Stronach backs fixed vote date

Tender calls for talks with citizens Budget $900,000 for election reform

OTTAWA— The federal minister responsible for democratic reform hopes to set fixed election dates after consulting Canadians in a series of conferences next year — and the wheels are turning toward the idea, regardless of whether the government falls today.

Belinda Stronach said the government has launched a process that could lead to sweeping changes in federal politics, including fixed dates. Even if the Liberal government is defeated Monday, it appears destined to go ahead. A $ 900,000 budget has been set, a call for tenders was issued two weeks ago, and Stronach said she expects the citizens’ meetings to start by the end of January. A federal website has issued the call for tenders seeking potential organizers for 27 meetings of ordinary citizens across the country. The process loosely resembles recent citizens’ assemblies in British Columbia and is scheduled to produce a draft report by next Oct. 13.

Stronach said she did not want to prejudge the outcome of the meetings but had several ideas about what she would like to see.

“ That would be something I’d be in favour of having — fixed election dates,” she said. “ Those are my own views. But I don’t think it should be only my views. It’s important to talk to regular Canadians to say . . . ‘ How would you like to see the system improve?’ That’s democracy — asking people."

Fixed election dates limit a government’s ability to tailor the political calendar to its partisan interests. Majority governments, for example, could be forced to face the electorate every 48 months, rather than rushing to a desired earlier election date, or delaying an election until the last propitious minute. Ottawa would be following other jurisdictions if it adopted a rigid electoral timetable. The B. C. government approved fixed dates, with the first vote under the new rules held last May and the next scheduled for May 19, 2009. Ontario’s first fixed- date election will be in October 2007. Governments try to hold elections at the most advantageous moment and sometimes catch their opponents off- guard.

Unpopular governments typically stretch their mandates into a fifth year and hope their fortunes turn in the meantime. The ruling Liberals, on the other hand, raced to the polls before serving four full years in 1997, 2000, and 2004.

Conservative critic Scott Reid notes the Liberals have two ministers responsible for the file —the other being Deputy House Leader Mauril Bélanger — and what each does is unclear.

“ For 12 years, they called elections whenever it suited them,” he said. “ Now one day, one day, before the government falls on a date not of their choosing, they suddenly start talking about fixed dates? Give me a break.”