Canada is set to go to the polls on Monday in the country’s general elections, and politicians have seen action wrapping up their campaign. Monday’s elections will see the Canadians elect their 44th parliament, and federal party leaders hope that their ‘sweet tongues’ managed to convince the masses. Major issues these aspiring prime ministers highlighted include strategies to curb climate change and reliable ways to deal with the current coronavirus pandemic outbreak.
On the polling platform, the Liberal Party, led by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, and the Conservatives under Erin O’Toole were at the top as the Canadians headed up to vote. In third place was the left-leaning New Democrats headed by Japmeet Singh, who had about 20% support. The list was concluded by three other popular political parties in Canada: The Quebec nationalist Bloc Quebecois, the environmentalist Green Party of Canada, and the far-right People’s Party of Canada.
Below is a run-down of the candidates’ profiles and their promises to the Canadians if they are voted into power:
Justin Trudeau
Justin Trudeau (48) is the current and 23rd Prime Minister of Canadian pursuing to be re-elected into the high office. In his second term in office, he attained a 157-seat minority government during the last election held in October 2019. In 2015, he was elected as the Prime Minister after he became the Liberal leader in 2013. Trudeau hopes to gunner momentum from his administration’s handling of the covid-19 pandemic and economic stimulus plans. He faced intense backlash from citizens who were against vaccines during his campaign. If they are victorious, the Liberals promised $78 billion Canadian dollars to be utilized in sectors such as healthcare and will roll out free covid vaccines while approving a $1 billion fund towards all provinces that wished to establish vaccine passport systems.
Trudeau’s party also pledged to reach zero net emissions by 2050 and inject about tens of millions of dollars in aiding indigenous families’ search for unmarked graves at residential schools and resettle all Afghan refugees who ran away from the Taliban’s rule. PM Trudeau feels he is under more pressure as the elections can end his reign.
Erin O’Toole
Erin O’Toole (48) is recognized as the major opposition leader in Canada and leads the Conservative Party of Canada. In 2020, he succeeded Andrew Scheer, who resigned after losing the 2019 election to the Liberals. Conservatives promised to gift the Canadians with billions of investments and achieve the Paris accord plan of a 30% reduction in global emissions while getting 30% of all light-duty vehicle sales [Source]. O’Toole vowed not to make covid vaccination compulsory for federal employees and did not mandate his party members to be jabbed and resettle around 20 000 Afghan refugees.
Jagmeet Singh
Jagmeet Singh (42) is Canada’s left-leaning New Democratic Party and boasts of having the fourth-most seats in parliament. Mr. Singh is a Sikh believer and has led the party since 2017, and had a disappointing 2019 election where they only won 24 seats which was a decline from the 28 they had. Singh told the citizens that his party would roll out a $20 minimum wage for all federal workers and 10 days of paid sick leave.
The New Democratic Party promised a 50% global emissions reduction by 2030 and created about million-plus jobs in the “green infrastructure” initiative. In his campaign, Singh suggested addressing the unbalanced representation of Indigenous people in Canada’s prison system and implement the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s 94 calls to Action. These New Democrats pledged “support for waiving intellectual property rights for COVID-19 vaccines and technology transfers to help end the global pandemic”.
Yves-Francois Blanchet
Yves-Francois Blanchet (56) is the leader of the Bloc Quebecois, and his party propels the French-speaking province’s interests. In 2019, he won the leadership of the Bloc uncontested, and the party increased its seats from 10 to 32 in the last federal election. Blanchet promised a new bill of enhancing the use of the French language and easy granting of Canadian citizenship to immigrants from Quebec. This party will stop interference from Ottawa in implementing Quebec laws and ban the use of money in suing them. The Bloc also promised to reward provinces that fight climate change and use money intended for fuel subsidies to clean energy projects while increasing the healthcare funding systems from 22 to 35% [Source].
AnnamiePaul
Annamie Paul (48), the first black Canadian and Jewish woman to lead a federal party, represents the Green Party. She replaced Elizabeth May as the leader in 2020, and she is not a member of parliament after losing in a by-election last year. She is campaigning for the same seat this year, and her party won 3 seats in 2019. Embedded in the Green Party’s vision is a 60% reduction of emission by 2030 and achieving net negative by 2050. It vowed to cancel pipeline projects, provide zero fuel subsidies, and ban “internal combustion engine passenger vehicles by 2030”. Paul’s party proposes to replace “every high-paying fossil fuel sector job with a high-paying green sector job.” In terms of dealing with the current global crisis, the Greens pledged to extend all wage and rent subsidies until covid-19 legal restrictions are removed and demand about a 9% business tax rate.
The party will also support the Treaty to Abolish Nuclear Weapons and propagate nuclear disarmament and stop any exporters of fossil fuels and arms.
Maxime Bernier
Maxime Bernier is leading the far-right People’s Party of Canada. He left the Conservative party after losing a leadership election and formed his political party. His party does not have any members in parliament and about 6% polling support. Bernier wants to introduce an “anti-coronavirus vaccine and anti-migration platform [Source]. His major support is from the far right in Canada, and he is not running a full slate of candidates in upcoming elections.
After exerting a lot of effort in campaigning and trying to win the hearts of citizens, these politicians can only hope that the voters will reward their hard work on Monday.
