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2021 federal election
#1
I think we need a place to talk about what is going on with the federal election and related activities.
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#2
(08-16-2021, 08:16 PM)tomh009 Wrote: I think we need a place to talk about what is going on with the federal election and related activities.

I'm going to call this the dumbest election call of all time, and it's not going to end well for anyone.

That's my way of saying "I'm out" for the rest of this election cycle...LOL.
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#3
Kitchener Centre

Mike Morrice for Kitchener Centre Green Party

Beisan Zubi Kitchener Centre NDP

Suresh Arangath Kitchener South-Hespeler NDP

CTV: Here are the local MP candidates for the upcoming federal election

The Liberals seem to have caught the NDP and the Green Party flatfooted, as not all local districts have candidates.
Mike Morrice did well the last election and hopefully will do well this time around. (I am a Green Party member).

Beisan Zubi is of Palestinian heritage and I wonder if some Greens may vote for her given the infiltration of the Green leadership by radical anti-Palestinian Zionists that has caused problems for Green Party unity.

I don't care about the Conservatives and am still pissed off at Trudeau for his betrayal on electoral reform.
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#4
(08-16-2021, 09:24 PM)Acitta Wrote: I don't care about the Conservatives and am still pissed off at Trudeau for his betrayal on electoral reform.

He couldn’t even be bothered to amend the law setting the election date. If he wanted to have an early election he should have amended the law, and I’m leaning towards the view that the Governor General should have told him to do so if he wanted an early election. I understand that the Governor General doesn’t make the decisions (and shouldn’t, generally, not being elected), but the whole point of the election law is that the Prime Minister doesn’t make the decision either: it’s scheduled.
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#5
(08-16-2021, 09:52 PM)ijmorlan Wrote:
(08-16-2021, 09:24 PM)Acitta Wrote: I don't care about the Conservatives and am still pissed off at Trudeau for his betrayal on electoral reform.

He couldn’t even be bothered to amend the law setting the election date.

That law really is pointless (and toothless). It has a massive loophole in that the GG can dissolve the parliament at any time -- and of course the prime minister is able to ask the GG to do that.

Harper's government passed the law in 2006 ... and in 2008 he asked the GG to dissolve the parliament and call an early election.

I don't know whether the loophole was intentional or due to massive incompetence, but I suspect the former.
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#6
(08-16-2021, 09:24 PM)Acitta Wrote: The Liberals seem to have caught the NDP and the Green Party flatfooted, as not all local districts have candidates.
Mike Morrice did well the last election and hopefully will do well this time around. (I am a Green Party member).

Morrice signs outnumbered everyone else put together by 10:1 or so early this morning. They were ready for this, no doubt about that.
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#7
(08-16-2021, 10:15 PM)tomh009 Wrote:
(08-16-2021, 09:24 PM)Acitta Wrote: The Liberals seem to have caught the NDP and the Green Party flatfooted, as not all local districts have candidates.
Mike Morrice did well the last election and hopefully will do well this time around. (I am a Green Party member).

Morrice signs outnumbered everyone else put together by 10:1 or so early this morning. They were ready for this, no doubt about that.
I popped in to the office briefly during the Blues Festival. Mike and others were there working hard to re-purpose election signs from the last election, which is why they are quick out of the starting gate.
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#8
(08-16-2021, 10:14 PM)tomh009 Wrote:
(08-16-2021, 09:52 PM)ijmorlan Wrote: He couldn’t even be bothered to amend the law setting the election date.

That law really is pointless (and toothless). It has a massive loophole in that the GG can dissolve the parliament at any time -- and of course the prime minister is able to ask the GG to do that.

Harper's government passed the law in 2006 ... and in 2008 he asked the GG to dissolve the parliament and call an early election.

I don't know whether the loophole was intentional or due to massive incompetence, but I suspect the former.

