Canadians head back to the polls for Canada’s 44th election less than two years after the last federal vote

While Canada’s next-fixed date federal election was scheduled for October of 2023, the Prime Minister has instead called for an early election, set for September 20, 2021. The campaign will last for 36 days, the shortest election period allowed by election law.

If the Liberals are to regain majority power, they must win 170 seats or more. Today, the Liberals have 155 seats, the Conservatives 119, the Bloc Québécois 32, the New Democrats 24 and the Green Party 2.

Majority power makes it easier for a party to advance their mandate and to stay in power. Trudeau has said that his reason for calling an election is to give Canadians a say in how the country will recover from COVID-19, as the path to economic recovery will impact generations to come.

Calling an early election comes with risks. While the Liberals hold a lead in the polls, supporting the hunch that a snap election would benefit Trudeau, not all polls put him in striking distance of a majority. Trudeau is betting that the party’s handling of the pandemic, the popularity of COVID-related economic support programs, high vaccination rates, the lack of traction gained by the Conservative leader, and a post-pandemic economic rebound will help the party win a majority.

The Conservatives, NDP, and Bloc Québécois have all criticised the Liberals for calling the election during a pandemic. To undermine Trudeau’s assertion that he needs a new mandate to deal with the country’s recovery from the pandemic, the NDP leader has pointed to the work that the government has accomplished despite its minority status.

The election and the aftermarket

AIA Canada’s key message to all candidates is that Canadian consumers should keep the right to repair their vehicle at the service facility of their choice. Canadian consumers could lose this long-standing right if automakers control vehicle data that is needed to repair vehicles and only share it with certain service facilities. This would drastically reduce competition in the vehicle repair market and impact the entire aftermarket supply chain.

Find out what the Liberals, Conservatives, New Democrats and Greens promise Canadians during the campaign using Maclean’s 2021 Election Platform Guide. The guide will be continuously updated.