Thunder Bay – POLITICS – Well unless all the pundits are wrong, it is likely that by the end of the week, the Prime Minister will make a trip to Rideau Hall and ask the Governor General to dissolve parliament and call an election.
While that might sound like a good idea, Canada is in a time right now where our Members of Parliament, and our Government need to be working hard together to keep the recovery going from COVID-19.
In some parts of Canada they need to be working hard through the fall to get the recovery started.
The pandemic has taken a massive toll on the economy, not to mention on the lives of all Canadians.
The last thing Canada needs right now is a 37 day election campaign.
Here’s why:
First, other than seeking a majority government are there really any burning issues? Well other than the forests across Western and Northern Ontario and British Columbia NO!
Second, we are starting to see cases across the country of the Delta Variant and there are some medical experts warning of another wave of COVID-19.
Third, the Liberals have just announced a lot of solid moves to fix the longterm boil water advisories and solve many of the problems facing Indigenous communities.
Fourth, we are amid the growing number of unmarked graves of Indigenous students from Indian Residential Schools. Flags are at half-staff across many cities. There are more unmarked graves to come.
Perhaps instead of trying to put politics ahead of Canadians, now it is time to put Canadians first.
Now, as much as the opposition is seeing all the major flaws in the Trudeau Liberal government, truthfully, for the political parties to shift out of gear for an election that no body wants is not what is in the best interests for Canada.
Now, all that said, likely for the first week of the campaign the opposition parties will try to make the narrative that we don’t need or want an election right now, and by week two will be in full campaign mode of politics du jour.
Prime Minister Trudeau and his Liberal Party War Room will likely have planned for that, and are counting on Canadians by the end of September to simply be paying attention to the politics of the election.
Barring something massive during the campaign, there is a reasonable chance that Canadians will return another minority Liberal government. The Prime Minister is rolling the dice counting on gaining a majority.
Maybe though Canadian voters have seen through the pandemic that parliament in a minority can work.
What do you think? Is a summer election what you want?
James Murray
