Canada: Justin Trudeau announces early elections, hoping to capitalize on favorable polls – franceinfo

Justin Trudeau is putting his post on the line. The Canadian Prime Minister announced Sunday August 15 that an early poll would be organized on September 20, less than two years after the last federal election. “The Governor General accepted my request to dissolve Parliament”, he said from the federal capital Ottawa.

According to him, the country is at a “historic moment” and so it is “extremely important that Canadians can choose how (…) to come out of this pandemic and how (…) to rebuild better”. “I ask you to support a progressive and ambitious government” who advocates “a strong health system, affordable housing and a protected environment”, he said, launching some of the major themes of his campaign.

At the head of a minority government since October 2019, which makes him dependent on opposition parties to pass his reforms, Justin Trudeau intends to surf favorable polls, his management of the Covid-19 pandemic and the success of the vaccination campaign. But the other parties, all opposed to the holding of a poll this summer, have launched into hostilities and denounced a political calculation while the health crisis is not over.

The Prime Minister, in office since 2015, has complained several times in recent times about the obstruction of opposition parties in Parliament. To be at the head of a majority government, his party, which has 155 elected members, will have to obtain at least 170 of the 338 seats in the House of Commons.

It’s a “risky bet” believes Daniel Béland, professor of political science at McGill University quoted by AFP. According to this specialist, current polls do not guarantee him a majority.