Canada: Call to the Polls

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Three days after succeeding Lester Pearson as Canada's 15th Prime Minister, Pierre Elliott Trudeau, 48, went before Parliament last week and, in his first formal appearance as leader of the country, dissolved Parliament and called for new general elections on June 25. Thus, ignoring considerable party opinion that he should prove himself to the voters before going to the polls, Trudeau decided to push ahead and try to capitalize on the political momentum that propelled him almost overnight from the Justice Ministry in Pearson's government into his country's top job.

With only 129 seats in the 259-seat House of Commons, Trudeau's Liberals are two votes short of a majority and therefore — like Canada's two previous governments since 1962 — dependent upon minority party support to get legislation passed. But the latest Gallup poll gives the Liberals 42% of the vote, their highest rating in 27 months, compared with 34% for the opposition Tories. Besides, though he will be with out a Parliament, Trudeau will continue as a highly visible Prime Minister until the elections.

The lack of a record promises to be no hindrance, since Trudeau will be going up against another relatively un tested politician: Tory Leader Robert Stanfield, 54, the onetime Premier of Nova Scotia who succeeded former Prime Minister John Diefenbaker as party leader last September. Stanfield is cautious and reserved, but a proven vote getter and administrator who served an unprecedented four terms as Nova Scotia's Premier. In the few months since he assumed the Tory leadership, he has restructured and strengthened the party organization in Ottawa and the country's 264 election districts. Still, most Canadians feel that the contest will be one of personalities rather than of issues — and that building images will thus be as important as building organizations.