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Canadian Federal Election Now In Progress (kinda, sorta)
The Liberal minority gov't has lost a non-confidence vote introduced by the opposition Conservatives by a vote of 171 to 133. The official election campaign will start tomorrow morning as soon as the prime minister visits the governor-general to formally request the dissolution of the House of Commons and announce the date of the coming election.
By law, the election date can be no earlier than 36 days from dissolution but otherwise at the discretion of the prime minister. January 16 or 23 are the probable dates; I'm betting on Jan. 23.
I'm a big politics junky... I absorb electoral, procedural and parliamentary trivia & statistics like others absorb sports stats. This is my version of the World Series. The only way it could be better is to actually be in Canada at the moment, immersing myself in the middle of it all. *sigh*
This is the first time a minority gov't in Canada has been defeated by a clear non-confidence vote. Prior historical defeats were done by defeat of a budget or money bill which acts as a proxy for non-confidence.
This is also a rare winter election. Most politicians are usually bright enough to avoid campaigning through snow banks & blizzards, not to mention avoiding pissing off the voters by campaigning across the xmas holidays.
This vote is also a little bizarre on the surface: the opposition parties which have forced the election are behind the Liberals in the polls, albeit not by a lot. Further, the leader of the Conservatives is trailing his own party's popularity in the polls, and most polls indicate the current prime minister is the best liked for the role of all of the party leaders. Go figure.
By law, the election date can be no earlier than 36 days from dissolution but otherwise at the discretion of the prime minister. January 16 or 23 are the probable dates; I'm betting on Jan. 23.
I'm a big politics junky... I absorb electoral, procedural and parliamentary trivia & statistics like others absorb sports stats. This is my version of the World Series. The only way it could be better is to actually be in Canada at the moment, immersing myself in the middle of it all. *sigh*
This is the first time a minority gov't in Canada has been defeated by a clear non-confidence vote. Prior historical defeats were done by defeat of a budget or money bill which acts as a proxy for non-confidence.
This is also a rare winter election. Most politicians are usually bright enough to avoid campaigning through snow banks & blizzards, not to mention avoiding pissing off the voters by campaigning across the xmas holidays.
This vote is also a little bizarre on the surface: the opposition parties which have forced the election are behind the Liberals in the polls, albeit not by a lot. Further, the leader of the Conservatives is trailing his own party's popularity in the polls, and most polls indicate the current prime minister is the best liked for the role of all of the party leaders. Go figure.