Re: Fixed Election Dates
One must keep in mind, too, that we would be removing a high degree of the reserved power of the Crown of Canada, were we ever to compromise the prerogative of the Crown to exercise discretion in the timing of an election. One cannot account for every situation, and so going into elections based on convention rather than legislation is, in my opinion, preferable.
By way of example, during the Twelfth Parliament of Canada, on the advice of the late Right Honourable Sir Robert Borden and with the consent of a two-thirds majority of the House of Commons, the Government was able to extend the life of the Parliament beyond its maximum of five years, due to the exigent circumstances of the war. If there were fixed election dates, then Parliament would have been dissolved during that war.
Some prime ministers have gone into an election in order to get the opinion of the people of Canada on a particular issue; for example, there was an election which was fought on the issue of free trade. One must keep in mind that, depending on the numbers of members from each party sent to the Commons in an election, the Parliament could become deadlocked — and with no method to break that deadlock, the Government could become useless for those suggested four years.
