[sunnykerr]

Canadians will go to the polls on Oct. 14, after Conservative Leader Stephen Harper met with Governor General Michaelle Jean Sunday morning and asked her to dissolve Parliament.

"Between now and Oct. 14, Canadians will choose a government to look out for their interests at a time of global economic trouble," Harper told reporters on Sunday after he triggered the vote.

"They will choose between direction or uncertainty; between common sense or risky experiments; between steadiness or recklessness."

Harper said his government delivered on its commitments and developed consensus on major issues such as the mission in Afghanistan and Indian residential schools.

"But now we have come to a moment where the people of Canada have to choose the way forward."

Hours later, Harper began his campaign in Quebec City, telling supporters that the Bloc Quebecois was no longer relevant and it was the Conservatives -- not the Bloc -- who had succeeded in recognizing the province as a nation.

"I remember when the Bloc arrived in Ottawa requesting four years to create Quebec sovereignty. That was 18 years ago," he said.

"Eighteen years later, the Bloc is still there, and still doesn't have sovereignty. Dear friends, in two-and-a-half years we have achieved concrete results for Quebecers."

Meanwhile, the opposition leaders wasted no time reacting to Harper's election call:

Liberal Leader Stephane Dion called the election a "stark choice" between his party and "most Conservative government in our history"

Bloc Quebecois Leader Gilles Duceppe called Harper's vision "illogical and inspired by (U.S. President) George W. Bush."

NDP Leader Jack Layton -- perhaps trying to echoe U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama -- said his party offered real change, "instead of Mr. Harper's approach"

Green Party Leader Elizabeth May said the "our species stands on a precipice on this planet" and urged people to embrace her party's vision
At dissolution, the party standings in the 308-seat House of Commons are as follows:

Conservatives - 127
Liberals - 95
Bloc Quebecois - 48
NDP - 30
Independent - 4
Vacant - 4
One of the Independents, Blair Wilson of B.C., announced last weekend he is now a Green MP.

Harper identified the Liberal party as his principal opposition, although the NDP has ignored the Liberals in the early going and tried to position itself as the progressive alternative to the Tories.

Harper noted that there are four parties on the left looking for support, and said his party was the choice of centre and right voters.

Nasty campaign?

In an exclusive interview aired today on CTV's Question Period, Harper said he expects a nasty election campaign.

"To be really honest, I anticipate a very nasty, kind of personal-attack campaign," he told Lloyd Robertson, CTV's chief news anchor and senior news editor, taped Saturday at Harrington Lake.

"That's just what I'm anticipating; that's what the opposition has done in the past. I think that whether Canadians agree with what we're doing or not, I don't think they're going to believe the kind of personal attacks and scare tactics that we've seen in the past."

The Tories have made Harper the centrepiece of their campaign, and the NDP have aimed their initial ads at Harper.

On Sunday, Harper told his news conference that he wouldn't be getting nasty with the other leaders.

"I have good relations with most of the other leaders and I respect all of them as individuals and as political adversaries," he said.

"We disagree. I think we have lots of scope in this election to go after the positions these leaders have taken.

"The Liberal Party, is running on a policy, a tax increase, a carbon tax (that) it doesn't want to talk about. So, I think that's why they are going to spend our time attacking us and attacking me personally. Certainly, that's been the tenor of the last few months of Parliament, so that's what I expect we'll have more of," Harper said.

Early election call

The election writ was dropped despite the Conservative Party's own legislation that set a fixed election date for October 2009.

Critics have charged the Tories of breaking their own law for political gain, and Sunday morning the Liberal Party issued a press release on the matter, under the subject header "Conservative Broken Platform Promise of the Day."

"(Harper) is the one who brought in the law ... and then just threw it out," former Liberal cabinet minister Sheila Copps told CTV Newsnet Sunday morning from Ottawa.

The NDP said the election call raises key issues that will be central in the campaign.

"It's another example of how Mr. Harper can't be trusted, and I think this is a good opportunity to take a look at leadership in this campaign," NDP strategist Brad Lavigne said.

Although the election call had been widely anticipated for several weeks, there were questions Sunday about the readiness of Stephane Dion's Liberals.

The Liberals' election plane is not expected to be ready until near the end of the week, and Dion will reportedly travel by bus for the first few days of the campaign. The Conservatives claimed that's a blunder which raises questions about his leadership and organizational skills.

