The Prime Minister of Canada Justin Trudeau on 15.08.2021 announced early elections in Canada, giving his citizens the opportunity to choose how the country’s battle against the Covid-19 pandemic will end.
Most parties were unhappy with the outcome of the election, as it is less than two years since the last federal election in Canada. Justin Trudeau, and since he is the head of a minority government since October 2019, dependent on the parties that support him, wants to gain electoral autonomy and given the favorable to him and his party polls.
This is due to his successful management of the Covid-19 pandemic to advance the reforms he wants to make.
Canada has one of the best vaccination programs for Covid-19 in the world: 71% of the population has received one dose of the vaccine and 62% have been fully vaccinated.
The average life expectancy of minority governments is between 18-20 months. Justin Trudeau has been in power for eighteen months. To achieve autonomy, Justin Trudeau’s Liberals are required to win the 170 seats out of 338 seats in the House of Commons.
Conservative leader Erin O’Toole is the only party that could achieve autonomy and form a majority government, but it does not have the same impact as Justin Trudeau.
Justin Trudeau’s main opponent is Jagmeet Singh, leader of the New Democratic Party (NDP), who could snatch votes from the Liberals in the ranks of young people and urban residents.
The issues that will dominate during the election campaign are:
1) The issue of Covid-19 pandemic management.
2) The emergency support program announced by the federal government for business and
unemployment.
3) The fiscal program to support the economy costing 101.4 billion CAD (€69 billion) in three years.
4) Environmental issues.
5) Reconciliation with the indigenous peoples.
Critical factors will be the participation rate,
• if it is large there will be acceptance of the result by the opposition
• if it is small, it will reduce the legitimacy of the next government.
If the ballot papers are many in numbers, the election result may be delayed by a few days.