From what I remember from back then there was a big hew and cry about fixed election dates being "too American", which was why the option to dissolve and call a new election was left in.
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#9
(08-16-2021, 11:13 PM)Bytor Wrote:
(08-16-2021, 10:14 PM)tomh009 Wrote: That law really is pointless (and toothless). It has a massive loophole in that the GG can dissolve the parliament at any time -- and of course the prime minister is able to ask the GG to do that.

Harper's government passed the law in 2006 ... and in 2008 he asked the GG to dissolve the parliament and call an early election.

I don't know whether the loophole was intentional or due to massive incompetence, but I suspect the former.

From what I remember from back then there was a big hew and cry about fixed election dates being "too American", which was why the option to dissolve and call a new election was left in.

I thought it was because Parliament cannot constrain the Crown legally; even though as a practical matter the Crown is obligated to follow the Prime Minister’s advice. So the provision is just clarifying that the law is not purporting to supersede the Crown’s authority.

But surely Parliament can constrain the Prime Minister? And how can it be inappropriate for the Crown to refuse illegal advice? I mean if the Prime Minister “advised” the Crown to declare him dictator for life and abdicate, presumably the Crown would be justified in refusing that advice?

I’d forgotten Harper explicitly called the 2008 election. I thought he had lost a confidence vote. At this point all we need is for somebody to call an early election while they have a majority and the fixed-date law can be considered effectively null and void.
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#10
There is no illegality involved. Read the Act.
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#11
(08-17-2021, 09:39 AM)panamaniac Wrote: There is no illegality involved.  Read the Act.

Right. Which really means that the act is pointless, we might as well get rid of it.

And what I really disliked (and still do) about this act was that seemingly endless 77-day campaign period we got in 2015.
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#12
(08-17-2021, 10:01 AM)tomh009 Wrote:
(08-17-2021, 09:39 AM)panamaniac Wrote: There is no illegality involved.  Read the Act.

Right. Which really means that the act is pointless, we might as well get rid of it.

And what I really disliked (and still do) about this act was that seemingly endless 77-day campaign period we got in 2015.

I might have said "typical Canadian fudge" rather than "pointless", but yeah.  At least this time, for obvious reasons, we have the shortest possible campaign period.
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#13
(08-17-2021, 10:01 AM)tomh009 Wrote:
(08-17-2021, 09:39 AM)panamaniac Wrote: There is no illegality involved.  Read the Act.

Right. Which really means that the act is pointless, we might as well get rid of it.

And what I really disliked (and still do) about this act was that seemingly endless 77-day campaign period we got in 2015.

I got curious and read the bill:

https://parl.ca/DocumentViewer/en/39-1/b...t/page-ToC

The bill is easier to understand than the Act because one doesn’t have to dig through to figure out what changes the bill made.

Indeed, it doesn’t actually say anything about what the Prime Minister can do. In fact it’s not even clear to me that it actually limits the duration of a Parliament: sure the election “must be held on the third Monday of October in the fourth calendar year following polling day for the last general election”, but what happens if the Prime Minister just doesn’t advise the Governor General to call the election? And of course since 56.1 (1) explicitly says it doesn’t affect the Governor General, the Governor General is definitely not required to dissolve Parliament at such time. The Governor General might even be inclined not to do so, because it might (I speculate) be considered “political” for them to dissolve Parliament without the advice of the Prime Minister.

Thinking about it, it’s almost like a law written by a non-lawyer and then gussied up by legal staff who probably knew they were writing nonsense but had to proceed because it’s their job. 56.1, a total of 3 lines, is the entire essence of the bill; the rest is just about adjusting the date around holidays etc.; and 56.1 just says what “must” happen with no indication of who must make it happen or what happens if they don’t.

I wonder if there is alternate legislation that could have been passed that actually would have the publicly-announced effect of this legislation? The whole notion of fixed dates doesn’t fit well with the possibility of losing a confidence motion.
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#14
Wasn't it widely acknowledged from the get-go that the act basically had no teeth and was pointless all the way back to when Harper introduced it? The only thing I thought it really accomplished was preventing extended parliaments past four years like we saw under Chretien, but now I'm not sure it would even do that.
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#15
I don't have any issue with a parliament sitting for five years, either!
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