As voters enjoy a festive meal with family and friends this long weekend, leadership debates could also be digesting, and the electoral campaign is large.
Holidays in the middle of a campaign are not new. The rules of the fixed date of Canada means that the vote is usually held in October after the weekend of Thanksgiving.
But the call of the spring elections has put Easter and Easter celebrations in the last weeks of the campaign.
“Many people will meet with family and friends and if you track things like trust: mouth mouth, the opinion of their friends, the opinion of their family still matters a lot,” said Greg Maceacherr to CBC’s Power and politics last week.
The leading leaders of the party meet in Montreal for the debate of English leaders with less than two weeks until Canada votes. And the organizers of the event are forced to cancel the news conferences after the debate about security concerns.
Maceacher, who has worked on liberal campaigns in the past, said the 2008 campaign, where he said that the weekend of Thanksgiving contributed to a pleasure in the public’s perception of the then liberal leader Stéphane Dion.
“There was a long weekend, thanksgiving and many conversations about whether Stéphane Dion had things,” Maceacherr said.
Lori Turnbull, professor of Political Science at the University of Dalhouseie, says that the long weekend that arrives after the leadership debates will also give the undecided voters something to chew.
No leader seemed to get a decisive blow in the French or English debate, but the leaders took a lot of blows to each other while trying to stay in their main message.
“What is likely to get are undecided voters who could be listening carefully,” Turnbull told CBC News. “It is possible that you have people who do not necessarily listen to all the things that are happening in the campaign, tend to change in recent weeks, so the debate of leaders can give you a quick accident course.”
On the other hand, the former conservative minister of the Cabinet James Moore said that the debates usually only galvanize or reaffirm the elections of the voters.
“We are going to enter the Easter weekend, Good Friday, where [the debates will] I think it’s probably a little washing throughout the exercise, “Moore told CBC’s Rosemary Barton Live Sunday.
But Moore said family gatherings during the long weekend could influence some undecided voters while discussing the choice they face.
“People will return to what matters most, which connects with their families and has a sincere heart with their families about who want to see how the next prime minister, which I think where the vote will probably crystallize,” he said.
But holiday conversations are not exclusively about politics and conversations can be derived from other issues, including the beginning of the NHL playoffs.
Turnbull argued that even conversations about the president of the United States, Donald Trump, who has become a key issue in this election, does not necessarily mean that people will explicitly talk about the campaign.
But even with other conversations on the table, Turnbull said the electoral conversation will be difficult to avoid.
“The general level of commitment to this choice is higher than typically is because there is a feeling that bets are so high and the fact that it has the way of being a bipartisan career between liberals and conservatives,” he said.
Canada’s elections will also conduct early surveys from Friday to Monday. Turnbull said it could also encourage more participation, especially among first -time voters.
“For example, the university student is at home for Easter. Tme to vote, you go with your parents. That is significant, that is important. That makes it more likely that the person maintains that practice of voting over time,” he said.
