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The federal election is only in its first week and we already know that come Oct. 19, our Parliament is going to look a lot different — not because a new party is necessarily going to be in power, but because the new Parliament will feature one of the largest classes of new MPs in Canadian history.

Sixty-one current members of Parliament have already retired or announced they will not run again this fall — the largest number since 1993. Add to that the 30 new ridings that have been created for this election and some incumbents that likely won’t get reelected, and it’s easy to see why this is such a historic event.

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Yet this will also create a challenge for Canada’s governance. A staggering total of 659 years of Parliamentary experience is departing the legislature. The loss is particularly acute in the Western provinces, with more than a quarter of the seats west of Ontario already vacated.

But from challenges, opportunities arise. This election presents a chance to change the political culture in Canada. Research from the nonpartisan charity Samara Canada shows that Canadians are disenchanted with politics. A mere 46 per cent of citizens are “very” or “fairly” satisfied with how MPs are doing their jobs.