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From: Rhino <no_offline_contact@example.com>
Newsgroups: rec.arts.tv
Subject: Re: Bill Maher Warns Canada Is A "Cautionary Tale" For U.S.: "We're
 Diving Off A Cliff"
Date: Fri, 19 Apr 2024 22:01:36 -0400
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On Fri, 19 Apr 2024 02:23:40 -0700
The Horny Goat <lcraver@home.ca> wrote:

> On Thu, 18 Apr 2024 12:11:00 -0400, Rhino
> <no_offline_contact@example.com> wrote:
> 
> >Actually, we DO have (more-or-less) fixed election dates both
> >federally and in some provinces, including mine, BUT I saw a story
> >recently that the feds are developing legislation to delay the next
> >federal election by approximately a week. (I didn't see a proper
> >explanation but I strongly suspect it is to ensure that those who
> >got elected in the 2019 election have just over 6 years in
> >Parliament so they qualify for those very generous pensions.) I had
> >not realized that our feds even had the ability to adjust election
> >dates that way and I'm really not very happy about it.  
> 
> There's no such things as fixed election dates when there's a minority
> government (e.g. when there are more than 2 parties and the top party
> has a plurality not a majority in the House) as Canada has had since
> 2019.
> 
I think we have the same (correct) understanding of how elections work
in this country, we're just quibbling about the terms. 

Perhaps a phrasing that we can agree on is that no federal
government in this country, whether it has a majority or a minority, can
now have a term longer than 4 years. (It used to be 5 years.)  However,
a minority government may call an earlier election if it thinks it can
better its seat count. (Has a majority government ever gone to the
polls early to improve its seat count? I can't think of one but I
suppose it might have happened.) And, of course, a minority government
can be defeated if enough of the smaller parties get together and get a
larger vote count on a confidence measure. 

> Politicians can SAY 'the next election will be on _________' but
> unless they actually have a majority there's no guarantee and besides
> you're not seriously telling me politicians never have their fingers
> crossed when they speak to the public are you <evil grin>
> 
> We're in the happy position of having had neither of our past two
> members having qualified for one of those obscenely cushy pensions but
> our current MP is both a cabinet minister and someone who WILL get a
> pension should he gain re-election this time which is by no means
> guaranteed.
> 
> Obscenely = "gets severance pay (which if memory serves is about a
> year's pay for a 2 term MP) BEFORE that pension kicks in"

They get "severance pay" AND the pension?? I didn't know about the
severance pay portion. I've NEVER been happy about parliamentarians
setting their own salaries but this just makes me unhappier about it! I
remember when the current system was being conceived and someone or
another proposed that MP salaries be set by some independent body but
couldn't get Parliament to go for that - unsurprisingly. 

-- 
Rhino