Canada election campaign to kick off Wednesday

Campaigning for Canada's October 21 national elections will officially kick off on Wednesday, a government official told AFP.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is due to meet with Governor General Julie Payette at 10 am (1400 GMT) Wednesday and ask her to dissolve parliament.

The election campaign can then officially begin, although political leaders and parties have already started wooing voters with election ads, announcements and whistle stops in key battlegrounds across the country. Elected in 2015, Justin Trudeau and his Liberals will be battling for a second term against main rivals Conservative leader Andrew Scheer, Jagmeet Singh and his New Democrats, and the Greens' Elizabeth May.

The pending election call comes as a new poll showed Trudeau's Liberals reclaiming a slight lead over Scheer and the Tories after accusations of meddling in a criminal prosecution sent the Liberals' popularity tumbling.

In recent months, the Liberals have managed to claw back some of the lost support to make it a close race.

According to Mainstreet Research, the Liberals now have 38 percent support, versus 34 percent for the Tories.

Data showed that the Greens, with 11 percent support, could also leapfrog the New Democrats at eight percent to claim the third rank in parliament. The Greens currently have only two seats.

The survey of 1,876 Canadians was conducted from September 6 to 8, with a 2.3 percent margin of error.

Source: AFP