Canada PoliticsNDP preparing for an early election
There's been some chatter — here, here and here — that the Tories will call an election in 2014 rather than waiting until the fixed election date set for October 2015.
The rationale being that the Conservatives have a strategic advantage to go early: They'd to go to the polls before the Senate scandal hits the courts and it would give the opposition parties less time to develop their policies and ground games.
If Harper is going to call an early election, however, he's not going to catch the NDP off-guard.
[ Related: Mulcair the most popular politician in Quebec ]
During his year-end interview with the Toronto Star, NDP leader Thomas Mulcair said that his party will be ready for an election as early as the Spring of 2014. They're getting polling captains, volunteers and candidates in place and have already started to unveil some of their policies.
"The reality is once we start the fourth year, that given past behavior, Chrétien did it a couple of times to the Conservatives in the past, so it’s a lesson learned," he said.
"So we’re going to be ready."
As for the Liberals, Justin Trudeau told the Canadian Press that his party is working towards getting ready for a "spring of 2015" election.
[ Related: Is Justin Trudeau really the most valuable politician in Ottawa? ]
While the polls suggest the Tories trail the Liberals, a year-end Ekos Research survey offers them some hope about a 2014 election being winnable.
The poll — published at iPolitics.ca — says that when only 'likely voters' are taken to account, there's a virtual three-way tie between the major parties.
Liberals: 29.1 per cent
Conservatives: 28.5 per cent
NDP: 27.2 per cent
Leaders who have been around as long as Stephen Harper has, haven't fared very well, of late.
When you look at leaders like Gordon Campbell in B.C., Dalton McGuinty in Ontario and Jean Charest in Quebec you see that when their numbers started tanking in the polls, they weren't able to turn things around.
So, if Harper wants to stay in power, maybe an early election is his best option.
Are you a politics junkie?
Follow @politicalpoints on Twitter!
