Justin Trudeau began his second day in Quebec with a stop in Trois-Rivières, where the message remained one of electing a progressive government and not opposition, and avoiding speculation on any post-electoral government formations. After several more stops during the day, he finished the day in Montreal with a big rally.

Andrew Scheer was in Brampton to pledge that his first piece of legislation would be to repeal the federal carbon price – never mind that it would simply take a Governor-in-Council order to remove the affected provinces from the law’s Schedule 1. Scheer also insisted that the “modern convention” in Canada is that the party that wins the most seats gets to form government – which is utter bunk, and someone who was Speaker of the House, and who claims great respect for Westminster parliamentary traditions should know. But this is about sowing doubt and poisoning the well so that he can claim that any other configuration is somehow illegitimate, which it’s not. But it’s not like truth is his big strong suit.

Jagmeet Singh started his day in Welland, Ontario, where he stated that “coalition isn’t a dirty word.” Perhaps he should ask Nick Clegg in the UK about how well that worked out for him. Singh also insisted that he could “encourage” provinces with his many healthcare promises (such as making specific hospital pledges), which is pretty much hand-waving.

Other election stories:

• All parties rolled out seniors policies at the start of the campaign, and now seniors complain they’re being “ignored.” I can’t even.
• Political scientists and pollsters try to decipher the meaning of high advance poll turnout.
• The Conservatives lied in Chinese-language ads about Liberals legalizing hard drugs. The Liberals torqued Conservative gun control positions. But let’s both-sides it.
• CBC’s fact-checkers felt obliged to decide if this is the nastiest election campaign ever. Unsurprisingly, it isn’t. Go figure.
• An avowed junk news site’s claim that the Trudeau security threat was invented is being shared thousands of times, but Facebook won’t take it down.
• The Conservatives insist they won’t cut the defence procurement budget. (We’ve all heard that one before).
• Singh’s campaign performance has silenced his party’s critics.

Good reads:

• Pierre Trudeau’s biographer sees plenty of parallels between this election and the 1972 election.
• Energy economist Andrew Leach gives one final overview of the three climate plans on offer in this election, and the broader implications of each.
• Chantal Hébert offers her take on the possible post-election parliamentary configurations, and what effect that may have on some leaders’ fortunes.

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