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"We can't allow things that are inaccurate to stand." — The Word of Our Dan, February 19, 2008.

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Statutory interpretation 101

The "Fixed Election (Date)" provision of the House of Assembly Act, as amended, with much ballyhally, by Danny Williams-Government during His first term, provides as follows:

Duration of House of Assembly

3. (1) Notwithstanding subsection (2), the Lieutenant-Governor may, by proclamation in Her Majesty’s name, prorogue or dissolve the House of Assembly when the Lieutenant-Governor sees fit.

(2) A polling day at a general election shall be held on the second Tuesday in October, 2007 and afterward on the second Tuesday in October in the fourth calendar year following the polling day at the most recently held general election.

The words "notwithstanding" and "dissolve", like the rest of subsection 3(1), are important and mean stuff.

The ability to read legislation is a good thing for veteran political observers to have. So, no, there is in fact no need for the so-called "fixed election date" legislation to be changed, in the highly unlikely event a Premier ever wanted to call a snap election for some reason, because the legislation does not, in fact, fix the election date.

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