WINNIPEG—Canadians head to the polls today, after a parliamentary election campaign in which one of the hottest issues was arts funding. Really. Canada has a taxpayer-backed network of television and radio stations, plus public agencies dedicated to funding artists in all media. The Conservative government of Prime Minister Stephen Harper recently slashed the arts budget, drawing fierce criticism from the center-left Liberal Party and the socialist New Democratic Party, both of which vowed to boost arts spending well beyond previous levels. In response, the Conservatives went on the defensive and promised a federal tax credit for children’s music and art lessons. A similar tax credit (for kids’ sports) was announced during the last campaign and proved to be a vote-winner, despite the relatively small amounts of money involved.

Prior to the Wall Street meltdown, economic concerns had received relatively little attention in the Canadian campaign. Although the economy remains sluggish, much of the election debate has swirled around environmental issues. Liberal opposition leader Stéphane Dion has proposed an ambitious carbon tax, while the New Democrats support a cap-and-trade system. The Green Party, which won its first seat in Parliament in a recent by-election, is poised to become a national (albeit fringe) party: it is running a candidate in every single parliamentary district for the first time in its history.

It would not be surprising if the Conservatives emerged from today’s voting with a majority government.

As in other parliamentary systems, a party’s share of the popular vote does not correspond precisely with its representation in Parliament. In 2006, for example, the New Democrats won 17.5 percent of all votes cast, which translated into 29 seats in the (308-seat) House of Commons, while the Bloc Québécois, a French-Canadian separatist party that fields candidates only in Quebec, won only 10.5 percent of the vote but captured 51 seats. The two major national parties, which have traded power back and forth for decades, are the ruling Conservative Party, which holds 124 seats, and the Liberal Party, which controls 103 seats.

Canadian election campaigns are (mercifully) short-lived. Prime Minister Harper called the election in early September, and the entire 2008 campaign lasted only 37 days. In late August, conventional wisdom said that Harper would call the election from a position of weakness; that any campaign would be consumed by the economy and healthcare; that Harper would be a liability for Conservative candidates nationwide; and that the Liberals would build on the momentum generated by their new leader, Dion.

As it turned out, the election was dominated by niche issues such as arts funding and carbon taxes. Harper has been an asset for his party in many parliamentary districts, while Dion is not even mentioned in Liberal campaign literature. It would not be surprising if the Conservatives emerged from today’s voting with a majority government.

It is unusual for the United States and Canada to have simultaneous general election campaigns. Few Canadian leaders are confident in their ability to maintain the electorate’s attention when an American presidential race is in full swing. However, Canada’s political trends frequently mirror those in the United States. Brian Mulroney, a polarizing Conservative who served as Canadian prime minister from 1984 to 1993, gained power in the wake of the Reagan Revolution, while Jean Chrétien, a Liberal premier who governed from the left despite his centrist rhetoric, came to office shortly after the election of Bill Clinton in 1992. During this year’s campaign, the New Democratic Party has been aping the rhetoric of Barack Obama.

Much more than in previous Canadian elections, personalities have come into play in 2008. Despite media and opposition portrayals of Prime Minister Harper as divisive, extreme, and similar to President Bush, polls show that he is perceived by Canadians as the strongest leader in the field and that Dion’s air of professorial detachment has become a liability.

From an American perspective, Harper has been a reliable partner. Most conspicuously, he has reaffirmed and expanded Canada’s military commitment in Afghanistan. Yet the war in Afghanistan was not a significant issue during the Canadian parliamentary campaign, which instead focused on small-ball issues and micro-scandals. These are decidedly unfrivolous times. But you wouldn’t necessarily know that from following Canadian politics.

Rebecca Walberg is a policy analyst at Canada’s Frontier Centre for Public Policy, an independent think tank. The views expressed here are her own.

Image by Shutterstock/The Bergman Group.