The campaign to determine who will form the next government (and whether poor Charles Tupper will lose his spot as Canada’s shortest-tenured Prime Minister) is officially on.
What happened: Barely more than a week into the job, Prime Minister Mark Carney visited Governor General Mary Simon yesterday to request a snap election for April 28th.
- The five-week campaign will see the parties battle over 343 ridings, up from the current 338 (Alberta, B.C., and Ontario all gained seats).
Why it matters: The election will decide who leads the country through a period of national crisis sparked by a trade war with the United States and threats of annexation from its president.
State of play: While Pierre Poilievre’s Conservatives held a commanding lead in opinion polls for nearly two years, the replacement of Justin Trudeau with Mark Carney as Liberal leader has sparked a resurgence for the party.
- In addition to a change in leadership, the Liberals appear to have benefitted from a shift in voters’ focus from cost-of-living concerns to the risks posed by the United States under Donald Trump.
- Polling aggregator 338Canada suggests the campaign is beginning in a dead heat, with the Liberals at 39%, Conservatives at 37%, and the NDP in a distant third at 11%.
What’s next: Starting tomorrow, we’ll keep you up to date on the key headlines from the campaign trail along with the latest opinion polls in our daily election tracker.—TS