the watch of time

This morning, in the middle of a summer holiday weekend, Canada’s Prime Minister officially launched the Federal Election Campaign for the vote October 19^th – why so early?

• More opportunity for practicing those barbequing skills at public events
• Lots of time to massage the message that extra taxpayer-funded spending is just a way of paying for a staycation
• More frequent flier points for candidates, staff, and media
• The early days of hot air from speeches becomes camouflaged by the hot air of August weather
• Some of the policy themes are sink or swim oriented, so still time to do some swimming
• More occasions to show off summer wardrobes
• Better not to make all the announcements of campaign goodies before the official election launch
• Summertime is when audiences are most receptive to large scale fictional entertainment with special effects
• The media ads really started months ago, so the official stamp was just waiting
• Nothing adds more to the foreground of a warm sunset than a sea of candidate signs