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Ahh. The more things change.
Chrétien averred vociferously his exclusive right to determine the timing of a federal election. By parliamentary tradition, the governing party's leader need consult nothing more than his own electoral Ouija board to determine the date the electorate selects its leadership. Now that the mantle of power has passed to self described parliamentary reformer Paul Martin, who rode into office promising to drastically reduce the centralized power of the PMO, there is no indication he plans to loosen his vise grip on this electoral timing tool. Two schools of thought exist on the issue of the PM's prerogative to call an election. On the one hand, Martin can rightfully claim he is governing without a mandate, and the vagaries of our parliamentary system are largely responsible for that quirk. Since in practice Canadians are only able to vote for their local representative - unless they happen to live in the party leader's riding - the PM does not, technically, ever receive a direct mandate from the people. This contrasts with the U.S. where the electorate is given the chance to vote directly for the head of the government's executive branch. In Canada, the executive and legislative are in essence the same body; voting for the executive remains out of reach for the vast majority of voters. Therefore, when retirements occur, our new executive head is chosen only by members of the departing PM's party, allowing Paul martin - and Kim Campbell, John Turner and even Trudeau before him - to ascend to the de facto most powerful job without so much as a nod from Joe Public. Thus, allowing the new PM to drop the writ long before his party's electoral mandate expires - constitutionally the Liberals could continue governing until November 2005 - lets the people confirm the party's choice. Only Martin seems to have Krazy-glued the writ to one hand without cracking the solvent's childproof cap with his other. Then there are the fixed term philosophers, who argue - as I did - that setting election dates well in advance of actual campaigns eliminates the corrupting influence of this parliamentary prerogative. The candidate goes to the electorate when it's time, not when he or she is riding a temporary high in the polls. Given the administrative cost of holding an election a Mari usque ad Mare, permitting the PM to call elections on a whim is problematic even on an economic basis. Go To Page: 1 2
The copyright of the article Prime Minister's prerogative picks the poll period
in Canadian Federal Politics is owned by David Russell. Permission to republish Prime Minister's prerogative picks the poll period
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