Federal election to be called Saturday

[attach]3897[/attach]Having lost a vote of confidence in Parliament this afternoon, Prime Minister Stephen Harper is expected to head to Rideau Hall on Saturday morning to ask the Governor General to call an election for early May.

In a press release, Harper chastised the opposition parties for forcing what he called “an unnecessary election”.

“(Liberal leader) Michael Ignatieff and his coalition partners are irresponsibly and recklessly putting at risk Canadians’ jobs, our economy and stable government,” Harper was quoted as saying.

For his part, Ignatieff described the Harper government as being “out of control and out of touch,” and came out swinging in a release of his own.

“(The Conservatives) have no credible plan to tackle the deficit, no numbers we can believe in, no vision of how to sustain our health care system — just bad choices for our families and our economy…

“It’s time for a change.”

No date has been chosen yet, but it is being widely reported that the vote will take place on either May 2 or 9. By law, a vote can’t be held until 36 days after the Governor General has signed the writ to call the election. Also by law, votes normally take place on a Monday.

The Town Crier will keep you updated with your local election news both online and in our print publications — including both our newspapers and Toronto Today.

Let us know what party you think should form the next government by voting in our latest [url=https://streeter.ca/which-party-should-form-the-next-federal-governmentth.html]Town Crier poll[/url].