Copps said the Liberals are ready for a tough election fight and local candidates across the country are fully prepared.

"People's expectations of Mr. Dion have been driven into the ground by Mr. Harper's negative ad campaigns," Copps said, noting that voters will get a different picture of the Liberal leader during the campaign.

CTV.ca | The race is on: Harper calls election for Oct. 14

So what do you guys think? What are the issues that matter to you?

Was Harper out of line to call Dion a "triple threat"? Does Leyton have a shot? Will we have a majority government this time around? Is the sponsorship scandal still a problem for the Liberals?

[TheAngel]

OK, I admit, I don't know much about a parliamentary system of government. What does it mean to dissolve parliament?

[sunnykerr]

It's just another way to say he's calling an election.

I can't really speak to other parliamentary systems (though I'm pretty certain they're similar on the point I'm about to make, just not sure enough to say it absolutely), but there is set election day in Canada. We don't go to the polls every four years on November 2nd.

In theory, any one term can never last longer than five years, but it rarely takes that long for new elections to be called. If I'm not mistaken, we had federal elections just a couple of years ago. We have things like "no confidence votes," where the leadership of the prime minister can be called into question and, if the votes against him are numerous enough, his party falls automatically. It's usually something prime ministers want to avoid, so they call the elections themselves. Or, as seems to be the case in this particular instance, they'll call an election when their party is doing particularly well.

But you don't "call" an election. I mean, you do. But to do that, you dissolve parliament.

[flash502]

I'm going to be voting in my first election this year!

[Laurababora]

Yay! Congrats on your first election! This will be my second federal election that I have voted in.

I think the issues that I want to see addressed in this election are our soldiers in Afghanistan. health care (and the idea of a two teared system like in Europe), the environment, and also our criminal justice system in this country. That's all I can really think of right now.

I'm still kind of confused as to what Harper meant by saying Dion was a "triple threat". I didn't read the story on it. Can someone explain that to me?

Honestly, I don't really see Leyton as having a shot. Maybe as being the go-to party if another minority is formed but not for forming the next government.

One of my profs (I'm a political science major) said that she thought if an election happened right now that we'd probably see a Conservative majority. Honestly, I'm not sure if I agree or not. It's possible considering how badly organized the Liberal party is right now but then more and more people are also voting for parties such as the Green party. So I'm not sure.

I think the Liberals are still being plagued by the sponsorship scandal. It's certainly that way in my house. My dad refuses to vote for them because they are "crooks" and "thiefs". But I also think a part of their problem is their leadership and the organization of the party in general.

[sunnykerr]

The triple threat comments were made in response to some positions Dion has taken (or maybe just said, I'm not entirely sure myself) on financial issues. One, he wouldn't refuse to consider raising the GST (ergo, that means he'll raise it). Two, he would cancel the Conservatives' family-daycare benefit (in my book, that doesn't mean he wouldn't replace with something else, after all the Conservatives did the same thing with the Liberals' program when they took office). Three, he would tax for carbon emissions. Which, considering Dion's position on the environment (he's pro), comes as no shock to me so I'm not sure why it's sure a thing for Harper.

Look, I'm not looking to tell anyone who to vote for. I'm from Quebec, so the sponsorship scandal is still a big topic over here. And that's not even taking into account our very own Bloc. So the Liberals, who were never the most generally popular party around these parts, are coming up all kinds of suspicious.

I do know that Dion gets a bad rep for his lack of charisma. So he's a big nerd. It could be worse.

Personally, I will say that I'm a big Jack Leyton fan, but that may just be because the man really has no shot at being PM. I've noticed that people tend to be a lost less likeable when they have a shot at the big prize. So, right now, I like Leyton. It doesn't hurt that he's a former university prof. I'm big into school. I like profs.

I do hope that whomever is elected will remember that we are a separate country from the United States. They are our closest neighbours and we like them a lot. But that doesn't mean that our every policies need to be in line with theirs. I never did like Chretien much, but he at least got that part right during his last months in office. Of course, by then, the end was near.

They're always so much more likeable when they have nothing to gain or to lose.

[Laurababora]

Thanks for the triple threat explaination. I don't know why Harper would consider it a sure thing either.

Doesn't surprise me to hear that the Sponsorship scandal is still a hot topic in Quebec, considering that's where it happened.

I agree, Dion does get a bad rep. Especially with regards to his English. Although he seems like a good politician, I don't think he was necessarily the best choice for leader of the Liberal party.

