Party leaders start campaign for Oct. 19 election

It’s day two of the campaign for the October 19th federal election.

At 11 weeks, the campaign will be the longest in 140 years, and will also be among the most expensive ever for taxpayers.

Heading into the campaign, opinion polls suggested the NDP were in the lead with the Conservatives and Liberals running second and third respectively.

Prime Minister Harper has a campaign event today in Kingston, Ontario, while Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau will be headed to Calgary from Vancouver.

The NDP’s Tom Mulcair has no major events planned.

Harper launched his campaign with a rally last night in Montreal where he targeted his rivals with sarcastic attacks.

He claimed Trudeau and Mulcair aren’t up to making the tough decisions prime ministers have to make on such issues as terrorism.

He suggested Trudeau might try to use his charm on Islamic State militants.

The Prime Minister was met by some opposition of his own as demonstrators slapped anti-Harper stickers on a Tory campaign bus.

A few protesters even tried to prevent a bus from leaving by sitting in front of it, and one man was arrested for uttering threats.

Harper asked Governor General David Johnston to dissolve Parliament yesterday and made the announcement outside Rideau Hall.

He was quickly peppered with media questions about why he was subjecting Canadians to a campaign that promises to be the longest in more than a century and the costliest in the country’s political history.

Simple, Harper replied: Conservative rivals are already campaigning, and they’re doing it on the public dime.

“If we’re going to begin our campaigns and run our campaigns, that those campaigns need to be conducted under the rules of the law, that the money come from the parties themselves, not from the government resources, parliamentary resources or taxpayer resources,” he said.

“In terms of the advantages this party has, in terms of the fact that we are a better financed political party, a better organized political party and better supported by Canadians, those advantages exist whether we call this campaign or not.

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