Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and wife Sophie went to Rideau Hall in Ottawa on September 11 to ask Gov. Gen. Julie Payette to dissolve Parliament.
Payette acceded to Trudeau’s request, triggering a federal election on October 21.
Canadians “have an important choice to make” about their country’s future path, Trudeau said as the election campaign officially began.
This will be Canada’s 43rd general election.
Trudeau is dogged by questions about the SNC-Lavalin scandal, an issue that is expected to be prominent in the campaign.
However, Trudeau posed what the Liberals hope will be the ballot box question.
“We’ve done a lot together these past four years, but the truth is, we’re just getting started. So Canadians have an important choice to make. Will we go back to the failed policies of the past, or will we continue to move forward?” Trudeau told reporters outside Rideau Hall.
“That’s the choice. It’s that clear. And it’s that important. I’m for moving forward for everyone,” the prime minister said.
Last month, Ethics Commissioner Mario Dion found Trudeau violated the Conflict of Interest Act by trying to urge the justice minister Jody Wilson-Raybould to overrule a decision denying a deferred prosecution agreement to Quebec-based engineering firm SNC-Lavalin.
According to CBC’s Canada Poll Tracker, an aggregation of all publicly available polling data, the Conservatives and Liberals are deadlocked.
The Conservative Party said that if it wins government in the October 21 election, the new government will l put more money into the pocket of families.
Andrew Scheer, Leader of Canada’s Conservatives, officially launched the Conservative Party’s election campaign with a plan to help all Canadians whose lives, he said, have gotten more expensive under Trudeau.
“Canadians are working harder and harder, but they’re just barely getting by and just can’t seem to get ahead. I’m running to be Prime Minister with a clear plan to make life more affordable for you and your family,” said Scheer in a statement.
In the statement, Scheer highlighted that after four years, Justin Trudeau’s huge deficits, mounting debt, tax hikes, and broken promises have left Canadian families worse off. Under Trudeau, 80% of middle-income families have seen their federal taxes increase by $800 or more per year.
“Justin Trudeau was elected on a promise to help the middle class. But the last four years have shown he is just not as advertised,” said Scheer. “Instead of ‘sunny ways’ and ‘real change,’ you got four years of higher gas prices, massive deficits, mounting debt, and a carbon tax that makes everyday essentials more expensive.”
Scheer added, “Four more years of Justin Trudeau is four more years of deficits that threaten our health care and education systems, a higher carbon tax on gas, groceries and home heating, and four more years of weakness on the world stage, scandals, and cover ups.”
As Prime Minister, Scheer will: take the GST off home heating costs, scrap the Trudeau Carbon Tax, make maternity benefits tax-free, and create better, higher paying jobs by embracing nation building projects at home, while standing up for Canadian workers on the world stage.
“I’m a kid that grew up in a townhouse, in a family that didn’t own a car, whose mother lived with her eight siblings in a two-bedroom house on a dirt road, and today I am running to be Prime Minister. That’s the kind of opportunity Canada offered me. I want Canada to be that place for everyone,” Scheer said.
NDP leader Jagmeet Singh also launched his 2019 election.
According to Singh, the NDP’s New Deal for People invests in services people need, makes life more affordable and fights the climate crisis.
“For too long, Liberal and Conservative governments have been making life easier for the rich, and harder for everybody else,” said Singh. “Throughout the country I meet people working hard, looking to be treated fairly and just wanting to live a good life. These are the people the NDP has always worked for. These are the people I’m in it for.”
‘We will never abandon our children’ as Green Party launches election campaign in Victoria.
Green Leader Elizabeth May joined candidates for an early-morning rally
at the Delta Ocean Pointe Resort by Green candidates from Vancouver Island and the Lower Mainland.
Speaking from the stage, May took a moment to recognize the events of Sept. 11, 2001.
“All my love and all my thoughts to everyone touched by the tragedy 18 years ago,” May said, before transitioning into her party’s platform.
“What matters most is that we vote for what we believe in and vote for what we want,” she told the crowd before bringing young students onto the stage with her.
“Our pledge as adults: We will never abandon our children,” she said. “This election is about telling the truth to Canadians about how serious the climate emergency is.”
In a statement, May said the campaign comes at a “pivotal point in history,” adding that climate change is on the minds of many voters.
She made a pitch for voters to back her party and elect MPs who won’t “back down, compromise or waffle.”