Fixed elections...

Hints and speculation continues to mount (like here, here, and especially here and here) the We are going to break another of Our promises, and, fixed-election legislation be danged, We are going to pull a Tobin (Peckford, Smallwood) and dissolve the legislature less than 3.5 years in.

Should that Tobin get pulled, here, for the record, is what Chairman Dan and The Party used to say about the virtue of fixed election dates:

"We are now within one year of the next general election," said Williams. "For the first time in our province's history, everyone knows well in advance exactly when the next general election will be held, and that is because we kept our Blueprint promise to establish fixed election dates through legislation to ensure greater openness and transparency."

- From a The Party press release which may or may not still be available at: http://www.pcparty.nf.net/200610101.htm

MR. SULLIVAN: Went out in the last election, out there, going down through his district, and almost got run over with a spreader and so on, trying to (inaudible) some pavement to get him the fifty votes he needed to get him into office. That is what happened. That is what he did. That is the type of politics they play.

We have laid out fixed elections. We are not going to manipulate them when the poll is high. We are not going to manipulate them when the poll is high and run to the polls. We said that the people will have four years to judge us.

- House of Assembly Debates (Hansard), May 18, 2006

MR. WISEMAN: As the former speaker and the Leader of the Opposition points out, there are three separate pieces of this legislation and I want to comment on the three of them if I could. The first one, being fixed terms, is obviously a significant issue. If you look at the history, and most recent history, of elections in Newfoundland and Labrador, we saw, in a period of 1993, 1996, 1999, rapid successions and rapid calls of elections.

Mr. Speaker, in each of those election calls there was a significant amount of staging, a significant amount of manipulation that took place in advance of those elections. One could say that it was a manipulation of the electorate.

This particular provision in this bill very clearly now forces a government, any government, whether it is this government today or some future government, it forces government to focus on governing the Province and not positioning itself for an election, or continuously thinking about how it might be opportunistic and call an election at a time when it suits their circumstance best. I think that is the significant issue with respect to this particular component of this bill. It now forces government to focus on a mandate that we all now know will be four years. We know today that on October 9, 2007, the people of the Province will be going to the polls again. This government recognizes that, the Opposition Party recognizes that, but, most importantly, the people of Newfoundland and Labrador recognize that.

As a government, our responsibility is to provide good, sound, governance today, create legislation that reflects a progressive government, reflects the protection of the people of this Province. That is what our responsibility is, and that is what our focus will be. We are not, today, thinking about whether or not we have an opportunity today to call an election.

- House of Assembly Debates (Hansard), December 7, 2004

The party in power always has an advantage in political fund raising, but it has an unfair advantage over other parties by being able to determine when elections are called, and by spending unlimited amounts of public money to buy pre-election advertising that does nothing but polish its political image.

A Progressive Conservative government will propose amendments to the Elections Act and other relevant acts that will:

Require that provincial elections are held on a fixed date every four years, or immediately if a government loses a confidence vote in the House of Assembly, or within 12 months if the Premier resigns during the first three years of a four-year term.

- From The Party's 2003 election platform, which may or may not still be available here: http://www.pcparty.nf.net/plan2003g.htm

Finally, from a long-since bit-bucketted, but well-archived The Party press release, dated February 5, 2003 — should we circle that date, February 5? — comes this gem:

B. Effective Government

We also have seen problems arise over timely elected representation. There have been numerous situations over the last few years in which the electorate has gone unreasonable periods of time without elected representatives. In fact, one district did not have representation for the entire Voisey's Bay debate, which was one of the most important debates that occurred in this province last year. We have an ongoing situation in which the Premier has governed the province for two full years despite the fact that the people of Newfoundland and Labrador did not have the opportunity to elect him. And we have situations in which individuals are not able to obtain information from their government because of countless restrictions and excessive wait periods. This is wrong.

A Progressive Conservative Government will address these issues decisively.

We will amend the Elections Act to require that provincial elections be held on a fixed date every four years, or immediately if a government loses a confidence vote in the House of Assembly.

The legislation will ensure that, if the Premier resigns or the Premier's office is vacated within the first three years of a term, an extraordinary election will be held within twelve months and a new government will be elected to a fixed four-year term.

To boot, this document also includes this now-quaint throw-away line:

We will establish a new procedure to provide for the proper auditing and disclosure of the expenses of Members of the House of Assembly.

As well as this howler:

We will amend the Access to Information legislation to enhance the transparency of government actions and decisions.

Our legislative changes will clearly identify information that should be in the public domain, and will require full and prompt disclosure of the information to the public. The Access to Information legislation proposed and passed by the Grimes government in 2001 (though it has not yet been proclaimed) allows the government to exclude a great deal of information from release to the public under the umbrella of "cabinet confidences". We will limit that exemption so more information that rightly belongs in the public domain will be accessible to the public.

Also, the legislation will be changed so any information that continues to fall under the umbrella of "cabinet confidences" will be released earlier.

We will enact changes to tighten up the exceptions to the release of information.

We will remove provisions that allow the cabinet to override the legislative provisions of the Act by regulation at their discretion.

Finally, we will shorten the time lines for the release of information so information that rightly belongs in the public domain is available to the people of the province on a timely basis. Access delayed is sometimes access denied.