1 of 3 2 of 3

There's a widespread belief that Prime Minister Stephen Harper is itching to launch an election campaign 11 weeks before voting day.

There's even speculation that he will visit Governor General David Johnston on Sunday (August 2) to get the process underway.

If this occurs, it won't be the first time that Harper has done this on a Sunday when many devout Christians go to church.

In 2012, Green Party of Canada Leader Elizabeth May told the Sraight that Harper triggered an election on a Sunday in 2008.

"There was no compelling reason other than the fact that he saw he could strike for electoral advantage by moving fast," May said at the time. "There were no external circumstances that made Stephen Harper go to the Governor General on a Sunday morning."

This earlier Sunday election call is when May started to question Harper's religious beliefs and whether he was indeed a practising Christian. She wondered why Harper wasn't in church that day.

May, a practising Anglican, had to cancel going to church to respond to the 2008 election call.

Then in 2011, the timing of the federal election meant the advance poll occurred on Good Friday and the following Saturday.

"Nobody bothered to ask how come Stephen Harper—someone we're told is a fanatical Christian—paid no attention whatsoever to having advance polls on a Good Friday," May told the Straight at the time.

Pride parade and election timing

If the 2015 election is called on Sunday, it will coincide with the Vancouver Pride parade.

NDP Leader Tom Mulcair and Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau are both expected to attend this event, just as they did last year.

But if the election is called on a Sunday, that might cause one or both of them to have to cancel a long walk in the parade to hold a news conference.

Justin Trudeau was a star attraction at last year's Pride parade. Charlie Smith

It's conceivable that Harper has actually timed the calling of the election to coincide with the Vancouver Pride parade.

Maybe he wants to kick off the campaign with televised images of his two chief opponents in the midst of a hedonistic party.

This would dovetail with Harper's broader goal over the campaign to frame Trudeau as a marijuana-smoking party boy and Mulcair as an unrepentant hippie leftist.

No matter what happens, Harper will come out ahead.

Elizabeth May has been a regular at the Vancouver Pride parade.

If the opposition leaders cancel their appearance in the Pride parade in response to an election call, it will disappoint their supporters and some in the LGBT community. But if they attend the parade and this is shown at the top of national newscasts, it may help Harper in regions of Canada where celebrations of diversity and LGBT people on a Sunday might be frowned upon.

It's called mobilizing the Conservative base and confounding your opponents.

Isn't that the Christian way?