I live in Ontario and I think that a majority of people here are a little wary of voting for NDP, considering what that got us when we voted Bob Rae as Premier of Ontario. Rae days anyone? Isn't really considered a good period in Ontario politics.

I agree about the whole separate country thing. Just because the US is one of the superpowers and also our neighbours, our policies don't need to be exactly like theirs and our PM doesn't need to suck up to the President. We are our own sovereign nation with our own beliefs and culture. That is what our policies should reflect. Not our friendship with the States.

I agree, they are more likeable when they don't have anything to gain or lose.

[TheAngel]

Originally Posted by sunnykerr (View Post) It's just another way to say he's calling an election. I can't really speak to other parliamentary systems (though I'm pretty certain they're similar on the point I'm about to make, just not sure enough to say it absolutely), but there is set election day in Canada. We don't go to the polls every four years on November 2nd. In theory, any one term can never last longer than five years, but it rarely takes that long for new elections to be called. If I'm not mistaken, we had federal elections just a couple of years ago. We have things like "no confidence votes," where the leadership of the prime minister can be called into question and, if the votes against him are numerous enough, his party falls automatically. It's usually something prime ministers want to avoid, so they call the elections themselves. Or, as seems to be the case in this particular instance, they'll call an election when their party is doing particularly well. But you don't "call" an election. I mean, you do. But to do that, you dissolve parliament.

Ah, thank you. I appreciate the explanation.

[sunnykerr]

I would imagine that the national NDP is different than the provincial NDP, no?

I mean, I have no idea. I just know that the provincial Liberals and the national Liberals are different. I'm not even sure we have a real provincial NDP in Quebec. Provincially, here it's all about the Liberals, the Party Quebecois and the ADQ (Quebec Democratic Action). I'm sure we have other parties, but those are the three.

Does anyone know what happened with the decision on whether to let Elizabeth May be part of the debates?

I was really appalled to hear that there was a movement to keep her out of them. I mean, sure, the odds of the Green Party getting major represention are slim, but that doesn't mean she should be shut out of the debates entirely. Look at the States, they had plenty of candidates to the presidency who had no shot of getting the nomination, but they still had all candidates present at the debates... or am I wrong on that?

[Laurababora]

Yeah, I guess they are kind of different. I mean Howard Hampton is a pretty scary guy. I watched the provincial election debate on tv and he just came off as crazy to me. He yelled pretty much the entire time at the other party leaders, which I think is a huge reason why Mcguinty ended up winning. But Bob Rae (who was leader of the NDP and Premier of Ontario) is now in federal politics. But technically he's a liberal now but still. I think just the possibility of having what happened in Ontario happen on a federal level is scary to most Ontario citizens. Not saying that it would happen.

I'm not very familiar with the ADQ. Where are they on the political spectrum exactly? Are they close to conservative? Liberal? NDP? And are they pretty successful in Quebec?

I'm not sure about the decision with Elizabeth May. I didn't even know there was a problem there. I don't think its fair to exclude her from the debate because her party is getting quite popular and could potentially reach the same status as the NDP.

[*Catherine*]

There is most certainly a difference between national and provincial parties.

I voted Conservative for our provinical election, but theres no chance in hell that I'm voting for Stephen Harper's Conservatives.

[hockeycanada87]

Originally Posted by flash502 (View Post) I'm going to be voting in my first election this year!

Me to! I turned 18 in May, im excited

[Laurababora]

Originally Posted by *Catherine* (View Post) There is most certainly a difference between national and provincial parties. I voted Conservative for our provinical election, but theres no chance in hell that I'm voting for Stephen Harper's Conservatives.

Which province do you live in?

Congrats to those voting for the first time! It's an exciting time to be able to vote in your first election. Enjoy it!

[*Catherine*]

Oh I'm in Newfoundland.

I dont really know who I'm voting for in this election..I'll probably end up giving my vote to Jack Harris of the NDP. Maybe. I'm still undecided

[Laurababora]

LOL I'm undecided too. There may be a chance that I'll vote Green. I mean if Dion was a stronger leader than I'd probably vote Liberal. But they don't and it seems to me that Harper is constantly having a cabinet shuffle and putting people into positions that shouldn't necessarily be in that position. And that worries me about the stability of the Conservative government. I think he's a strong leader and everything but I'm not sure he's got the most stable cabinet to back him up. And if I voted NDP my Dad would probably have a heart attack