Thanks to the fixed election law, Canadians know they’ll be going to the polls on October 19, but for the time being many are just going to the beach.

"We're just concerned right now basically with getting outside and enjoying nature and fresh air,” said Robert Baker, as he built a sandcastle for his granddaughter at Birds Hill Park.

If Prime Minister Stephen Harper calls the election on Sunday, as many believe he will, the 77-day campaign will be the longest in modern Canadian history.

“Yes, that’s a long time,” laughed Megan Young as she stretched out on the grass at Assiniboine Park, “That’s a lot of time to give the politicians to flip-flop.”

If that turns out to be true, many people might not even notice because in the dog days of summer they’re less likely to be paying close attention to politics.

"I'm a school teacher so I'm in the middle of my summer. I'm not going to pay too much attention to an election that's called now,” said Jeff Doiron on the beach at Birds Hill Park. “Usually when I do vote, I look up who I might vote for the week before or a couple of weeks before just so I'm a little bit knowledgeable going into the election."

Chris Adams, a political analyst, thinks more voters will tune in later in the campaign.

"For the average voter I don't think there will be a lot of attention for this campaign probably for a number of weeks until people start coming back for school,” said Adams.

The spectre of a long drawn out campaign filled with attack ads and lofty promises has the potential to turn some Canadians off of politics altogether.

“I usually just get annoyed with all the campaign stuff so I'll just ignore it as much as I can,” said Ian Isaac, who votes but only sometimes follows politics closely.

Not everyone thinks the campaign will be too long.

Patrick Kostuiniuk has voted in every federal election for the last 50 years and says he’ll be paying close attention as this one develops.

"Once it starts, it starts, so it's only really going to be about 10 weeks or so,” said Kostuiniuk. “That's long enough."

In fact, if the campaign starts on Sunday, it will run for 11 weeks.

Over that time, the opposition parties will be hoping to draw more young people to the polls but that might be easier said than done.

"I really don't care, to be honest,” said Madison Gorzen, 18. “It's summer so I'm just hanging out, chilling."