Sir, – There are surely lessons from the Canadian election result that should give our own political pollsters food for thought ("Justin Trudeau's Liberals secure Canadian election victory"; "Justin Trudeau out from father's long shadow", October 20th).
A few months ago Justin Trudeau was lagging badly in third place. Today he is his country’s prime minister.
I was struck by what he said in an interview on July 31st:“If there’s one thing that recent history in Canada has shown it’s that campaigns really matter. And there’s a tremendous volatility among voters who are just looking for the right alternative.”
There have been significant elections in the UK, Portugal and now Canada in recent months. In each case the final outcome has been very different to what had been predicted in early polls.
Justin Trudeau is right. Election campaigns do matter. – Yours, etc,
PAT CARROLL,
Dublin 7.