WATCH ABOVE: A judge has decided not to intervene and put a stop to an election that has yet to be called in Alberta. Fletcher Kent has more from the law courts.
EDMONTON — A Court of Queen’s Bench Justice rejected an attempt to stop a possible early election in Alberta on Monday.
Late afternoon, the judge struck down an interim election injunction application, ruling an early election would not violate the province’s fixed-date election laws. The decision means a provincial election can happen whenever the lieutenant-governor and premier want it to.
“The government made a whole bunch of promises in 2011 about how this would never happen after this law was passed, and they passed the law, and then it just appears that all these promises can be broken,” said Edmonton lawyer Tom Engel.
“It’s a matter of protecting our democracy.”
The application was filed in Edmonton’s Court of Queen’s Bench on Thursday, challenging Premier Jim Prentice’s right to call a snap spring election.
Ruttan Bates Barristers and Solicitors filed the application on behalf of Engel. The documents ask the court to prevent Prentice from calling an early election or from asking the lieutenant-governor to dissolve the Legislature.
“Beyond the fact that Albertans were promised that we would have certainty and fairness in our general elections once the Act was amended, Mr. Engel and I both felt compelled to bring this application out of respect for the rule of law,” said Michael Bates, Engel’s lawyer, last week.
“I could not care less about any issue of politics. This is about fairness.”
In Canadian law, only the lieutenant-governor can dissolve the legislature and force an election, but in practice, it’s only done on the premier’s advice. A fixed-date election law compels an election to happen within a certain range.
In court on Monday, the premier’s lawyer argued the new law contains a clause that preserves the old rules.
Engel and fellow applicant, former Sturgeon County Mayor Don Rigney, say that makes no sense and makes the law pointless.
Rigney claims an early election call will prevent him from running for the party he wanted to run for.
“What’s happened has prohibited me from running.
“I relied on the legislation and I relied on the promises and they’ve been broken.”
In 2011, the Progressive Conservative government passed the Election Amendment Act which legislated fixed election dates for Alberta. By law, the legislated time frame for the next provincial election is March 1, 2016 to May 31, 2016 although there are circumstances under which the premier can ask the lieutenant-governor to call an early election.
The application was not dismissed entirely on Monday. It may be heard, in greater detail, at a later date. Neither applicant has decided if they’ll pursue the application.
There has been rampant speculation the premier will call an early spring election soon after the 2015 budget is announced.
*This article was originally posted on March 27 and was updated March 30 with the court ruling.
Comments