I rarely make predictions, but I鈥檒l make an exception today. Within the next five days, I believe Prime Minister Mark Carney will visit the Governor General to request the dissolution of the House of Commons for a federal general election.
Why do I think this? The House of Commons is currently prorogued until this coming Monday, March 24th. Since PM Carney is not an elected Member of Parliament, he cannot sit on the floor of the House of Commons as Canadian Prime Ministers traditionally do.
This creates a situation where Opposition MPs can ask serious questions, but the Prime Minister cannot directly answer them and must rely on Cabinet Ministers to respond on his behalf.
The Liberals are unlikely to favour having their Prime Minister observe from the gallery while serious questions go unanswered directly鈥攅specially when calling an election is the alternative.
For these reasons, I expect the writ period to be announced in the coming days.
This election will be historic for Canadians. After nine years under a Liberal Prime Minister, will voters choose another four years of Liberal leadership, or will they opt for change?
This question will weigh heavily on many Canadians鈥 minds as they head to the ballot box. The situation has become even more intriguing since U.S. President Trumpsa国际传媒 recent statement that he would 鈥渞ather deal with a Liberal than a Conservative鈥 government in Canada.
U.S. President Donald Trumpsa国际传媒 endorsement of the Liberals came as a surprise to many鈥攑articularly to the Liberal Party itself, which had been attempting to portray the Conservative Party leader as Trumpsa国际传媒 likely preferred choice.
Based on my door-to-door conversations in our community, I鈥檝e found that residents are concerned with far more pressing issues than those making headlines in Ottawa.
Many citizens continue to struggle with affordability challenges, and the serious crime problem has severely impacted many neighborhoods.
Ultimately, citizens must familiarize themselves with each partysa国际传媒 platform and choose the party and candidate who will best address their most important issues.
One important change affecting our riding is the updated electoral boundaries for this election. For citizens in West sa国际传媒, Peachland, and Summerland, your communities remain together within the same electoral boundary, continuing the arrangement from the past three elections.
However, for what can be described as the Mission and the Southern part of sa国际传媒, there will be changes.
If you were driving into sa国际传媒 from West sa国际传媒 on Harvey and turned right onto Ethel Street, you would be following the new riding boundary. This boundary extends down to Casorso Road until it hits Mission Creek. The boundary then runs from Mission Creek east until it hits McCulloch Road where it runs towards Highway 33.
According to the 2021 census, this new riding, called “Okanagan Lake West—South sa国际传媒,” is home to 106,794 citizens. Since the boundaries in the neighbouring riding of “sa国际传媒” have also changed a lot from the previous federal election, please visit Elections Canada at for detailed information.
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My question for this week: What is your most important concern in this potential upcoming federal election?
Join the discussion on my Facebook page, or contact me at Dan.Albas@parl.gc.ca or toll-free at 1-800-665-8711.
Dan Albas is member of Parliament for Central Okanagan-Similkameen Nicola
