Candidates are off and running in what is being called the longest federal election campaign in modern history.
Governor General David Johnston agreed to dissolve parliament at the request of Prime Minister Stephen Harper on Aug. 2, setting up an 11-week campaign leading up to the Oct. 19 election.
As of the Advertiser’s, deadline, Elections Canada’s website states no candidates have been confirmed in local ridings, but all major parties have nominated candidates locally.
The unofficial field in Wellington Halton-Hills consists of incumbent Conservative MP Michael Chong and candidates Don Trant, Liberal: Anne Gajerski-Cauley, NDP; Brent Bouteiller, Green Party; and Zach Ramsay, Libertarian.
In Perth-Wellington, incumbent Conservative MP Gary Schellenberger has retired from politics, leaving the field to Conservative candidate John Nater, Liberal Stephen McCotter, Ethan Rabidoux of the NDP, Libertarian Sieg Pedde and Irma DeVries of the Christian Heritage Party.
Candidates have until Sept. 28 to file nomination papers.
Early national results from ThreeHundredEight.com, a poll aggregator, showed the NDP leading with 33.2 per cent support, followed by the ruling Conservatives at 30.9, the Liberals at 25.9, the Bloc Quebecois and Green Party tied at 4.7 and other parties garnering less then 1% combined.
Locally, ThreeHundredEight.com projections showed the Conservatives well ahead in Wellington-Halton Hills, with 56.2% support, compared to 18.8 for the Liberals, 15.6 for the NDP and 8.5 for the Green Party. All other parties combined have 0.8% support in the ThreeHundredEight.com projections.
In Perth Wellington, projections show the Conservatives lead by a smaller margin, posting 42.9% support, with the NDP running second at 27.4, the Liberals third at 22.3 and the Greens at 6.5. All other parties combined garnered 0.9% support.
ThreeHundredEight.com is a website dedicated to political polling and electoral forecasts in Canada founded by Eric Grenier, a poll analyst for the CBC.
The site warns local projections "are not polls and are not necessarily an accurate reflection of current voting intentions in each riding."
Since 2009, the Canada Elections Act requires that a general election be held by the third Monday in October in the fourth calendar year after the previous election.
While often referred to as a “fixed election date” it is actually a maximum term. As stated on the Parliament of Canada website, “elections can still be held earlier if the government loses the confidence of the legislature, and nothing restricts the royal prerogative of dissolution.”
The 78-day duration makes the 2015 federal election campaign the longest aside from the first two in 1867 and 1872. The average length of the last 10 federal campaigns is 48 days.
The minimum length is 36 days and five of the last six campaigns have lasted either 36 or 37 days, with the 2006 campaign going 55 days.
