Fixed Election Dates

[atlanticaparty]

Should we have fixed election dates provincially?

[kaj27]

No.

[baseball 23]

yes

[girdy]

No.

Currently, the government calls an election when they formally have lost a confidence vote, or feel that their elected mandate is not sufficient for a new significant issue.

A minority government would need to call an election if they could not pass a budget, for example. You certainly wouldn't want them to stay in power for a fixed period of time if they were incapable of running the government because they couldn't get important legislation passed.

A majority government might call an election if they felt that there was a new program which the voters should support or reject, by electing the party with the appropriate view. For example, if the NB government wanted to open a new Nuclear Power plant, they probably would, and they definitely should, call an election to gain or lose the support of the electorate on an inportant new initiative.

It's a bit of a bother when a government pretends they've lost confidence and call an election because they're leading in the polls, but this isn't significant. And the voters always have the capability to speak their mind about those abuses, through not re-electing them.

[atlanticaparty]

No.

Currently, the government calls an election when they formally have lost a confidence vote, or feel that their elected mandate is not sufficient for a new significant issue.

A minority government would need to call an election if they could not pass a budget, for example. You certainly wouldn't want them to stay in power for a fixed period of time if they were incapable of running the government because they couldn't get important legislation passed.

A majority government might call an election if they felt that there was a new program which the voters should support or reject, by electing the party with the appropriate view. For example, if the NB government wanted to open a new Nuclear Power plant, they probably would, and they definitely should, call an election to gain or lose the support of the electorate on an inportant new initiative.

It's a bit of a bother when a government pretends they've lost confidence and call an election because they're leading in the polls, but this isn't significant. And the voters always have the capability to speak their mind about those abuses, through not re-electing them.

I understand the complication that the 'confidence' thing does to fixed election dates. Setting that aside for the moment, are fixed election dates a good thing?

[atlanticaparty]

How about this suggestion:

1. Elect the premier directly once every four years to form the government.
2. Eliminate the 'government falling' bit, it will be ok for a government bill to be debated and defeated.
3. Elect reps every four years