From the climate crisis to housing, the main parties’ policies adhere strictly to the liberal, free-market script
On 20 September, Canada’s general election will end. Throughout the campaign, the governing Liberals, led by Justin Trudeau, and the opposition Conservatives, led by Erin O’Toole, have been neck and neck, trading the lead within the margin of error. The next closest party, the New Democratic Party (NDP), trails 10 points behind. A close seat count and a handful of tight races could mean days before the final results are known.
From the first day of the campaign, the country faced an important yet unnecessary election: important because the issues at stake are monumental – climate policy, pandemic management and recovery, childcare, healthcare, housing, the overdose crisis, Indigenous reconciliation, and much more; unnecessary because the government could have kept governing. But the Liberals had a minority government and they wanted a majority. Trudeau claimed parliament was toxic. It wasn’t. And if the governing side had trouble passing legislation, it was due more to their poor management of the House of Commons than opposition intransigence, even given a handful of holdups. So off to the races the country went.