Table a Fanciful Budget & then call a Snap Spring Election : its an old Nova Scotia tradition

In the last twenty five years, only one (1) Nova Scotia election, that of 2013, was held in the Fall months.

In the last 100 years, only 40% of NS elections were held in the Fall --- almost all the rest were called (deliberately) in the Spring.

COOKING THE BOOKS

The time-tested tired routine is this : a Snap Election is called, right after a fanciful Budget is tabled but not adequately debated.

It makes many claims about the Province's future finances, promising goodies for all, bribing the taxpayers with their own money.

Also deliberately left un-examined are the all- important Public Accounts, detailing the (recent) past history of the Province's finances.

The BC Liberals have gone even further : they passed a law that says election must be held on a fixed date in the Spring !

So 'Bribing The Voters With Their Own Money' is now encoded in statute in that wild west province.

But at least BC does have a fixed election date, as do all of Canada's other provinces and the federal government.

Only NS is the proud hold-out, proud to be a "Laggard Not A Leader", to adapt a phrase made famous by a friend of mine, Professor Roy George.

PETITIONS & POLLS

I have an online poll on this blog, asking if you think Nova Scotia should move to fixed election dates.

I will be circulating a paper petition on moving Nova Scotia to fixed election dates, to present to the Fall sitting of the Legislature.

I hope  paper petitions, similar to this, ultimately circulate in all 51 provincial ridings.

(Ultimately only a minimum of one signature per riding petition is required, to force that riding's sitting MLA to present it before the House and make it an official part of Hansard. Lots of signatures are nice but hardly  necessary : I in fact believe it is more important that 51 MLAs are forced to present a single signature petition to the House, than to see a  thousand signatures on just one petition from one riding. It is the minds of those 51 MLAs that we have to awaken, after all.)

I will also promote an online petition, though it CAN NOT be legally presented to the Legislature.

But I am not holding my breath.

Because cooking the provincial books and holding  snap election in the Spring, only to find the books aren't as good as you thought in the Fall, is a time-honored Bluenose tradition : like rum, panty hose & chocolates....