At the federal level, all signs point to a confidence vote the minute Parliament returns in late March that will bring down the Trudeau government and kick off a general election, with voting in April or May.Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press
If all goes as expected, Canada will face important back-to-back general elections in the coming months.
Ontario’s is already in motion, thanks to the snap vote called last week by Premier Doug Ford, with ballot day set for Feb. 27. At the federal level, all signs point to a confidence vote the minute Parliament returns in late March that will bring down the Trudeau government and kick off a general election, with voting in April or May. If that scenario doesn’t come to pass, there still has to be a federal election no later than Oct. 20.
There are also scheduled elections in Nunavut, Yukon and Newfoundland and Labrador this fall. It will be a busy year but also a highly unusual one, because the stakes in every vote will be at a historical high.
U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs have made the political landscape unrecognizable. All bets about our biggest trading partner are off, and any politician who goes into an election this year talking about anything else has to be suspect in voters’ eyes.
Here are the issues that politicians at the federal, provincial or territorial level must address if they want to be taken seriously in 2025 and beyond:
Acknowledging a changed world. Our old assumptions are dead. We are heading into an era of protectionism, led by a U.S. President who believes his country can only win if others lose. Campaigning as if this weren’t the case would not only be wrong, it would be weird.
Eliminating interprovincial trade barriers. Any politician who cannot commit to something so obviously overdue and urgent will be wasting Canadians’ precious time.
Building adult federal-provincial relations. Fighting America’s economic aggression requires a respectful working relationship between all levels of government that rises above silly partisanship. Among other things, federal politicians should pledge not to creep into provincial jurisdictions; their provincial counterparts, in turn, need to stop blaming their problems on Ottawa.
Rescuing Canada’s productivity. Politicians at all levels need to pledge to invest in infrastructure, cut red tape and reform their respective tax systems in order to free up capital and promote foreign and domestic investment. Any party that doesn’t offer a workable plan to immediately increase Canada’s lagging productivity and ease the way for capital investment cannot be considered a serious option.
Balancing budgets. Enough with vowing to balance provincial and federal budgets some time down the road. Candidates and their parties should pledge to do it by the end of their first term, and then live up to that.
Investing in defence. Canada needs a properly funded and manned military, period. We must be able to protect our interests, meet our NATO commitments and make a meaningful contribution to continental defence. It will require hard choices (that will likely impact the provinces) when it comes to federal spending. Hard choices require leadership; voters should insist on it.
Fixing health care. Politicians need to get past the tired debate about preserving the government monopoly on health care and focus on the only thing that matters: timely access to care regardless of income. Timely doesn’t mean equal; it just means timely. There are too many jurisdictions around the world that have far better outcomes than Canada does with a mix of public and private care for any party to beat the drum for the status quo.
Battling climate change. The federal fossil fuel charge (carbon tax to many) appears to be doomed. The serious candidate has to have a politically durable and economically realistic alternative that doesn’t insult Canadians’ intelligence by telling them it will be pain-free. Politicians also need to invest in mitigation plans to prevent forest fires and flooding.
Repairing immigration. Canada’s points-based immigration system was once the envy of the world. It took the Trudeau government just a few years to ruin it. It’s on the mend now, but a serious candidate needs a plan to fully restore it.
Not all of these things are easy to do or sell. But the moment is here for Canada, as we said last month, to finally become a mature, independent nation that can compete in a changed world. Electoral candidates who get beyond simple slogans and old battles, and who are prepared to do the difficult things required of the times, are the only ones who deserve voters’ attention.