates held between the leaders of the Conservative, Liberal, Bloc and New Democratic Party. In the past, no matter how much support the Greens were able to garner, they were always excluded from these debates.
Election fever is in the air, except for one thing. Nobody actually called an election yet.
Stephen Harper’s Conservatives were elected to a minority Parliament in January 2006, passed over sixty-three significant pieces of legislation and passed two federal budgets and an economic statement. Over the succeeding years, Opposition parties have threatened but never actually pulled off that important non-confidence vote, particularly as the Liberals frequently supported or abstained on many key votes leaving the rest of Parliament with insufficient votes to succeed in overthrowing Harper’s Government.
One of the laws that Harper’s Government passed included reforms to the Election Act, with one key feature. The next federal election was not supposed to happen until October of 2009 – next year. However, all the signs point to the fact that Harper intends to break his own law to have this election now!
Political pundits are also pondering this issue. Polling firms have found that for the most part, Canadians prefer Harper as a political leader, although his party is relatively close in numbers with respect to voting preferences to the Liberals. One recent poll however showed the Conservatives leading by about 6 percent. There are also three federal by-elections scheduled for September 8th, 2008, in ridings vacated by former MPs. Candidates from all political parties have been campaigning hard and preparing for the said by-elections, only to be confused by the potential full election call (which if called will automatically cancel the said by-elections).
The other sign that something might be happening is that Harper recently met individually with each of the Opposition party leaders to discuss a potential agenda for the fall sitting of Parliament and then later spoke to the media to say that “Parliament is dysfunctional” because there is no agreement among the parties. For the most part, his critics believe Harper is digging very deep to find a “good reason” to call an election, contrary to his own promise not to call one until October 2009.
The big question still remains: Will he or won’t he? Canadian voters are still waiting in the wings to see which way the wind blows. It might well be in his interest to simply cross over to Rideau Hall and ask Governor-General Michelle Jean to drop the writs and make this election real once and for all. After all, the election circus has already started and we might as well have an actual election to go with it!
