Exciting and fascinating are the words political analysts are using to describe the election campaign.
On Wednesday, Liberal Party Leader Justin Trudeau opened the campaign period for this year’s federal election.
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Political Scientist at the University of Saskatchewan Greg Poelzer says polls are showing a two way race between the Liberals and Conservatives with all things equaling a majority or minority Liberal government, as long as nothing changes. “So I think if the Conservatives are going to wrestle power away from the Liberals, they’re going to need to do something bold and come up with a policy statement or a policy position that really strongly differentiates themselves from the Liberals. If not, I think the Liberals will end up winning the election.”
Poelzer says one of the most interesting aspects of this year’s race is the outcome for the NDP. He says this could be the last election for the NDP to be competitive and realistically a federal contending party. “I think the situation is that dire for the NDP’s right now. I will actually be surprised if they come out of this election with official party status.”
“There is a real opportunity, though it will be difficult,” Poelzer adds, “the Green Party could acquire officially party status through this election.”
Campaign and attack speeches have started with Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer has already bringing up the SNC-Lavalin controversy.
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Poelzer says you can see that voters are disinterested in this, with an almost non-reaction to the ethic commissioners report that was released in August. “People have already decided. If you’re really upset about it, you are likely voting Conservative. If you are kind of holding your nose on this, you are likely voting across Canada Liberal or one of the other parties.”
“I don’t think SNC really matters that much anymore.”
Poelzer says voters are now looking for where the parties will lead the country economically before hitting the polls on October 21st.
