Share of Canadians wanting Justin Trudeau to call a federal election 2021, by region

According to electoral law, Canadian federal elections must be held on the third Monday in October of the fourth year following the previous election. They can however, at the request of the Prime Minister, be held earlier, which was the case for this election: on August 15, 2021, Justin Trudeau asked the Governor General to dissolve Parliament, setting the vote for September 20. When asked about the decision to call an election a few days before the campaign began, only about half of Canadians approved of Trudeau's initiative. Those most opposed to this early election were Quebecers (nearly two-thirds), while 38 percent of Albertans supported it.