Where have the last four years gone?
While some will tell you that it feels like an eternity since Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and the Liberals were elected in October 2015, the reality is that the past four years have gone by very quickly.
And now we鈥檙e on the cusp of an election being called.
The current government has gone through the highs and the lows associated with being in power, although the last couple of years of this term have not been kind to the government.
Now it appears they will be in a tough battle with the Conservatives to remain in power, a thought that seemed inconceivable four years ago, when the Liberals were handed a pretty strong majority government.
The 2015 election went from a tight three-way race with the Liberals, the New Democratic Party and the governing Tories, to a two-party race with the Liberals and the Tories, to a convincing victory for the Liberals in which they swept Atlantic Canada. Trudeau ran a virtually flawless campaign, and while there were concerns about Trudeau鈥檚 ability to govern, nobody could deny that Trudeau, as a front-runner, out-campaigned former PM Stephen Harper, which isn鈥檛 easy.
When he was elected, it seemed like the best bet for toppling Trudeau would be in 2023, rather than 2019.
But scandals and other missteps have eroded the party鈥檚 popularity, and now we鈥檙e talking about the realistic possibility of the Tories defeating the Liberals at the polls on Oct. 21.
It would be nice if we had a close race in Souris-Moose Mountain as well.
Robert Kitchen, the incumbent Conservative MP, was nominated to run again two years ago. And when you consider voting trends in this constituency in the past few elections, you have to consider him the favourite.
Phil Zajac is representing the People鈥檚 Party of Canada, a more conservative version of the Conservatives. He鈥檚 demonstrated that he鈥檚 not just a token candidate or a nomination-filler, as he has worked hard and even brought party leader Maxime Bernier to the constituency in the summer.
The other candidate is Travis Patron of the Canadian Nationalist Party, a hard-right, controversial 鈥減arty鈥� that was approved by Elections Canada just last month. As of Monday evening, Patron is their only candidate. It means he鈥檒l be looking to get his ideas out, but these are ideas that most people don鈥檛 want anything to do with.
The Green Party, the NDP and the Liberals had yet to announce their candidates for this election. We hope that despite the long odds facing these parties in this riding, they will give us candidates who reside in the constituency and who are at least willing to do a basic level of work by appearing at debates, meeting with people and making a good representation of the party.
The lack of a candidate for the NDP isn鈥檛 unique to Souris-Moose Mountain. The party has been having trouble filling the full slate of candidates. And while you can be sure that they鈥檒l have candidates in all 338 ridings before too long, many of those candidates are behind the 8-ball, thanks to the late start their party saddled them with.
When trying to figure out who will win the election, it鈥檚 important to think beyond the borders of Souris-Moose Mountain and Saskatchewan. If you listen to the people of Souris-Moose Mountain and other ridings in this province, you鈥檒l think that the Liberals have no shot of being re-elected.
It鈥檚 a refrain you hear in rural ridings across Western Canada and even Ontario. You鈥檒l even hear it in some urban ridings, such as in Calgary or B.C.鈥檚 Fraser Valley or even suburban Toronto.
But these are just part of the big electoral picture.
It鈥檚 likely going to be a tight election. You鈥檙e likely going to see a minority government. And so instead of looking at who will be government for the next four years, we鈥檒l be wondering how long the next government will be able to cling to power.
