Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau requested a snap election, which was then approved by Governor General Mary Simon on Aug.15.
In the 2019 federal election, the Liberal Party lost the parliamentary majority and the popular vote. However, the party won the most seats in the House of Commons and Trudeau remained as Prime Minister. Notably, the Liberal Party has led in Canada since 2015.
In the past election, Trudeau was criticized for violating ethics laws after pressuring an Indigenous woman, Jody Wilson-Raybould, to drop a criminal case against a company based in Montreal. Trudeau also faced backlash again when photos of him in blackface emerged online.
The Conservative Party increased the number of seats for its members, as well as won the popular vote. The third party then became the Bloc Québécois as the New Democratic Party lost seats, yet maintained official party status. While the Green Party gained seats in the House of Commons, the party failed to reach the minimum requirement to achieve official party status, which is 12 members of parliament.
Following the 2019 election in Canada, Trudeau led the Liberal Party, but the remaining parties—Conservative Party, Bloc Québécois, New Democratic and Green—have been led by Erin O’Toole, Yves-François Blanchet, Jagmeet Singh and Annamie Paul Green, respectively.
For the past two years, Trudeau and other members of the Liberal Party have collaborated with opposing parties to pass legislation. However, he reportedly called the election after opposing parties delayed the passage of legislation to improve the Canadian response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Critics in opposing parties argue that calling a snap election during the pandemic is a risk to voters’ health due to the pandemic. O’Toole and Singh have both expressed their opposition to the snap election.
Although opposing parties have criticized Trudeau for calling a snap election, provincial governments have continued to conduct elections throughout the pandemic.
Singh also argued that Trudeau is launching the snap election to gain a majority for the Liberal Party so that Liberals lead, rather than New Democrats prompting Trudeau to move further left on his policy positions.
More so, Singh wrote to Simon, asking her to reject Trudeau’s request to dissolve parliament and therefore call a snap election. He also raised concerns about election law, which states that general elections in Canada must be held on the third Monday of October, four years after the previous election. Singh also noted how the Liberal Party has repeatedly won votes of confidence.
Prior to the election, three debates will occur on Sept. 2, Sept. 8 and Sept. 9. The first two debates are the French language leaders’ debate, followed by the English leaders’ debate. The debate on Sept, 2 is being organized by TVA Nouvelles; however, the Leaders’ Debate Commission will be organizing the debates on Sept. 8 and Sept. 9.
Following the announcement about a snap election, the Liberal Party was leading in the polls and predicted to win a parliamentary majority. However, as the election approaches, the Conservative Party and Liberal Party are closing in on each other with the Conservative Party leading at 33.8 percent as of Sept. 1. Experts predict that the Liberal Party will win most of the seats, but not enough to form a majority.
The Liberal Party is predicted to win 119 to 164 seats, followed by 113 to 151 for the Conservative Party, 27 to 53 for the New Democratic Party, 21 to 32 seats for the Bloc Québécois Party and 0 to 2 for the Green Party. Based on the predictions, Liberals, Conservatives and the New Democrats will gain seats; however, the Bloc Québécois Party and Green Party are predicted to lose seats in the snap election.
