The Canadian Federal Election is coming back two years after the minority of Liberal government.
Legislative elections are held on a set date once every four years, and the last time was held on October 21, 2019, and resulted in the victory of the Liberal Party led by Justin Trudeau with a minority government, after winning a majority government in the 2015 elections. Winning a minority government does not allow the Prime Minister to make decisions without the approval of the other parties.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced on Sunday, Aug 15 of this year, that snap federal elections will be held on September 20, 2021.
Trudeau’s announcement came after his meeting with the country’s governor-general, Marie Simon, where she agreed to his request to dissolve Parliament, the first step for the elections.
The opposition parties expressed their rejection of the call for early elections, as the deadline was October 2023, saying that “the government should focus on combating the Corona pandemic”
Do you think that this venture from the Liberal party will lead them into a majority win, a minority win or even lose the lead altogether?
In response to the criticism, Trudeau told reporters, “Canadians deserve a chance to decide who should lead the country out of the pandemic.”
“Trudeau’s move indicates his confidence that voters will return him to power, for a third consecutive term” according to the American newspaper, The New York Times.
The call for elections comes amid an increase in the number of new daily infections with Corona in most parts of the country, as health officials warned of an imminent fourth pandemic wave, due to the spread of the highly contagious “delta” variant.
The Canadian Prime Minister called last month for early elections, in the hope of obtaining a parliamentary majority that would enable him to form a government of the center-left unilaterally.
The results of the previous election were as listed here: The Liberals hold 155 seats in the House of Commons, the Conservatives 119, the Quebec Bloc 32, the New Democrats 24, the Green Party 2 and the Independents 5.
To win a majority government, a party should win more than 50% of the number of seats, which means they should win 170 seats as minimum.
Trudeau leads the Liberal Party, Irene O’Toole leads the Canadian Progressive Conservative Party, Jagmeet Singh leads the New Democratic Party, and Anami Paul leads the Green Party.
