OTTAWA 鈥� A chronology of events that unfolded during the 2015 federal election campaign.
Aug. 2: Prime Minister Stephen Harper announces he has asked the Governor General to dissolve Parliament, triggering a campaign for the Oct. 19 election billed as one of the longest 鈥� and most costly 鈥� in modern Canadian political history.
鈥淐anadians will make a critical decision about the direction of our country, a decision with real consequences, a decision about who has the proven experience today to keep our economy strong and our country safe.鈥� 鈥� Harper.
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Aug. 6: Harper鈥檚 economic and environmental records comes under fire during the televised Maclean鈥檚 debate as NDP Leader Tom Mulcair, Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau and Green party Leader Elizabeth May took aim at the Conservative leader鈥檚 nine-year tenure.
鈥淵ou have completely become disconnected from the reality that people are facing right across this country.鈥� 鈥� Trudeau to Harper.
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Aug. 12: Harper鈥檚 former chief of staff, Nigel Wright, begins his testimony at the criminal trial of Sen. Mike Duffy, telling court he informed Harper that Duffy agreed to repay his impugned expense claims, but did not disclose there was a plan afoot for the party to foot the bill.
鈥淚 did not believe Mr. Duffy鈥檚 expenses could be justified and I thought he should repay them. And Mr. Wright was working with Mr. Duffy to make sure he did repay them. That鈥檚 what we were told was going to happen.鈥� 鈥� Harper.
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Aug. 17: With the Duffy courtroom drama playing out in Ottawa, Harper faces pointed questions about his current chief of staff, Ray Novak, after it emerged he was included on the email chain about Wright鈥檚 plan to repay the senator鈥檚 expenses.
鈥淢r. Harper has not been truthful with Canadians. That has become abundantly clear from the emails that have been released and Canadians deserve better.鈥� 鈥� Mulcair.
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Aug. 22: 聽Tory supporter Earl Cowan becomes angry with reporters on the Conservative campaign trail after they asked Harper about what was happening inside the Prime Minister鈥檚 Office during the Mike Duffy affair.
鈥淵ou鈥檙e making an issue out of Duffy; he鈥檚 a nothing. Harper has produced good government ... I think you鈥檙e a piece of lying s**t and your media with you ... go stuff yourself.鈥� 鈥� Cowan
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Aug. 27: Trudeau declares that a Liberal government would run deficits of up to $10-billion a year for three years until 2019 to help kick-start the economy.
鈥淥ur plan will be the most significant new investment in our infrastructure in Canadian history.鈥� 鈥� Trudeau.
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Aug. 27: An animated Harper uses a 鈥檛eeny-tiny鈥� finger gesture to mock Trudeau鈥檚 deficit plan.
鈥淚 guess it turns out the budget doesn鈥檛 balance itself after all, but he鈥檒l run, he says, a modest deficit 鈥� a tiny deficit, so small you can hardly see the deficit 鈥� that鈥檚 what he said.鈥� 鈥� Harper.
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Sept. 1: Statistics sa国际传媒 says the Canadian economy shrank for the second quarter of 2015, putting the country into its first technical recession in six years. The agency also reports sa国际传媒鈥檚 GDP climbed in June by 0.5 per cent after shrinking over the first five months.
鈥淭he Canadian economy as a whole is now growing, according to the June figures ... that is the reality of the situation 鈥� it is good news.鈥� 鈥� Harper.
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Sept. 2: After campaigning with Paul Martin, Justin Trudeau says the former prime minister made the right decision when he slashed transfer payments to the provinces to balance the books. Trudeau, however, says he won鈥檛 follow the same path.
鈥淚n the 90s, the Liberal government at the time inherited the situation where our debt to GDP ratio was among the highest in developed countries ... right now, we have a very different situation where for 10 years, even though we have a very good debt to GDP ratio, we can鈥檛 seem to create growth.鈥� 鈥� Trudeau.
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Sept. 3: After the photo of three-year-old Alan Kurdi 鈥� a dead boy found washed up on Turkish beach 鈥� circulates around the world, Harper says sa国际传媒 needs to keep fighting Islamic militants, the root cause of the suffering in Syria and Iraq.
鈥淲e need to help people who are actually there and can鈥檛 get away. And part of the way we need to help them is to stop the awful violence that is being directed at them, displacing them and killing them.鈥� 鈥� Harper.
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Sept. 4: Harper continues to face calls on the campaign trail to speed up the processing of Syrian refugees.
