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October 30th, 2018

Joint-Letter from Opposition Parties Urge Trudeau to Call By-Elections

OTTAWA – In an open letter signed by the leaders of the NDP, the Conservatives, Bloc Québécois and the Green Party, the opposition is urging Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to immediately call all by-elections following his decision to hold an election for only one of the four vacant seats in the House of Commons.

“Your decision to delay the other three by-elections denies hundreds of thousands of Canadians their simple democratic right to be represented in Parliament and have their voices heard,” the letter says.

In their letter, party leaders, Andrew Scheer, Jagmeet Singh, Mario Beaulieu, and Elizabeth May, point out that due to Trudeau’s refusal to call the by-elections in Burnaby-South (BC), York-Simcoe (Ontario), and Outremont (Quebec), more than 300,000 Canadians will continue to go without federal representation.

“While the parties we lead disagree on what solutions are best for the challenges facing Canadians, we are in complete agreement that Canadians deserve to have elected representation as soon as possible,” the letter reads. “We urge you to do what’s best for Canadians in these ridings and immediately call the by-elections for all vacant seats in the House of Commons.”

Full text of the letter can be found here.