Another Law I Can Do Without

No no no no no.

Tomorrow bill C-16 is slated to receive royal assent making it law. This bill, already passed by the senate, would require that we have federal elections every four years on the third Monday of October.

Not only are there thousands of issues more important for our politicians to be spending time on, but I'm a little fuzzy on how this is supposed to introduce "greater fairness" in our electoral system.

Harper says that under the current system, where the Prime Minister can call the date of a general election, the governing party can "manipulate the timing of elections for partisan advantage". I say that this kind of rationale is insulting to Canadians. Harper is saying that the public is incapable of being aware of what party they prefer for what reasons; that we can't possibly remember what one party did last year or what the other didn't do. In fact, what he is telling us is that you should be basing your vote solely on what parties claim in and around the date of the fixed election. Plus, if a party calls an election at an obviously opportunistic time, it gives the public a chance to judge that for themselves and not have Harper decide what we should and should not think.

I would also counter that having a fixed election date does not mean that the governing party can't give themselves a partisan advantage. If you know when the election is, then you can plan a spate of government spending leading up to the election as part of your 'campaigning'.

Need I also bring up the fact that with fixed elections you are will definitely see early campaigning from all parties including television, radio, and road sign bombardment. I doubt Canadians want any more of this than we are already subjected to. Think about the US Presidential elections and how they drag on for two years before you even get to the polls. You thinking about it? Are you looking forward to it here? I thought not.

If our goal is to model ourselves after the American electoral system, which is no way without flaws, then this is a step in the right direction.


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