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OUR VIEW: Federal election sure to be called

The signs are already there, with leaders in campaign mode
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Prime Minister Justin Trudeau greets people having lunch at a White Spot restaurant in Coquitlam, B.C., on July 8. Canadian party leaders are working worked their way around the country, in what some see as the proof they needed that a federal election is on its way. (Darryl Dyck - The Canadian Press)

You know there’s a federal election call coming soon because Prime Minister Justin Trudeau denies it.

He says no, but his actions say otherwise. He says the buckets of money he’s just distributed in B.C. have nothing to do with a pending election call. Just a coincidence.

The fact is there will be an election in the fall, probably in October. Most everyone can agree on that. (Our apologies if the election was called after this editorial went to press.) The leaders are already going into election mode, led by Trudeau’s recent visit to the west, where his support in B.C. and Alberta is wavering more than other parts of the country.

He knows it, and the outpouring of cash for transit projects in the Lower Mainland might be just enough to sway a few voters by the time they go to the polls.

Many feel Trudeau has already been in office way too long. He’s been prime minister since Nov. 4, 2015.

Another term will put him beyond the time the U.S. allows a president to sit. But we don’t have a stipulation in this country, so Trudeau could remain there for a while if Canadians don’t find another alternative.

The Conservatives haven’t found a leader who knocks the socks off people, and Erin O’Toole seems no different. His recent jaunt to the Island sounded a whole lot like Andrew Wilkinson’s provincial election campaign of last year, when the BC Liberal Party leader accused Premier John Horgan of putting his own interests ahead of the people’s. To paraphrase … “We will be ready but my focus is on economic recovery, not an election.”

Jagmeet Singh comes across as a credible leader, but the NDP doesn’t have enough widespread power to hold office.

So that leads us back to Trudeau, who’s finally cut his hair and going about his boyish charismatic ways… just as he did in 2015, and 2019.

–Black Press