The ‘Get Out The Vote campaign’– an initiative meant to engage youth -- is underway.
For the first time Elections Canada has set up 39 offices across the country where voters can cast their ballot this week until end of day Thursday. This is different than the advance vote starting Oct. 9. The majority of these offices are on university campuses and in 13 Friendship Centres. Elections Canada says the “offices are open to all voters, no matter where in Canada they may live.” The votes, by what Elections Canada calls “special ballot,” can be counted in the voter’s home riding. Rejean Holiet from the Canadian Federation of Students has monitored voting at Ryerson University in Toronto. He told me there have been line-ups as students are allowed to vote without needing to register in their new, temporary university area.
Advance voting will kick in on Friday and advance polls will be open every day over the Thanksgiving. In 2011 more than two million Canadians opted to vote early at an advance poll. With the polls open, the parties will start making a daily pitch to “get out and vote.” One way to track it will probably be on the party and your candidate’s social media feeds. Today Liberal Justin Trudeau’s twitter account tweeted out that “your vote matters” with a link to the party’s key platform issues. The NDP sent supporters an email reminder today. “Know someone who’s undecided? Mom or uncle who doesn’t know who to vote for? Forward them this.” The NDP then provides ten reasons to vote for Mulcair. Good ammunition for Thanksgiving weekend conversations. And, of course, expect the leaders to mention the “importance of each and every vote” time and again over the next 10 days.
In a CBC interview yesterday, Conservative Leader Stephen Harper was asked about the wearing of the niqab in the federal public service. Harper said, “That's a matter we're going to examine. Quebec, as you know, has legislation on this. We're looking at that legislation.” Today Harper was asked about his comment yesterday and he went a little further. He said the Liberal government in Quebec “is taking responsible action and we will do the same in Ottawa.” The Quebec legislation will make it the law that any public servant providing a service in the province will have to reveal their face.
Harper’s latest comments on the niqab were picked up by Justin Trudeau and Tom Mulcair today. In London, Ontario Trudeau was asked if public servants should deliver services with their faces uncovered. Trudeau said Harper is “stirring up the politics of fear and division in a way that is quite frankly unworthy of the office he holds and he needs to stop.” In Edmonton Tom Mulcair said, “I think the prime minister is playing a dangerous divisive game.” Mulcair then echoed Trudeau and said Harper’s comments “remind us why he does not deserve to be prime Minister.”
Trudeau started his day in London, Ontario. The Liberals don’t hold any of the four seats in the London area. In 2011 the Liberals were only really competitive in one riding, London North. Trudeau had no new announcements repeating his appeal to win the votes of middle class Canada. Trudeau then headed to the east coast for stops in New Brunswick. The Conservatives currently hold eight of the 10 seats in New Brunswick. But the Liberals are scoring well in all polling on the East Coast and it’s another region the Liberals need to pick up seats to get close to the Conservatives on October 19.
Tom Mulcair was in Edmonton this morning before flying to Kenora in northwestern Ontario. In Edmonton he met with Indigenous communities promising $4.8 billion over 8 years for education projects. Mulcair said the Liberals and Conservatives have “failed Indigenous communities.” Mulcair allowed a question-and-answer session with the Indigenous community to run overtime as he fielded questions on a wide range of issues important to them.
Mulcair flew to Kenora to continue his dialogue with Indigenous communities on Canada’s treaty obligations. The Conservatives won big in Kenora in 2011 but both the Liberals and the NDP are running high-profile candidates. The Liberals nominated Bob Nault, a former MP from the area and Howard Hampton is running for the NDP. Hampton is the former leader of the Ontario NDP.
Stephen Harper was in Saskatoon this morning. The Conservatives hold the three Saskatoon ridings but two are open and with redistribution the NDP may have a chance to win one of the three. Harper announced proposed changes to parental benefits. The changes would not cost much money but would allow parents to take 18 months leave instead of a year. It will only apply to workers under federally regulated sectors. Part of the plan would allow parents to take their EI benefits at a lesser rate over a longer period. Harper then flew on to Edmonton for an afternoon event.
Yesterday I noted the race in Quebec is getting more and more competitive. Today there were a couple more signs that the province is up for grabs. An Abacus poll released today has the Liberals one point ahead of the Conservatives for second place in Quebec. The poll also showed the NDP lead has dropped 17 per cent in one month to 30 per cent. And one of the major newspapers in the province, La Presse, endorsed its choice for Prime Minister. It’s the first federal endorsement by La Presse since it supported the Conservatives in 2006. La Presse chose the Liberal’s Justin Trudeau. In a call for strategic voting to defeat the “destructive” Harper government, the paper said, "The Liberals under Justin Trudeau would be a unifying force." It’s the first of what will be a flood of newspaper endorsements in the next 12 days.
