Prime Minister Stephen Harper began Canada’s longest election campaign in more than a century by touting his economic stewardship as his main rivals jockeyed to be seen as the best agent of change. The incumbent Conservative leader fired the starting gun early on Canada’s 42nd election campaign Sunday morning, meeting Governor General David Johnston, Queen Elizabeth II’s representative in Canada, to request parliament be dissolved. The visit marked the formal start of campaigning for an Oct. 19 vote, with polls showing Harper’s nine-year reign being threatened by a leftist party that’s never governed the country. “A national election is not a popularity contest,” Harper, 56, said outside Ottawa’s Rideau Hall. “Canadians will make a serious choice between proven, real-world experience and a dangerous approach that has failed before and is failing in other countries.” The Conservatives are locked in a three-way […]