OTTAWA – Angry opposition parties are set to vote Canada’s ruling Conservatives out of office on Friday and trigger an election in a risky gamble that they can claw back a widening gap in opinion polls. But the Conservatives, in power since 2006 with two successive minority governments, are riding high. Polls show Prime Minister Stephen Harper holding onto power in an early May election and most likely strengthening his position.
“The Prime Minister and his Conservatives are in an enviable position heading into what will likely be a campaign beginning this weekend,” said pollsters Ipsos Reid, which on Thursday released a survey that showed 43 percent of voters backed the Conservatives. That is likely more than enough for Harper to win his first majority of seats in the 308-seat House of Commons and secure a four-year term in office.
The Conservatives say an election is the last thing Canadians need at a time when the economy is outshining those of most industrialized nations as it recovers from recession. The three opposition parties say a series of ethical woes facing the government, and what they portray as its mismanagement and excessive secrecy, means Harper has to go. Parliament votes on a motion of nonconfidence in the government at around 1:30pm EDT (1730 GMT).
All three opposition parties have said they will vote in favor, launching Canada into its fourth election in less than seven years. Only two parties can realistically win the election – the Conservatives or the main opposition Liberals – and both stress the need for fiscal austerity and the importance of paying down Canada’s record budget deficit.
The Liberals vow to scrap C$6 billion ($6.1 billion) in corporate tax cuts and end what they say are extravagant multibillion-dollar plans to buy new fighter jets and build prison cells. Harper, highlighting risks to the recovery, says his opponents are treating the economy as “a political game.”