鈥淲hen I hear the answers from the prime minister, saying, 鈥橶ell, more war is the solution,鈥� well, no amount of military action would have saved that child on that (Turkish) beach.鈥� 鈥� Mulcair.
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Sept. 14: Harper hits the campaign trail armed with good news: Finance Department released figures showing a $1.9-billion surplus for the 2014-2015 fiscal year.
鈥淚 see zero to little risk that we will have anything other than a surplus for a second year in a row based on the trajectory that we are on.鈥� 鈥� Harper.
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Sept. 16: 聽On the eve of the economic debate in Calgary, the NDP releases a breakdown of its economic plans and promises to boost federal spending on health care beyond what Conservative budgets have forecast.
鈥淲e have committed to continue the six per cent escalator, but I do want to be clear that some of that six per cent will include announcements on health care that our leader Tom Mulcair has already made this week.鈥� 鈥� Ontario NDP candidate Peggy Nash.
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Sept. 17: 聽During the economic debate, Mulcair rips into the government鈥檚 plan to ship Canadian crude to the U.S. Gulf Coast, arguing he wants to keep jobs in sa国际传媒 instead of sending them south of the border.
鈥淔orty-thousand Canadian jobs would be exported to the United States with Keystone XL ... that鈥檚 not our figure, that鈥檚 the government of sa国际传媒鈥檚 figure under Mr. Harper鈥檚 Conservatives. I want to create those 40,000 jobs in sa国际传媒 芒?? let鈥檚 add value to our natural resources here.鈥� 鈥� Mulcair.
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Sept. 19: Facing much scrutiny, the government says it will speed up the processing of Syrian refugee applications in an effort to issue 鈥渢housands more鈥� visas before the end of this year.
鈥淲e looked carefully at our capacity. We looked carefully at the steps and procedures to keep sa国际传媒 and Canadians safe. And we鈥檝e come up with a much accelerated plan that will bring 10,000 Syrian refugees here by September 2016.鈥� 聽鈥� Immigration Minister Chris Alexander.
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Sept. 23: During a speech in Montreal prior to the campaign鈥檚 first French-language debate, Mulcair tries to blunt expected attacks from rivals over his opposition to the government鈥檚 ban on face coverings at citizenship ceremonies.
鈥淚 understand that many view the niqab as a symbol of the oppression of women ... and on that, let me be clear: No one has the right to tell a woman what she must 鈥� or must not 鈥� wear.鈥� 鈥� Mulcair.
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Sept. 28: Trudeau defends his father鈥檚 political record during the Munk debate in Toronto, which is focused on foreign policy issues.
鈥淭hroughout this campaign, in indirect references and direct references, both of these gentlemen have, at various points, attacked my father. Let me say very clearly, I鈥檓 incredibly proud to be Pierre Elliott Trudeau鈥檚 son. And I鈥檓 incredibly lucky to be raised with those Liberal values.鈥� 鈥� Trudeau.
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Oct. 2: Conservative candidate and Immigration Minister Chris Alexander reminds Canadians about the 鈥淶ero Tolerance for Barbaric Cultural Practices Act,鈥� and promises more government resources if Conservatives are re-elected, including an RCMP tip line.
鈥淲e need to stand up for our values ... 聽need to do that in citizenship ceremonies. We need to do that to protect women and girls from forced marriage and other barbaric practices.鈥� 聽鈥� Alexander.
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Oct. 6: Harper tells CBC News a Conservative government would consider banning public servants from wearing the niqab.
鈥淭hat鈥檚 a matter we are going to examine ... Quebec, as you know, has legislation on this and we are looking at that legislation.鈥� 鈥� Harper.
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Oct. 8: Harper says the Prime Minister鈥檚 Office temporarily halted the flow of Syrian refugees into sa国际传媒 last June to verify that the most vulnerable people were being selected while ensuring security.
鈥淥ur government has adopted a generous approach to the admission of refugees while ensuring the selection of the most vulnerable people and keeping our country safe and secure.鈥� 鈥� Harper.
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Oct. 15: Trudeau defends the resignation of Liberal campaign co-chair Dan Gagnier following a Canadian Press report that reveals he sent lobbying advice about the controversial Energy East pipeline to officials at Transsa国际传媒 Corp.
鈥淗e acted in an inappropriate way a few days ago and when we found out about it, we sat down with him and he chose to do the responsible thing and step down from our campaign.... It鈥檚 a way of demonstrating the fact that we take ethical standards and responsibilities extremely seriously.鈥� 鈥� Trudeau.
