2015 Canadian Election

Overview

The 42nd Canadian federal election elected 338 members to the House of Commons of the 42nd Parliament of Canada on October 19th, 2015. Three parties contested to form the government, trying to win support over a 78-day campaign period while producing a number of offbeat events that have been parodied or lambasted on social media.

Background

On February 6th, 2006, the newly merged Conservative Party of Canada was elected in a minority government, defeating the Liberal Party of Canada which had been in power since 1993. Party leader Stephen Harper replaced Paul Martin as the Prime Minister and led his party to re-election in 2008 and 2011. The 2011 election also resulted in the Liberal Party falling to third place for the first time in Canada's history, losing significant ground to the New Democratic Party. In March 2012, the New Democratic Party elected Thomas Mulcair as their leader, replacing deceased predecessor Jack Layton. In April 2013, the Liberal Party elected Justin Trudeau as their leader.

The election occurred on October 19th, 2015, when the Liberal Party of Canada swept an unexpected majority. Justin Trudeau was designed as the 23rd Prime Minister of Canada and was sworn in on November 4th, 2015.

Notable Developments

Pre/Early Campaign: Attack Advertisements

In April of 2013, the Conservative Party began airing attack advertisements via radio and television against Justin Trudeau, almost immediately after Trudeau was elected as the leader of the Liberal Party. This was part of an effort to combat Trudeau's popularity, being the son of a former prime minister. The ads often featured unfavorable quotes and memorable slogans.

In mid-2015, a new series of ads began airing depicting a hiring department evaluating a mock resumé of Trudeau's political career. Because the ads aired with relentless frequency, slogans such as "just not ready," "nice hair, though," and phrases such as "the budget will balance itself" have become household in Canada^[15], and have been used either to mock Trudeau, the advertisements themselves, or both.

Both of the other major parties have acknowledged the ads. In early August, the Liberal Party released an advertisement featuring Trudeau discussing why he thinks he is ready to be prime minister.^[16] On September 11, the New Democratic Party began airing a parody advertisement that instead showed a company discussing the possibility of dismissing Stephen Harper as prime minister, also ending with the phrase "nice hair, though."^[17]

August 6th, 2015: Maclean's Debate

On August 6th, 2015, the Canadian news magazine Maclean's hosted a debate between the leaders of Canada's major political parties. Early into the debate, Prime Minister Stephen Harper's discussion on energy policies was interrupted by Justin Trudeau, who said "Mr. Harper, nobody believes you!"

The following day, a slowmo GIF of Harper's reaction to Trudeau's statement was submitted to the /r/canada^[1] subreddit. The following day, the GIF was reposted to the /r/reactiongifs subreddit.^[2] Within three weeks, the posts gathered upwards of 4,800 votes (92% upvoted) and 7,000 votes (94% upvoted) respectively. The GIF was reused constantly over the duration of the campaign.

During the debate, Thomas Mulcair aggressively engaged Justin Trudeau in response to a question on Quebec separatism, using condescending questions such as "What's your number, Justin?" The event received mild attention on social media.^[4]

August 18, 2015: Angry Old Man

During one of Stephen Harper's campaign stops in Toronto on August 18th, reporters questioned the Prime Minister's involvement in a 2013 scandal involving the misuse of public funds in the Senate. They were confronted by an older man who attempted to rebuke them, but grew increasingly hostile as they continued to ask questions, eventually yelling at them and referring to one journalist as "a lying piece of shit" (shown below).^[5]

The event was widely covered by news media and prompted the circulation of parody images and various social media accounts.^[6]

August 27, 2015: Teeny Tiny Deficit

On August 27, during a campaign stop, Stephen Harper mocked Justin Trudeau's fiscal policies, describing it using sarcastic language and hand gestures. A particular image of Harper "measuring" the deficit with his fingers was promptly exploited into an image macro, including one created by Trudeau's party.^[9]

September 7, 2015: #Peegate

On September 7, Jerry Bance, who was running for parliament in the Toronto area, was dismissed as a candidate for the Conservative Party by Stephen Harper over the discovery of his conduct as a home appliance technician. In 2012, he had been caught on a hidden camera urinating into a coffee mug while servicing a homeowner's sink.^[10]

The revelation went viral in Canada, and was even picked up by some news outlets in the United States, such as the New York Daily News^[11] and the Miami Herald.^[12] The event resulted in the creation of the Twitter hashtag "#Peegate" which was used for the propagation of image macros and relevant imagery.^[13]

October 2, 2015: Mon Amour

On October 2, a French-language debate took place between the main party leaders, which included Gilles Duceppe, leader of the separatist Bloc Québécois party. Duceppe was the recipient of a slip of the tongue by Liberal leader Justin Trudeau, who referred to Duceppe as "mon amour" (formal phrase for "my love") rather than "mon ami" ("my friend"). Although the debate quickly moved past it, the error was immediately picked up by social media and communicated to English-speaking Canadians.^[14]

Immediately following the debate, Trudeau tweeted a reassurance of his true faith to his wife, posting it to the #MonAmour hashtag which had been used for the incident.

October 16, 2015: Globe and Mail endorsement

On October 16th, the Globe and Mail released an official editorial endorsing the Conservative Party of Canada for the fourth consecutive election. However, the article was carefully worded to avoid endorsing the party's leader, Stephen Harper, declaring that he didn't deserve a second chance while the party did.^[18] This was in the face of Harper having been the party's only leader at that point, in addition to the party's well-known centralization and their tight control on its membership.

The baffling article was lampooned on Twitter from all sides of the political spectrum on the hashtags #MoreGlobeEndorsements and #OtherGlobeEndorsements, the former hashtag being coined by a former Globe and Mail columnist.^[19] The hashtags were filled with parody tweets claiming that the Globe and Mail had endorsed something but without something else it was logically inseparable from, such as:

• The Globe, but not the Mail
• Rye and Ginger Ale, without the Ginger Ale
• Rock, but not Roll
• Lex Luthor's minions, but not Lex Luthor
• Hall, but not Oates

Search Interest

External References