“A few minutes ago, I had a discussion with… the Governor General and she accepted my request to dissolve parliament. Canadians will therefore go to the polls on September 20”, Trudeau said in a press briefing following the meeting with the Queen’s representative in Canada.
Throughout the press briefing, the Prime Minister struggled to justify the call to the polls less than 24 months removed from the last national election and ahead of a projected fourth wave of the coronavirus pandemic.
“The government and, indeed, parliament needs an opportunity to get a mandate from Canadians… this is a moment where we’re going to be taking decisions that will last not just for the coming months but for the coming decades and Canadians deserve to have their say”, Trudeau said, noting that the priorities of the October 2019 election have been altered by the ongoing pandemic.
Trudeau’s Liberals hold a nationwide lead as large as 12 percent, according to some of the latest polling numbers. Projections suggest Trudeau’s current position in the polls would be enough for him to regain the majority mandate he lost in the last election, which critics and analysts say is the Prime Minister’s real objective for triggering an election.