Announce that you are going to announce something

Our Dear Premier expressing his confidence in the House of Assembly now that Tom Rideout is gone, or at least his press secretary (what happened to Andrea?), makes a curious statement:

The Premier said that an announcement on a by-election for the District of Baie Verte-Springdale will be announced within the specified time-frame as required under the Elections Act.

Curiousity 1: It's the House of Assembly Act, s. 54, and not the Elections Act, which specify the time-frame. Well, there's still a dead-letter provision of the Elections Act concerning the time-frame for a by-election in the very narrow case of a tie election, which the legislature might — might — have caught if it had actually, and carefully, considered the last set of amendments to the election timeline in the first place.

Curiousity 2: Said House of Assembly Act sets out a time-frame for the holding of a by-election, not merely the announcement of one.

Even in the new reality, where stupid stuff like mandatory language in an electoral statute doesn't really mean anything any more, that's an important distinction. At least to some people.

You'd think a Great Lawyer™ might care about such niceties.

You'd be wrong. As usual. But you might think it.