Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper acknowledged on Thursday his Conservatives could lose Monday’s parliamentary election, in the face of global financial turmoil and the cross-border impact of the US economic downturn.
“I’ve said from the outset that I believe that this is a close election that can go any way,” Harper told reporters, as a new opinion poll indicated that Conservative support is slipping as election day nears.
“I’ve reminded some of you that we were behind in the polls two weeks before this election began, so this is an election that could go either way,” he said, pointing to “one of two outcomes” — either a Conservative or Liberal victory.
When campaigning began, the Conservatives enjoyed a 10-point lead over the main opposition Liberals led by Stephane Dion.
But with stock markets tumbling and predictions this week of Canada falling into recession next year, Harper’s “stay the course” campaign has stumbled.
His bid to reassure Canadians — telling them “not to panic” as the Toronto Stock Exchange on Monday saw its biggest one-day drop in two decades — was proof the prime minister is “completely out of touch with reality,” Dion said in Toronto.
Both Dion and Jack Layton, leader of the socialist New Democratic Party (NDP), jumped on Harper for saying, in a television interview on Tuesday, that the falling stock markets are a buying opportunity for Canadians.
“I think there are probably some gains to be made in the stock market,” Harper said. “That’s my own view.”
In a tracking poll released on Thursday for CPAC, a public affairs cable channel, Nanos put the Conservatives at 33 percent, just four points ahead of the Liberals, with the NDP at 20 percent.
Some 1,031 decided voters took part in the poll, which had a margin of error of 2.9 percent.
Support for Harper was strongest in Western Canada — he himself is from oil-rich Alberta province — but flagging in Ontario, the industrial and financial core of the nation, and in poorer Atlantic Canada.
In French-speaking Quebec, the nationalist Bloc Quebecois led the field.
Australians were downloading virtual private networks (VPNs) in droves, while one of the world’s largest porn distributors said it was blocking users from its platforms as the country yesterday rolled out sweeping online age restriction. Australia in December became the first country to impose a nationwide ban on teenagers using social media. A separate law now requires artificial intelligence (AI)-powered chatbot services to keep certain content — including pornography, extreme violence and self-harm and eating disorder material — from minors or face fines of up to A$49.5 million (US$34.6 million). The country also joined Britain, France and dozens of US states requiring
Hungarian authorities temporarily detained seven Ukrainian citizens and seized two armored cars carrying tens of millions of euros in cash across Hungary on suspicion of money laundering, officials said on Friday. The Ukrainians were released on Friday, following their detention on Thursday, but Hungarian officials held onto the cash, prompting Ukraine to accuse Hungary’s Russia-friendly government of illegally seizing the money. “We will not tolerate this state banditism,” Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs Andrii Sybiha said. The seven detained Ukrainians were employees of the Ukrainian state-owned Oschadbank, who were traveling in the two armored cars that were carrying the money between Austria and
Kosovar President Vjosa Osmani on Friday after dissolving the Kosovar parliament said a snap election should be held as soon as possible to avoid another prolonged political crisis in the Balkan country at a time of global turmoil. Osmani said it is important for Kosovo to wrap up the upcoming election process and form functional institutions for political stability as the war rages in the Middle East. “Precisely because the geopolitical situation is that complex, it is important to finish this electoral process which is coming up,” she said. “It is very hard now to imagine what will happen next.” Kosovo, which declared
MORE BANS: Australia last year required sites to remove accounts held by under-16s, with a few countries pushing for similar action at an EU level and India considering its own ban Indonesia on Friday said it would ban social media access for children under 16, citing threats from online pornography, cyberbullying, online fraud and Internet addiction. “Accounts belonging to children under 16 on high-risk platforms will start to be deactivated, beginning with YouTube, TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, Threads, X, Bigo Live and Roblox,” Indonesian Minister of Communications and Digital Meutya Hafid said. “The government is stepping in so that parents no longer have to fight alone against the giants of the algorithm. Implementation will begin on March 28, 2026,” she said. The social media ban would be introduced in stages “until all platforms fulfill their
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