加拿大总理解散国会 宣布10月大选

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper has set the date for general elections in mid-October, starting a longer-than usual election campaign. Harper dissolved Parliament on Sunday in a visit to the governor-general, who serves as Canada's formal but mostly ceremonial head of state. Harper said the election would be about keeping the economy strong and Canadians safe from attacks from extremists.

"A few moments ago I met with his Excellency, the Governor General, and he has agreed to my request that Parliament be dissolved. In accordance with our commitment to a fixed election date, the next general election will be held as prescribed by law." "This election is also about security, not merely our security against the normal risks of criminal behaviour, but our security against the growing threats of an increasingly dangerous world. The rise of the so-called Islamic State in the Middle East has done more than just create an urgent and horrific crisis in that part of the world. It has also fuelled the violent global Jihadist movement that poses a direct threat to our friends and allies and to us here at home," Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper said.

Voters will be choosing all 338 members of the House of Commons, 30 more than in the last election because of re-districting. Polls suggest the race will be tight. Harper called the election in the middle of a long holiday weekend in Canada in the dead of summer, triggering an 11-week campaign rather than the usual five-week campaign. Harper has been in office since 2006, and if he wins again, he would become the first prime minister since 1908 to win four consecutive elections.