Justin Trudeau wanted an election. Do voters see a takeover?

Mr. Trudeau has many accomplishments since 2015 to highlight. His government introduced carbon pricing and other climate measures, legalized cannabis, increased spending on indigenous issues, and made 1,500 models of military-style rifles illegal. A new plan will provide child care for $ 10 Canadian per day per child.

Although his popularity has waned, Mr. Trudeau’s star power remains. When he walked by the outdoor patio of a cafe in Port Coquitlam, an eastern suburb of Vancouver, for nudges, quick chats and selfies with voters, the crowd quickly grew.

We love you, we love you, said Joy Silver, a 76-year-old retired teacher from nearby Coquitlam, to Trudeau.

But as Election Day approaches, many Canadians are still wondering why Mr. Trudeau is holding a vote now, two years ahead of schedule, with Covid-19 infections on the rise from the Delta variant, taxing them. hospitals and causing further pandemic restrictions in some provinces or delaying their lifting in others.

He was also criticized for calling a vote on the very weekend Kabul fell to the Taliban, as Canadian troops struggled to evacuate Canadians as well as Afghans who had aided their forces.

They struggled to answer that question throughout the campaign, said Gerald Butts, a longtime friend of Mr. Trudeau’s and a former prominent political adviser. And that’s part of why they’re struggling to get the point across.

Mr Trudeau has said he needs to replace his plurality in the House of Commons with a majority to deal with the remainder of the pandemic and the recovery that will follow, although he avoids explicitly saying a majority. The Liberal Party’s political calculation was that it was better to strike while Canadians still had favorable views on how Mr. Trudeau had handled pandemic issues, particularly income support and the purchase of vaccines.