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Hill circles are abuzz yet again with speculation about the next federal election, now rumoured to be planned for September with the writ to be dropped in August. Adding more credence to this speculation is the Liberal Party’s decision last week to invoke an "electoral urgency" rule that will allow the party to expedite its nomination process for the next vote. That will allow the party to suspend the other nomination rules as it deems necessary to nominate as many candidates as possible in a short period of time. Candidate nomination is a critical element for any party to be ready for an election. As of last week, the Liberals had nominated candidates in 162 of the 338 ridings across the country. Thanks to their handling of COVID-19, the Justin Trudeau Liberals are doing well in national public opinion polls, and are sensing an opportunity to convert their minority government into majority. Most public opinion polls are showing Liberals in the majority territory, if an election were to happen now. Officially, Mr. Trudeau and his party are saying they’re focused on managing the COVID-19 pandemic and have no plans to trigger an election. But, it looks like the prime minister plans to call one in the coming months. The public opinion polls may favour the Liberals right now, but Mr. Trudeau must realize that there’s no need for an election when the vaccination process is still ongoing, and the COVID-19 pandemic still not behind us. Thousands of Canadians are still working from their homes, and it’s not known when things will get back to normal. There are serious reports that a new variant of concern could cause a fourth wave of the pandemic in Canada. When the pandemic is over, the critical path back to recovery will start, and that will require the government and opposition to work together constructively. So far, the government has not had any major challenges in getting its legislation passed in the House. The NDP announced months ago that they would support the government on all confidence votes to avoid a pandemic election, and they have been keeping this promise. Last month, the House passed a Bloc Québécois motion calling on the government not to trigger an election until the pandemic is over. According to Canada’s fixed date election law, the next election is scheduled for Oct. 16, 2023. The Trudeau government should respect that law and keep governing until that time, giving their undivided attention to getting the country out of this once-a-century crisis. If the Liberals do a good job of governing, they will be rewarded with a majority government. But if they play politics by calling an election when an average Canadian doesn’t want one, they could be punished. The Hill Times

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Be kind, don’t rewind the 43rd Parliament

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