The House of Commons has adjourned for the summer. But should parliamentarians be preparing for another federal election when they return in the fall?
The Hub’s editor at large Sean Speer thinks that it is more likely than not that the country will soon be headed to the polls. He breaks down the potential scenarios that could lead us there and looks ahead to some likely outcomes with Alicja Siekierska on the latest episode of Yahoo Finance Canada’s Crisis Management podcast.
Some obvious signs are pointing to a late-summer or early-fall election, says Speer, including that MPs who do not intend to run delivered their farewell speeches as parliament wrapped up last week.
In terms of what might indicate the Trudeau government is seeking an election campaign, the first domino to fall would be the appointment of a Governor General. Vacant since Julie Payette resigned in January, that position will need to be filled as an order of business first.
In terms of prospective outcomes, the Liberals are banking on Canada’s progress on vaccine distribution putting Canadians in a far better and more forgiving mood, enough to return them to a majority government, Speer says.
“I think that the government’s re-election pitch will be about the future and the recovery, and it may be the case that the different parties, in particular the Conservatives, try to make it about the past and the government’s performance in the pandemic. How Canadians choose to think about which party to vote for will rest on this competition between the future and the past and I can’t help but think that that may be good news for Mr. Trudeau and the Liberal party.”
