The fix is in

So it's true, dammit!  Prime Minister Stephen Harper has confirmed a week of intense media speculation by announcing the official start of the campaign for Canada's Federal election, to be held on October 19. That's just about eleven weeks away, making this the longest campaign since the days when politicians had to make their way across a vast and thinly-populated country by train and buggy. The minimum duration for an election campaign in Canada is 37 days; this one will be more than twice as long.

Until recently the main beef about the timing of Canadian elections was that they were always called opportunistically by the Prime Minister, when he* judged his party had the best chance of winning.  Liberal Jean Chretien was particularly ruthless and adept at this, calling unusually early elections even when his party already had a clear majority.

In his first term, Stephen Harper introduced legislation setting fixed election dates, in an effort to curb this "abuse". Lo and behold, the next two elections -- both won by Harper's Tories -- were held well before the fixed date, though Harper at least had the excuse that he was running a minority government. This election will be the first that will actually take place on the "fixed" date.

The old-style opportunistic election timing may have been unfair, but as critics always warned, the fixed election date has brought Canada much closer to the US model of virtually continuous campaigning. The official campaign may just be starting now, but in truth electioneering got underway months ago. The Tories have been shamelessly using public funds to advertise their economic achievements (threadbare as these now appear) and using their own money to smear Liberal leader Justin Trudeau. In the meantime Trudeau and NDP leader Tom Mulcair have been criss-crossing the country, glad-handing the voters and kissing babies in full pre-election mode.

Now that the official campaign is on, the Tory ads disguised as public service announcements have to stop. Third-party campaigners such as labour unions and social activist groups, which have been rampimg up the anti-Harper rhetoric,  also have to cease and desist.  From now on it's the parties' own money that will be spent, and the fact that the Tories are much better funded than their rivals is one of the key reasons for Harper's decision to kick things off this early.

Regular readers of this blog will already know who I'm not going to vote for. Who actually gets my support is still up for grabs, but I'll say this: any candidate or canvasser who darkens my door before Labour Day had better be awfully convincing.  


* There's only been one female PM, Kim Campbell, and she didn't last long.