Canada’s Trudeau sets snap election for Sept. 20
He aims to regain Commons majority
TORONTO — Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, betting his standing has been improved by his government’s response to the coronavirus pandemic while his main opponent has failed to gain traction with voters, called on Sunday a snap federal election for Sept. 20 in a bid to regain a majority in the House of Commons.
Mr. Trudeau, first elected prime minister in 2015, has led the country since October 2019 with a minority government. Winning a majority would mean he would no longer need to rely on opposition parties to advance his agenda and stay in power.
The next fixed election date was in October 2023, but a prime minister in Canada may at any time request that the governor general dissolve Parliament — the step that triggers an election. Mr. Trudeau, 49, met Governor General Mary Simon, Queen Elizabeth II’s representative in Canada, on Sunday, and she granted his request.
Speaking to reporters outside Rideau Hall, the official residence of the governor general in Ottawa, Mr. Trudeau said Canada is in a “consequential moment,” and he needs a mandate from voters on how to deal with the changes wrought by the pandemic and steer the economic recovery.
The 36-day campaign, the minimum required by law, follows months of speculation among political analysts about a possible election call this year. They have viewed everything from Cabinet shuffles to Mr. Trudeau’s decision to shave the beard he has sported for more than a year as signs one was imminent.
In recent weeks, Mr. Trudeau and other Liberal lawmakers crisscrossed the country to announce new spending and policy initiatives in what has resembled a whistle-stop campaign. Before Parliament adjourned for the summer, time was set aside so lawmakers who didn’t plan to run again could deliver farewell speeches.
Opposition party leaders on Sunday decried the decision to hold an election at a time when public health officials have said the country is in a delta variant-fueled fourth coronavirus wave. Most cases are among those who are unvaccinated.
“We’re finally at a point thanks to the efforts of all Canadians who’ve stayed at home, got tested, got vaccinated where we can see our loved ones, our friends and our families again,” Conservative Party leader Erin O’Toole said in Ottawa. “We shouldn’t be risking that for political games or political gain.”
New Democratic Party leader Jagmeet Singh described next month’s vote as a “selfish summer election.” Yves- François Blanchet, chief of the separatist Bloc Québécois party, said the election was “irresponsible” and is being held solely for Mr. Trudeau’s “personal ambition.”
Mr. Trudeau, the son of former prime minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau, swept to power in 2015 as a champion of diversity who pledged “sunny ways” and climate action. His re-election in 2019 was thrown into doubt amid a scandal over allegations he and senior aides had improperly pressured the then- attorney general and justice minister to interfere in the criminal prosecution of a Montreal engineering company. Later, photos and a video emerged during the campaign of Mr. Trudeau as a younger man wearing blackface.
His Liberals won a plurality of seats in October 2019 but fell short of the 170 they needed to hang onto their majority. They were shut out of every seat in oil-rich Alberta and Saskatchewan, where discontent had bubbled over Mr. Trudeau’s climate policies.