Canada is all set to go for the Federal Elections 2019, scheduled to take place on or before October 21, 2019. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will go to the Governor-General’s office to urge dissolution of the House of Commons.
Indian origin political leaders in Canada are once again in the limelight with a record number of 50-odd candidates being in the fray. Most of them are of Punjabi origin.
Thus far, Liberal party’s list has 18 candidates of Indian origin including Navdeep Bains, Harjit Singh Sajjan, Amarjeet Sohi, and Bardish Chagger, while Conservative party include 17 Indian origin candidates.
Green Party of Canada has five candidates of Indian origin whereas the New Democratic Party has nine. Two independent candidates, as well as origin Liberal Members of Parliament, had to leave the Caucus to stand clear of the charges made against them. Among Indian origin candidates in the fray, there are 12 women candidates including Bardish Chagger, the youngest leader of the Canada government in the House.
This time there will a little change in the campaigning as well. The campaign period will be just six weeks while it was 11 weeks in the 2015 elections. This elections also marks the first time that one of three major political parties – Liberal, Conservatives, and NDP – will be led into elections by a leader of Indian origin.
A party will need 170 seats in the New House of Commons in order to form the next government. So far, Liberals have 177 Members of Parliament in the 338-seat House of Commons followed by the Conservatives with 95 MPs and the NDP with 39 MPs.
