Early voting underway
OTTAWA - Canadians began voting on Friday in advance polls ahead of the Oct. 21 federal election as party leaders set out on the final stretch of the campaign with polls showing the two largest parties locked in a dead heat.
Voters can cast a ballot from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. through Monday, which is Canada’s Thanksgiving holiday.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberals would win 35.4% if the election were held today, and Andrew Scheer’s Conservatives would bring in 33.2% nationally, a Nanos Research poll for CTV and the Globe and Mail said on Friday.
But the left-leaning New Democrats (NDP) and Quebec’s separatist Bloc Quebecois may be left with the balance of power as the polls suggest neither of the main parties is heading for an outright majority in the 338-seat House of Commons.
The early voting “means that for a big chunk of the electorate, this election is already over,” Ipsos pollster Darrell Bricker said on Twitter. “Feverish advertising, last minute pitches (are) being made to shrinking audience as election gets closer.”
After the final debate on Thursday evening, all the candidates went back on the campaign trail on Friday.
Trudeau started his day with a short speech to supporters in Ottawa, where he underscored his government’s record of creating “1 million jobs” over the past four years. At the same time, Canada’s statistics office said the economy had added a stronger-than-expected 53,700 net jobs in September.
Scheer is in British Columbia where he will announce the full cost of his campaign platform in the afternoon, almost two weeks after the Liberals presented theirs.
“You don’t release your best work at 6 o’clock on a Friday before a long weekend,” Trudeau said at his early morning rally.
Trudeau is ramping up spending while promising to keep debt on a downward path. Scheer, on the other hand, has said he will balance the budget in five years if elected. Trudeau says Scheer’s plan will require painful spending cuts.
Meanwhile, NDP leader Jagmeet Singh presented his full platform on Friday. The costly plan promises a national prescription-drug and dental plan, plus investments in housing, post-secondary education, and the fight against climate change.
The NDP says it will pay for its plan by raising corporate income taxes, eliminating fossil fuel subsidies, cracking down on tax havens, increasing the capital gains tax and by introducing a levy on the super wealthy - those with fortunes exceeding C$20 million ($15.2 million).
“I am firmly opposed to austerity,” Singh said, adding however that he believes in being prudent.