A popular sports betting website is leaning into the recent rollercoaster ride of Canadian politics in the wake of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s announcement that he would be stepping down as the Liberal party’s leader.
CanadaSportsBetting revealed its latest election winner odds on Wednesday, which showed that the Conservatives are favoured to win by the vast majority of those looking to gamble on the political contest.
Pierre Poilievre’s Conservatives are heavily favoured to win the next federal election, leading the odds by 79 points.
“With fractional odds of 1/10, the betting markets believe that the election later this year will be extremely likely to favour the Conservative party, following years of Liberal party’s declining popularity,” writes CanadaSportsBetting.
The gambling website aggregates data from “diverse odds providers, ensuring a comprehensive and balanced perspective on the election forecasts.”
Their data collection involves using “Python and advanced data transformation techniques” to collect standardized data that can be processed into a usable format.
Trudeau announced his resignation as party leader on Monday, vowing to step down once the Liberals complete a leadership race.
“I intend to resign as party leader (and) as prime minister after the party selects its next leader through a robust, nation-wide, competitive process,” Trudeau told reporters from his Rideau Cottage on Monday. “Last night, I asked the president of the Liberal party to begin that process.”
Additionally, he asked for and was granted by the Governor General a prorogation of Parliament until March 24.
Trudeau’s decision to prorogue Parliament was met with a legal challenge filed by two Canadians represented by the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms the following day.
According to the plaintiffs’ court application, they contend that Trudeau’s decision to prorogue “was not made in furtherance of Parliamentary business or the business of government, but in service of the interests of the LPC [Liberal Party of Canada].”’