Campaign starts Sunday: reports Did someone forward you this newsletter? Sign up here to get it delivered weekday mornings. Sources tell CBC, Reuters and La Presse that Justin Trudeau will visit Rideau Hall on Sunday to call an election Sept. 20 after a 36-day campaign—the minimum campaign length permitted by law. "Circumstances have changed massively since 2019," a senior source told Reuters. "We need to know whether Canadians support our plans for economic recovery." Opposition parties say the election is risky, given a fourth wave of COVID-19. Erin O'Toole tweeted that Trudeau is "planning an election in the middle of a pandemic because he’s focused on politics." Jagmeet Singh said in statement to Reuters: "Mr. Trudeau has made his priority this selfish summer election and a try for a power grab." Reuters points to strong polling for the Liberals. A survey by Abacus on Thursday put the Liberals at 37% and the Conservatives at 28%. The online poll of 3,000 people, conducted between Aug. 6 and 11, suggests Trudeau could well regain control of the House of Commons. The Liberals currently hold 155 of the 338 seats. The Liberals are in comfortable majority territory, according to aggregator tooclosetocall.ca. La Presse points out that whatever the parties think of the election call, everyone is busy getting ready. Mais les apparatchiks de toutes les formations politiques ont accéléré les préparatifs en prévision du déclenchement des hostilités. La nomination des candidats s’est faite au pas de course. Les autobus ont été réservés tout comme les avions de campagne. Les évènements des premières semaines ont été mis sur papier. (Google translation here.) Bad trajectory: Theresa Tam said Thursday that "a fourth wave is underway in Canada and that cases are plotting along a strong resurgence trajectory," CTV reports. There are currently more than 13,000 active cases in Canada, more than double the number from late July. Tam said that 1,500 new cases are being reported daily and the majority are among those aged 20 to 39. “Fortunately, the number of deaths remain low, with an average of seven deaths being reported daily,” she said. “We need build up momentum to increase coverage among young adults, the age group where most of the transmission is occurring.” CBC reports that Tam also said officials are considering vaccine mandates for public servants and those who work with vulnerable people: "The carrot, the stick and everything else in between has to be examined from all angles. I would say just stay tuned on that front because everything is being looked at." Global has a story on how provinces are planning, or not planning, to provide vaccine certificates. The Globe reports that B.C. will require seniors’ care staff to be vaccinated. Less surly: Writing for Maclean's, Shannon Proudfoot has an interesting look at Innovative Research polling on attitudes on the federal parties. She finds voters are in a better mood than they were before the last election. Overall, [pollster Greg Lyle] found that Canadians seem less surly at the moment than they felt in June 2019, a few months before the last federal election, when Innovative’s polling showed that voters had a net-negative view of every party except the Greens—that is, more people disliked than liked them. The Bloc has gone from -16 net favourability rating two years ago to +13 by July 2021; the NDP have moved from -9 to +5 and the Liberals from -10 to +1; the Conservatives, on the other hand, have sunk from -15 to -22, the People’s Party of Canada from -24 to -28 and the Green Party has seen its previous +9 tumble to -8. Singh expecting: Jagmeet Singh and his spouse, Gurkiran Kaur Sidhu, announced Thursday on Instagram they are expecting a baby. The Star has a story. Writing in Maclean's Jen Gerson has a column on how the NDP seem to have been wise to give Singh a second chance to lead the party through an election rather than flitting, magpie-like, to a new leader, like some parties have. Former CPC leader Andrew Scheer made significant gains in the 2019 election, in fact winning more ballots than Trudeau. Yet in the face of perhaps too-high expectations, and a messy campaign for the Liberals, this was deemed insufficient to save the Conservative leader from the internal machinations of his own party. Meanwhile, Singh barely treaded water in the last election, and despite whispers of disaffection the NDP maintained him at the helm. Two years have passed, and which party now seems in better shape? No doubt, Scheer made mistakes—but so too has Singh. Only one got another chance to lead his party in an election, and the Conservatives would now trade a few miserly souls for Singh’s personal approval ratings. And what does that tell you? Perhaps shuffling a new leader off at the first sign of electoral wobbliness is not, actually, a great strategy. A good bet: The federal government has made it legal to gamble on individual sporting events as of Aug. 27, allowing provinces to regulate sports betting, CBC reports. "Canadians will have the opportunity to participate in single-event sport betting in a regulated and safe environment, at the discretion of the provinces and territories," Attorney General David Lametti told reporters Thursday According to the federal government, Canadians spend about $10 billion a year on single sporting events as part of betting conducted illegally in the black market, by organized criminal networks. An additional $4 billion a year gets spent by Canadians in the so-called grey market, in offshore jurisdictions where such bets are legal. — Stephen Maher | 