Someone told me today that he hears the provincial Liberals are thinking about calling an election this year. The idea is to get a new mandate out front of a few potentially difficult years and provincial budgets. It’s an interesting thought given that recessions tend to be hard on politicians but snap elections in New Brunswick tend to be harder. Think Camille Theriault in 1999 and Bernard Lord in 2006. Both had internal polls showing them with a strong lead going into the election and both came out losers.
It will be interesting to watch. The Liberals have not shown much appetite for pain in their first couple years in office. For example, I thought health care spending was out of control with the Lord government and its growth rate has only increased under the Libs. Cutting – even moderating the growth of – government spending is not something we have seen in New Brunswick since the mid 1990s.
The Legislative Assembly Act was amended by the Liberals to set a fixed election date on the fourth Monday of September, every four years. Of course, the Lt-Gov has the authority to dissolve the Assembly at any time, but I would imagine that he would need more justification from the Premier than rising poll numbers or a worsening economy.
Why do we bother with these ridiculous laws if the Government has no intention of following them? The amendment to the Act was only given Royal Assent 20 months ago, shouldn’t we try it out for a few election cycles before throwing it out?
I admit it seems a little far fetched but I don’t get a lot of juicy gossip to pass along these days.
@David Campbell
That being said, I wouldn’t put it past them to do what you described. It wouldn’t surprise me at all.
He saw it worked for Charest, before the Caisse populaire tanked and Quebec hits the skids but Graham may have left it too late.And he talked too much with the old liberals turning people off..
“The Legislative Assembly Act was amended by the Liberals to set a fixed election date ”
Harper pulled the same trick. I am not sure why the idea of fixed election dates appeals to people, but clearly these laws have enough loop holes to make them meaningless. More reason to be cynical, I guess.