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OTTAWA — Conservative Leader Stephen Harper triggered a widely expected federal election campaign this morning, framing the vote set for Oct. 14 as a choice about who is best suited to lead Canada while the global economy stumbles.
The prime minister emerged from Rideau Hall, the official residence of Governor General Michaelle Jean to announce the coming vote after Ms. Jean granted his request to dissolve Parliament.
Mr. Harper defended his decision to call an election despite the fact he'd earlier vowed to fix the vote date for October, 2009.
The Tory leader said his 31-month old minority government can no longer govern in a fractious Parliament and needs a new mandate from voters.
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- Full text: Campaign-opening statement by Stephen Harper
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- Full text: Campaign-opening speech by Jack Layton
- Full text (French): Campaign-opening statement by Gilles Duceppe
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"The frank reality is this Parliament is at its useful end," Mr. Harper said.
"Between now and Oct. 14th, Canadians will choose a government to look out for their interests at a time of global economic trouble," he said.
"They will choose between clear direction or uncertainty; between common sense or risky experiments; between steadiness or recklessness."
In what will likely be a regular riposte, the Liberals issued a press release Sunday under the headline "Conservative Broken Platform Promise of the Day," which quoted the Tory blue book of 2006.
"Elections are to be held every four years," said the 2006 Conservative campaign promise, "except when a government loses the confidence of the House."
Mr. Harper justified breaking his own law by saying Parliament, which was to resume Sept. 15, had become "dysfunctional" and by arguing he requires a fresh government mandate as the country sails into global economic turbulence.
The Tory leader said now is not the time to gamble on Mr. Dion's carbon tax.
"The opposition insists on large-sale spending and a new tax. But even they admit that their carbon tax proposal is a work in progress," he said.
"Nonetheless it will tack a cost onto every expenditure every family and every business makes .... for one purpose only: to pay for spending promises the country cannot afford at the worst possible time.
Mr. Harper's strategists hope to pit his managerial acumen in a slowing economy against Mr. Dion's proposed carbon tax.
Mr. Dion counters that his plan is revenue neutral — offset by income-tax cuts — and notes that carbon taxes have been endorsed by everyone from environmentalists to leading business groups.
"Between David Suzuki and the Conference Board (of Canada), we have a very large number of Canadians that Mr. Harper is calling crazy and insane," Mr. Dion said at a Liberal caucus meeting in Winnipeg this week.
Stéphane Dion is pitting his leadership against that of Stephen Harper's, launching today what he is characterizing as a historic election campaign.
This is Mr. Dion's first election campaign as a leader; he kicked it off from Parliament Hill this morning after Mr. Harper visited the Governor General and asked her to dissolve Parliament.
In his speech Mr. Dion spoke about two competing visions for the country, portraying Mr. Harper as a strong right-winger with an extreme right-wing agenda.
Meanwhile, some Liberals wanted him to emphasize the team approach more and play up the strengths of the people around him, including deputy leader Michael Ignatieff and foreign affairs critic Bob Rae.
This could become a problem for him internally.
Mr. Dion also played up the fact that he is the underdog, a position he likes. He was underestimated in the leadership contest and ultimately won.
NDP Leader Jack Layton began his party's campaign by telling Canadians it is time to choose change.
Taking a page from the inspirational mantra of Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama, Mr. Layton said he wants to bring a new way of doing business to Parliament Hill.
"Unlike Stephen Harper, I'll be a Prime Minister who puts you and your family first," he told reporters and about 100 supporters who gathered behind Hull's Museum of Civilization where the Parliament Buildings provided a scenic backdrop.
"Unlike Stephen Harper," he said, "I'll act on the priorities of the kitchen table, not just the boardroom table."
On Saturday, Mr. Harper said he expects the upcoming election campaign to be "very nasty" with him as a target.
"I anticipate a very nasty, personal attack campaign," he said in an interview with CTV. "That's what the opposition's done in the past.
"Whether Canadians agree with what we're doing or not, I don't think they're going to believe the kind of personal attacks and scare tactics we've seen in the past."
The Conservative Party stands for big oil, guns and a right-wing American-style ideology that threatens women's right to abortion, Bloc Québécois Leader Gilles Duceppe charged on Sunday.
Speaking in Montreal, Mr. Duceppe ripped into the Conservatives in a clear acknowledgement that the governing party poses a threat to the Bloc's long-standing supremacy in the francophone ridings of Quebec.
Mr. Duceppe repeatedly compared Conservative Leader Stephen Harper to U.S. President George W. Bush. The comparison is thought by both Bloc and Conservative officials to expose one of Mr. Harper's main vulnerabilities in Quebec, where opposition to the war in Afghanistan is high.
“Like George W. Bush, Stephen Harper has done everything in his power to sabotage the Kyoto Accord [to reduce greenhouse gas emissions],” Mr. Duceppe said.
Green party leader Elizabeth May cast the federal campaign in apocalyptic terms Sunday, urging complacent Canadians to turn off CNN and tune in to the importance of their Canadian vote.
Ms. May, a career environmentalist who is leading the Greens for the first time in a national campaign, made clear her intentions to make climate change a key issue for voters on Oct. 14.
“There is no other planet that we can move to. We must live on this planet as if we plan to stay,” said Ms. May, addressing a small crowd of supporters as her 17-year-old daughter Victoria Cate May Burton stood at her side with a hand on her mother's back.
The leader of the small but growing party kicked off her campaign in Guelph, Ont., a riding Greens believe they had a shot at winning Monday in the now cancelled by-election.
Promising to leave discussions of policy for another day, Ms. May's opening speech was largely aimed at the millions of Canadians who have stopped voting or paying attention to Canadian politics.
With files from Gloria Galloway, Daniel Leblanc, Jane Taber, Bill Curry and The Canadian Press
