theBreaker.news Podcast: The calm before the storm

The calm before the storm.

The awkward wait is on, before the Prime Minister asks the Governor General to dissolve Parliament for the 43rd general election. Justin Trudeau must go to Julie Payette no later than Sept. 15. Election day is fixed for Oct. 21.

The campaign unofficially began the day that Parliament closed for the summer. Some say it really began the day after the Liberals won a majority in 2015.

On this edition of theBreaker.news Podcast, host Bob Mackin welcomes pollster Mario Canseco back to talk about the post-Labour Day headlines.

The NDP and Green Party — not the Liberals and Conservatives — were in a heated battle in New Brunswick after some NDP members unhappy with the leadership of Jagmeet Singh defected to the Greens. Some suggested racism was the root problem.

The People's Party's Maxime Bernier took aim not at Trudeau, but Swedish teenager Greta Thunberg and her climate change crusade. Meanwhile, the Conservatives released a back to school-themed ad showing a version of what it is like in Andrew Scheer’s kitchen on the first day of school.

Trudeau was skewered by a comedian on the Netflix Patriot Act show. People were laughing at Trudeau, not laughing with Trudeau, who may appear at only two of the five federal leaders' debates.

“It’s a tactic that we’ve seen with other incumbents, is to stay as far away as possible from those debates unless you absolutely have to," Canseco said. "It’s quite ironic that it happened in the same week, the reaction to Justin Trudeau’s showing wasn’t that great on the Netflix show and now they’re deciding that they want to keep him under a much tighter leash than they probably thought about this two weeks ago.”

Plus commentaries and headlines from the Pacific Northwest and Pacific Rim and host Mackin awards a virtual Nanaimo bar to a B.C. charity that is making a difference.

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