Top three federal party leaders in Western Canada

The top three federal party leaders are in Western Canada today. Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre is scheduled to hold a news conference in Edmonton at 8:30 a.m. before he makes his way to Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., for a rally in the evening. NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh plans to make an announcement at 9:30 a.m. in Vancouver before joining striking workers on a picket line and meeting with Stewart Philip, grand chief of the Union of British Columbia Indian Chiefs, in Burnaby, B.C., in the evening. Liberal Leader Mark Carney is expected to make an announcement in Delta, B.C., this morning and will visit a business in New Westminster, B.C., before heading east for a suppertime rally in Calgary. The Liberals pledged environmental conservation measures and support for seniors, while the Tories offered more efficient approvals for resource projects, and the NDP promised $16 billion over four years to build three million homes by 2030. The Liberal and Conservative leaders both started the third week of the federal election campaign in British Columbia — a battleground province with 43 seats up for grabs when Canadians go to the polls in the April 28 vote. Pierre Poilievre faces 81 challengers on ballot Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre will seek re-election in his own riding against 81 other candidates — while Liberal Leader Mark Carney is running for the first time against just four challengers in Nepean. A protest group called the Longest Ballot Committee has convinced dozens of candidates to register to run as Independents in Poilievre’s Ontario riding of Carleton, in addition to the usual main party candidates. The protest group opposes the first-past-the-post voting system and is seeking to build support for electoral reform. The group has fielded long lists of candidates in prominent federal byelections in recent years, inflating the physical size of ballots and delaying the counts. A representative from the protest group pledged to field candidates against Liberal incumbent Chrystia Freeland in her University—Rosedale riding in Toronto — a threat that has not materialized as she only faces five challengers. Continue Reading