2015 Canadian Election

Overview

The 2015 Canadian federal election is scheduled to occur on October 19, 2015; during which Canada will elect 338 members of parliament to the House of Commons. The three parties contesting to form government are the incumbent Conservatives under Stephen Harper, the New Democrats under Thomas Mulcair, and the Liberals under Justin Trudeau.

Background

On February 6, 2006, the newly merged Conservative Party of Canada was elected in a minority government, defeating the Liberal Party of Canada which had been in power since 1993. Party leader Stephen Harper replaced Paul Martin as the Prime Minister and led his party to re-election in 2008 and 2011. The 2011 election also resulted in the Liberals – under Michael Ignatieff – falling to third place for the first time in Canada’s history, losing significant ground to the New Democratic Party, who were previously an underdog in elections.

The current Liberal leader, Justin Trudeau, was elected in April 2013. Trudeau is the son of former Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, who served from 1968 to 1984 (save for 9 months). The current NDP leader, Thomas Mulcair, was elected in March 2012, replacing his deceased predecessor, Jack Layton. Polls indicate that all three parties are on roughly equal ground leading into the election.

Notable Developments

August 6, 2015: Maclean’s Debate

Maclean’s, a Canadian news magazine, hosted a debate between the leaders of the major political parties.

Early into the debate, Stephen Harper’s discussion on energy policies was interrupted by Justin Trudeau saying “Mr. Harper, nobody believes you!” A reversed, slowed GIF of Harper’s reaction to Trudeau’s attack was posted to /r/canada^[1] the day after the debate, where it was renowned for its “robotic” appearance. It was reposted to the /r/reactiongifs subreddit hours later, where it accumulated a score of 6,092.^[2]

One hour into the debate^[3], Justin Trudeau engaged Thomas Mulcair on his stance on Quebec sovereignty, prompting Mulcair to ask how many votes Trudeau believed would be acceptable to grant Quebec secession. While attempting to reframe the question, Trudeau was interrupted by Mulcair making remarks such as “He won’t answer,” “it’s real secret when you put it in the House of Commons,” and most notably, “what’s the number, Justin?”^[4] Ultimately, Trudeau’s answer was “nine.”

The event briefly repeated itself later during the same discussion.

August 18, 2015: Angry Old Man

During one of Stephen Harper’s campaign stops in Toronto, reporters were seeking information on the Prime Minister’s involvement in a 2013 scandal involving inappropriate expense claims by senator Mike Duffy. They were confronted by an older man who attempted to rebuke them, but grew increasingly hostile as they continued to ask questions, eventually yelling at them and referring to one journalist as “a lying piece of shit.”^[5]

The event received instant media coverage, and prompted the circulation of parody images and social media accounts.^[6]

I did not give permission to put my picture on television. Now you are ALL pieces of shit. #cdnpoli #elxn42 pic.twitter.com/1KGTPv3rBu
— Angry Harperite (@AngryHarperite) August 18, 2015

On August 19, Redditor /u/stinkstick17 posted a link on /r/canada^[7] to a Maclean’s article from 2014 which described an older man named Earl Cowan, a supporter of Rob Ford, causing a similar disruption at a Toronto mayoral debate, telling candidate Olivia Chow to “go back to China.”^[8] The OP posted another link which suggests that Earl Cowan may be the angry man in question.