Canadian PM Stephen Harper triggers election campaign as vote set for October 19

The Canadian prime minister, Stephen Harper, on Sunday triggered a general election campaign, with the vote set for October 19.

Harper said on Sunday he had asked Canadian governor general David Johnson to dissolve parliament.

Harper, 56, said the election would be about keeping the economy strong and Canadians safe from terrorist attacks. He said now was not the time for inexperience and “political correctness”, referring to the opposition leftist New Democratic party.

“Our wellbeing depends on the economy and the wrong leader will do real harm,” he said. “Now is not the time for the kinds of harmful economic schemes that are doing so much damage elsewhere in the world.”

After serving as prime minister for nine years – the last four with a handsome parliamentary majority – Harper faces a career-defining battle in his fifth election as leader of the Conservative Party of Canada.

He enters the campaign trailing New Democratic leader Thomas Mulcair in opinion polls, facing down an economic recession that has shattered his promise to deliver a balanced budget, and doing it all without the aid of several key ministers who have recently resigned from the Tory front benches.