Fairy tale election

Once upon a time (on Aug. 15) the Canada’s Governor-General officially dissolved parliament, to kick-start Canada’s 36-day federal election campaign during the Coronavirus pandemic’s ominous fourth wave.

Thankfully, this bizarre fairy tale is almost over, with the upshot still uncertain, despite myriad promises made by party leaders.

Only pompous politicians claim to know what the outcome will be, while the puzzled public, pundits and pollsters will simply have to wait and see where the chips fall on Sept. 20.

Pollsters are notorious for getting election predictions wrong, but (I) listened to one surveying the battlefield recently (and) he surmised there would be another minority government, either Liberal or Conservative.

The only English language leaders debate was quite farcical, with an erratic performance from the Liberal leader, and a more solid one from the Conservative. Yet polls taken since that debate show Liberals gaining in popularity to draw dead-level with the Conservatives. That may sound a little strange but the pollster explained some progressive voters are now supporting the New Democratic Party (NDP) will vote strategically for the Liberals to block the Conservatives.

To confuse the gullible public even more, Quebec’s premier voiced support for the Conservatives on three occasions before the debate. However, following comments by the moderator, which were considered racist towards Quebecers, the pollster predicted their votes could favour the Bloc Quebecois instead.

Adding to voters' skepticism, a tell-tale book by the former attorney-general, who was unceremoniously ousted from the Liberal Party in 2019, has been released days before the election. Excerpts have been widely published that are very damaging to the Liberal leader.

With the cost of the NDP platform announced only eight days before the election, more progressives could turn away from (the party’s) irresponsible $214-billion in (promised) new spending.

The only certainty is that a minority government will mean this tawdry fairy tale called a federal election will be repeated sooner rather than later, and nobody will believe they all lived happily ever after.

Bernie Smith, Parksville