Canada - Elections 2025
Justin Trudeau intends, it appears, to contest the next federal elections, slated for some time in 2025. He hoped, it seemed, that time, combined with a stumble or two by a surging Poilievre would reverse his depressing political fortunes.
Since May 2007, the Canada Elections Act provides for a general election to be held on a fixed date: the third Monday of October in the fourth calendar year following the previous general election. As the last election took place on September 20, 2021, the next fixed election date is October 20, 2025. That said, the Canada Elections Act does not prevent a general election from being called at another date.
General elections are called when, on the advice of the Prime Minister, the Governor General dissolves Parliament. The Governor in Council (the Governor General, acting on the advice of Cabinet) sets the date of the election. Section 57 of the Canada Elections Act specifies that the election period must last a minimum of 37 days and a maximum of 51 days.
The Liberal Party of Canada and the New Democratic Party (NDP) have a confidence-and-supply agreement. The agreement means that the NDP will support the Liberal Party on confidence and budgetary matters. In exchange, the Liberals have agreed to prioritize policy issues supported by the NDP. The agreement will last until 2025. The NDP is a social democratic party that has formed governments in several provinces. The NDP supports a mixed economy, LGBT rights, international peace, and expanding Canada's universal healthcare system. The Liberals have not won a majority in the last two elections. The agreement differs from a coalition, where parties share power. Instead, the Liberals continued to govern as a minority.
In most European countries — where proportional representation essentially guarantees that no single party will win a majority of seats in the legislature — parties working together is the norm. A confidence-and-supply agreement seemed to require a much greater degree of coordination. Liberal ministers can't simply call their NDP counterparts with a head's-up the night before a new program or bill is announced.
In 2015, when he became prime minister with a robust majority at age 43, Trudeau was feted as the reincarnation of former United States President John F Kennedy – young, vibrant and charismatic. Just like Kennedy, Trudeau has been, save for a bit of performative tinkering around the edges, a staunch advocate for and defender of the economic and foreign policy establishment and status quo.
Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre’s typically rabid rhetorical onslaught was aimed not only at questioning Trudeau’s empathy for “struggling” Canadians but, shamefully, his loyalty to the country he serves. Spurred on by the addicted-to-rage provocateur Poilievre, Trudeau has been assaulted – there is no other word for it – by a torrent of bile by a travelling mob of vulgar, flag-waving, conspiracy-infected MAGA wannabes who, like their crass standard bearer, ditched civility for profanity ages ago.
Poilievre is a younger, slightly more fluent facsimile of Ontario’s Conservative premier, Doug Ford, who verified his “faux” populist credentials by recanting on a cross-my-heart-and-hope-to-die promise to protect thousands of acres of prized farmland and forest from voracious developers. Ford’s obedient minions sold the public land in secret deals to six hand-picked, chummy real estate investors who stand to pocket billions while the “buck-a-beer” premier insists he did not know about the sweetheart deals struck at chichi dinners.
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