Canada - It’s Official: Canada’s Early Elections To Be On Sukkos

Just four days ago FNR posted an article HERE about the concerns of the Jewish community of Canada regarding the possibility of early elections possibly falling out on the Yom Tov (Holiday) of Sukkos. Sure enough, just a short while ago Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced parliamentary elections, after warning for weeks that elections were inevitable to break a deadlock with opposition parties on several key issues.

The third general election in just over four years is expected to take place October 14 -the first day of Sukkos - after Canada’s governor-general announced the dissolution of the parliament.
“Between now and October 14th, Canadians will choose a government to look out for their interest in a time of global economic trouble,” Harper said.

“They will choose between clear direction or uncertainty, between common sense or risky experiments, between steadiness or recklessness.”

Harper, who has headed the Conservative minority government since January 2006, making it the longest minority government in the country’s history, has insisted in recent weeks that new elections will be necessary to deal with the specter of possible recession, as the manufacturing sectors in the most populous provinces, Ontario and Quebec, suffer a direct hit from the global economic slowdown.

Harper used the announcement Sunday to lash out at his opponents, saying their criticism of his government “masks unclear and risky agendas.”

Surveys ahead of Sunday’s announcement showed that Harper, elected to head a minority government on January 23, 2006, has a strong possibility of being returned to power.

His Conservative Party has 127 deputies out of 308 total seats in the House of Commons. They need another 28 seats to gain an absolute majority.