CANADA:CANADIAN PRIME minister Stephen Harper, citing political deadlock in the legislature, met Canada's governor general yesterday to request the dissolution of parliament. An election will be held October 14th.
Mr Harper said the campaign would centre on the best way to manage the economy and whether Canadians want the tougher environmental rules and higher spending proposed by the opposition Liberals, led by Stéphane Dion.
"Canadians will choose a government to look out for their interests at a time of global economic trouble,'' Mr Harper said in Ottawa.
"They will choose between clear direction or uncertainty, between common sense or risky experiments, between steadiness or recklessness.''
The prime minister was 27 seats short of a majority in parliament and relied on rival parties to pass laws.
Most polls show neither the Conservatives nor the main opposition Liberals have enough support to win a majority. Mr Dion, who has been leading the Liberals since December 2006 and is the least experienced party chief in Parliament, promised a "richer, fairer and greener'' country.
"Stephen Harper has formed the most conservative government in our history,'' Mr Dion said. "There has never been a federal election that has more clearly provided Canadians with such a stark choice between two visions for our country.''
Should the election yield another minority, as Mr Harper predicted yesterday, it would be Canada's third in a row. His minority government lasted 31 months, compared with 16 for the previous one in 2004. To move beyond their minority, the Conservatives must make headway in urban centres and in the French-speaking province of Quebec, where they have struggled in the past. Two and a half years ago, they failed to win any seats in Canada's three largest cities.
Both the Conservatives and the Liberals will make Quebec the first stop of their campaigns. Leaders for the opposition New Democratic Party and the separatist Bloc Quebecois also attacked Mr Harper as being too cozy with companies and unwilling to help Canadians in need.
"I will stop tax cuts for companies who don't need them or ship our jobs overseas,'' NDP leader Jack Layton said in Gatineau, Quebec. "We'll stop these shameful ripoffs and gouging by cell-phone giants, banks, big oil and credit card companies.''
Quebec Vote Bloc Quebecois leader Gilles Duceppe vowed to stop Mr Harper from getting a majority by staving him off in Quebec, Canada's second-largest province.
Quebec accounts for a quarter of the seats in the legislature, and Mr Harper wants to boost his showing there beyond the 11 legislators he currently has.
- (Bloomberg)