By law, the election date can be no earlier than 36 days from dissolution but otherwise at the discretion of the prime minister. January 16 or 23 are the probable dates; I'm betting on Jan. 23.
well, actually, it's at the discretion of the Governor-General. And once he hands in his resignation, she's not bound by his advice.
he can request a dissolution, and recommend an election date, but it is up to Mme Jean. It's her job to ensure that the country has a government, and the obvious way is to dissolve parliament and have a general election. And, to be fair, that's probably what will happen.
But she could accept his resignation, and ask someone else -- say, Mr Harper -- to form a government. There are those who recoil at that idea, and initially, I was one. But look at it this way -- it puts him in a bind. He says he wants to be PM - so how can he decline? But it would be interesting to see how long THAT government would last. People would see a Conservative government (you're right, no real relation to the party of Sir John A, or Joe Clark for that matter) in action, recoil in horror, and not vote for HIM again after a few months.
Prolly wouldn't happen. But I would like to see Michaelle Jean show 'em who's boss.
Apparently there's some tacit agreement to no campaigning Dec 23 - Jan 3.
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Date: 2005-11-29 02:31 am (UTC)well, actually, it's at the discretion of the Governor-General. And once he hands in his resignation, she's not bound by his advice.
he can request a dissolution, and recommend an election date, but it is up to Mme Jean. It's her job to ensure that the country has a government, and the obvious way is to dissolve parliament and have a general election. And, to be fair, that's probably what will happen.
But she could accept his resignation, and ask someone else -- say, Mr Harper -- to form a government. There are those who recoil at that idea, and initially, I was one. But look at it this way -- it puts him in a bind. He says he wants to be PM - so how can he decline? But it would be interesting to see how long THAT government would last. People would see a Conservative government (you're right, no real relation to the party of Sir John A, or Joe Clark for that matter) in action, recoil in horror, and not vote for HIM again after a few months.
Prolly wouldn't happen. But I would like to see Michaelle Jean show 'em who's boss.
Apparently there's some tacit agreement to no campaigning Dec 23 - Jan 3.