Canada election talk heats up at conventions

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has rejected going to the polls during the pandemic, but Canada’s capital was abuzz Friday with election chatter as political parties firmed up planks at policy conventions. It comes after last month’s virtual convention by the main opposition Conservatives, when rookie leader Erin O’Toole’s pleaded for members to accept the reality of climate change if they were to have any hope of victory at the ballot box. His appeal fell on deaf ears.

That left an opening for the Liberals, who are meeting through Saturday, to drive Trudeau’s proposed stepped-up climate agenda that surveys show is already gaining traction with voters. The New Democrats are also holding a convention this weekend to hammer out strategies to boost the fourth-ranked leftist party’s electoral fortunes.

Trudeau, whose party was returned to office with a minority government in October 2019, was scheduled to give a keynote address at the convention later. Former central banker Mark Carney, meanwhile, made his hotly anticipated political debut at the convention late Friday. “I’ll do whatever I can to support the Liberal Party in our efforts to build a better future for Canadians,” he said.

Although coy about his political aspirations since returning to Canada after serving as governor of the Bank of England, he is considered by some insiders as a potential successor to Trudeau.

Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland told delegates at the opening of the Liberals’ convention late Thursday that the pandemic revealed social inequities that urgently need addressing. Liberals are to debate a universal basic income in order to alleviate poverty, and a proposal to pin Canada’s economic recovery on massive clean energy investments.