The group Democracy Watch is suing B.C. NDP Premier John Horgan for calling a snap election thereby breaking the province’s fixed-date election law..“The case is not aimed at stopping the election. Instead, DWatch will only ask the court to declare that the Premier’s action violated the fixed election date measure in B.C.’s Constitution Act and the constitutional convention that has been created by premiers calling elections only on the fixed date in 2005, 2009, 2013 and 2017,” said the group in a release..Democracy Watch said B.C. was the first jurisdiction in Canada to enact fixed election date measures with Bill 7 in 2001..“The B.C. NDP showed it was in favour of fixed election dates when it introduced Bill 5 in 2017 to change the fixed election date from May to October. The fixed date for the next provincial election was set for the third Saturday in October 2021,” the release said..“By calling a snap election instead of waiting for the fixed election date a year from now, Premier Horgan acted like an old dictator not a new democrat,” said Duff Conacher, co-founder of Democracy Watch. . Defying crackdown, hundreds march against lockdowns in Calgary .“Hopefully the B.C. courts will rule that the Premier violated the law when he called the snap election.”.The group said snap elections are unfair not only to opposition parties (as they are usually called when having an election favours the ruling party), but also to people who want to run as a candidate but can’t afford to suddenly drop everything and run. That’s why the federal Parliament, and every province except Nova Scotia, followed B.C.’s lead and enacted fixed election date measures. The UK Parliament has also enacted fixed election date measures..B.C. voters go to the polls Saturday..Dave Naylor is the News Editor of the Western Standard.dnaylor@westernstandardonline.com.TWITTER: Twitter.com/nobby7694
The group Democracy Watch is suing B.C. NDP Premier John Horgan for calling a snap election thereby breaking the province’s fixed-date election law..“The case is not aimed at stopping the election. Instead, DWatch will only ask the court to declare that the Premier’s action violated the fixed election date measure in B.C.’s Constitution Act and the constitutional convention that has been created by premiers calling elections only on the fixed date in 2005, 2009, 2013 and 2017,” said the group in a release..Democracy Watch said B.C. was the first jurisdiction in Canada to enact fixed election date measures with Bill 7 in 2001..“The B.C. NDP showed it was in favour of fixed election dates when it introduced Bill 5 in 2017 to change the fixed election date from May to October. The fixed date for the next provincial election was set for the third Saturday in October 2021,” the release said..“By calling a snap election instead of waiting for the fixed election date a year from now, Premier Horgan acted like an old dictator not a new democrat,” said Duff Conacher, co-founder of Democracy Watch. . Defying crackdown, hundreds march against lockdowns in Calgary .“Hopefully the B.C. courts will rule that the Premier violated the law when he called the snap election.”.The group said snap elections are unfair not only to opposition parties (as they are usually called when having an election favours the ruling party), but also to people who want to run as a candidate but can’t afford to suddenly drop everything and run. That’s why the federal Parliament, and every province except Nova Scotia, followed B.C.’s lead and enacted fixed election date measures. The UK Parliament has also enacted fixed election date measures..B.C. voters go to the polls Saturday..Dave Naylor is the News Editor of the Western Standard.dnaylor@westernstandardonline.com.TWITTER: Twitter.com/nobby7694
