Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper has called general elections for Oct. 19, kicking off the country's longest election campaign in recent history.
The 56-year-old Conservative leader said on Sunday he had asked Canadian governor general David Johnson, the representative of Queen Elizabeth II, to dissolve parliament, according to BBC.
Harper's Sunday announcement marks the official beginning of an eleven-week election campaign. Five of country's last six parliamentary election campaigns have lasted the minimum length of just over five weeks, according to The Guardian.
Stephen Harper's Conservative Party, has been ruling since 2006, trailing behind the New Democrats (NDP), a left-leaning party which has never ruled the country, according to Reuters. Justin Trudeau-led Liberals are behind in third place.
"Some people will say, 'Let's take a chance with Justin or Mulcair.' But our future is not a lottery," Harper said referring his rivals Liberal leader Justin Trudeau and NDP Leader Thomas Mulcair, according to The Globe and Mail.
"Greece took a chance with a left-wing government ... which took a terrible situation and made it worse," he said while addressing hundreds of supporters in Montreal in his speech. "In life when you lose at 6/49, you throw out your ticket and move on. But when a country loses its economic credibility, all citizens lose, for a long period of time," he added, according to The Globe and Mail.
The Canadian Prime Minister said management of the economy was his party's priority adding that a long election campaign needed so Canadian can explore the options and make a serious choice, according to Dow Jones news wire.
"This is an election about leadership on the big issues that affect us all.It is an election about who will protect our economy in a period of ongoing global instability and secure Canada's prosperity. And it's about who is best equipped to make the tough calls to keep our country safe," he said, according to Dow Jones.
