UPEI Political Science Professor Don Desserud. (submitted)
Canadians will head to the polls in October for a Federal election, but with the recent political controversy, there is much uncertainty as to who will lead the country once the votes are in.
UPEI Political Science Professor Don Desserud doubts we will see a sea of red in Atlantic Canada, like we did in the last election, “It is almost as if people will be voting against, rather than for. People are upset with the Liberal party and they are disappointed with Justin Trudeau, but they’re not really happy with Andrew Scheer. They don’t really know where the NDP is and the Green party has pockets of support, but not widespread support. I see a lot of this question of negative voting.”
Desserud says with the surge in popularity for the Green party provincially, he expects we may see support federally in a few ridings in Atlantic Canada.
“Not only did some Canadians vote for green candidates at the provincial level, but that support was focused on ridings that were adjacent to each other. I wouldn’t be surprised if we see one, two or even three Green seats in Atlantic Canada this time around.”
He expects voter turnout could be down for the next federal election, “My sense is that there is voting lethargy, that people are not really excited about the upcoming election, that they aren’t looking forward to it like they were last time. There is no champion that they have any kind of enthusiasm behind. I am predicting at this point, unless things change remarkably, that there will be low voter turnout.”
