(Washington Insider Magazine) -Many Canadians are heading to the polls sooner than they expected and for many, sooner than they wish.
Justin Trudeau of the Liberal party last month called a snap election on the heels of a highly-
regarded Coronavirus pandemic response. However, the battle with the virus is far from over,
and with the country now battling a fourth wave, many voters are either confused or sceptical
why such a large public event has been called forward in the midst of an emergency.
Trudeau made the call with the expectation that he’d be able to extend his party’s political
dominance into a full majority. Yet, the negative image that is given by choosing to hold the
elections coupled with a turnaround in popularity for the Conservative Party means the Liberals
may now instead be looking at losing ground.
The Conservative Party had a negative reputation to tarnish after their previous leader
performed poorly at the polls due to out-of-favour socially conservative stances. Andrew Scheer
publicly opposed action on climate change, abortion, and gay marriage.
His successor Erin O’Toole seems to bode better things for the party, however, bringing the
Conservatives neck and neck with Liberals according to polls. The Canadian Broadcasting
Corporation’s poll tracker puts the Conservatives at 31%, only inches behind the Liberals at
31.6%. As well as Trudeau’s unpopular call for the snap election, O’Toole’s more centrist stance
on social issues has made it harder for the Liberals to take their usual points of aim at the
Conservatives and instead voters can now consider the two as fairly similar alternatives.
This move to the relative center has coincided with a resurgence for the People’s Party of
Canada who’s libertarian populist politics have seen them start to tempt traditional Conservative
voters who are disillusioned by what they see as a lack of opposition to the Liberals. The
pandemic restrictions enforced by Trudeau’s party, in particular, mean certain sections of the
voter base are sympathetic to accusations of big-government tyranny.
Due to the way the seats are awarded, the Liberals are still likely to come out of the election
with some breathing space. It looks like they’ll still be a way off their majority though, and the
Conservatives may well be in a better position than before the vote was called.
