Survey polls show defeat for Trudeau in September 20 elections

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is facing a possible defeat in initial surveys of the September 20 general elections.

Trudeau, who heads a minority Liberal government that requires the opposition's support to pass any legislation, hopes Canadians would reward its handling of the coronavirus pandemic with a majority in the House of Commons.

But polls show voters are not happy that Trudeau, 49, who has held power for six years, called the elections during a fourth wave of the pandemic.

The surveyed polls show that Conservative leader Erin O'Toole, 48, maintains a slight lead over the Liberal leader.

Asked if he regretted the call, Trudeau told reporters in Hamilton, Ontario: "Absolutely not ... What we are seeing is a very clear contrast between all the different parties about how we as a country need to move forward."

Every day attacked by rivals for taking Canadians to the polls this month, Trudeau has struggled to turn the campaign around on political issues. He runs out of time.

On Friday, a day after an inconclusive leadership debate, Trudeau slammed O'Toole for arguing that COVID-19 vaccines are a personal choice and should not be mandated.

Unlike the Conservative leader, Trudeau demanded that his fellow Liberal candidates be inoculated against the virus and last month introduced his central left-wing government vaccination mandates for home travel.

"He is better and quicker to uphold the rights of those who choose not to be vaccinated than he is to give your wife and children the rights to be safe from COVID-19," Trudeau said.

Liberals are competing for the same middle-left voters as the smaller New Democrats of Jagmeet Singh. Trudeau, utilising tactics he practised in the 2019 election, stated O'Toole could become prime minister if the progressive ballot splits.

"The choice is clear in these elections. Let me not let Jagmeet Singh tell you that there is no difference between a liberal government or a conservative government," he stated.

Speaking earlier, Mr Singh told reporters that "you do not have to choose between two parties arguing over who is worse off ... better is possible."

The last stretch of the campaign began after Statistics Canada reported that the national unemployment rate fell to 7.1% in August, the lowest during the pandemic.