Election watch ~ Fall ‘08?
Rumours are rife in the media about a fall election, most recently, the notion that Prime Minister Stephen Harper is prepared to abandon his fixed election date law (Globe and Mail, August 20th). Immigration policy will likely be a key point of debate/discussion in the upcoming election (as is often is). See, for example, the August 4/08 piece by Lawrence Martin in the Globe and Mail entitled “Playing the immigration card will come with some risk for the Liberals” where Martin captures what will likely be a key theme for the Conservatives: i.e., calling out the Liberals for their voting ‘yes’ on the recent budget bill, Bill C-50 (June 9/08). The bill included immigration policy reforms that the Liberals said (April 3/08) that they were/are not in support of:
“The Liberal Opposition feels strongly that the drastic immigration reforms introduced by the Conservative government should be removed from the budget bill debated in Parliament”.
Related links:
Conservative Convention, scheduled for November 13-15, 2008 in Winnipeg. NB: Of eight “key policy issues” identified for the convention, immigration does not appear.
Forum Liberalis, where the Liberal Party of Canada is inviting Canadians to participate in policy dialogue. Lots of input/interest in immigration issues.
August 24th, 2008 at 10:44 pm
CTV reports today that the election call may come as early as Sept 5th, meaning the election could be held Oct 14.