Journal tomhudson's Journal: The 10 unwritten rules to calling an election in Canada 10

Elections and referenda in Canada are simple affairs. A simple ballot with just the names of the local candidates and their party affiliation. No separate ballot for prime minister or anything else, no "local initiatives". Just elect your local official. Referenda here in Quebec have just one question, printed in both languages, and a simple yes or no choice.

Its probably why you can be in and out of a polling station in 10 to 20 minutes (and sometimes as little as 5 minutes), and why we know the results of an election a couple of hours after the polls close.

Federal and provincial elections are either called voluntarily by the leading party any time before their 5-year term is up, or involuntarily when the government fails to pass a major bill. Municipal elections are fixed at every 4 years, at least here in Quebec.

We've had a grand total of 2 provincial and 1 municipal referendums in 30 years. Here are the "unwritten rules" for timing an election or refrerendum in Canada.

1. Do not call a vote during the winter. Your party WILL be punished for doing so. Canadians do not like having to vote in winter.
2. Do not call a vote during the summer. Your party WILL be punished for doing so. Our summers are too short to waste on election campaigns.
3. Do not call a vote that coincides with the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Your own party will rise up in revolt and have you committed to an insane asylum, then announce your retirement (or the other way around).
4. This rule is a bit complicated. Do not call a vote in the first, second, or 3rd term of your 5-year mandate (we have 5-year terms at the federal and provincial level, but the leader can call an election any time, and one can be forced on a succesful motion of no-confidence). Voters will see this as both wasteful and "cherry-picking" your election while you still have decent polling numbers. Canadians do not like election campaigns that are called needlessly or oportunistically.
5. The corollory to the previous rule is this: Do not wait until the very end of your last year in office to call an election. Your party WILL be punished for doing so, and both the media and your opponents will make a big thing about your hanging on to power until the last possible second.
6. Do not call an election for when parents are trying to get their kids ready to go back into school in the fall, or the first week of school. Your party WILL be punished. Because.
7. Do not call an election for the day after a long weekend. Your party WILL be punished. Canadians don't want to waste a long weekend discussing who they're going to vote for.
8. Don't call an election for the day before a long weekend. We have our minds on other things, and we want to get away early, not stand in line for half an hour to vote.
9. Corollary to the previous 2 rules: Call an election for 2 days before a long weekend. This way, we get to vote, get it over with, and take the rest of the day off. Then we take a sick day the next day, making it into a 4-1/2 day weekend. We can then use the weekend to either drown our sorrows or celebrate.
10. Last but not least, don't be stupid enough to force the government to have to call an election - both YOUR party AND the governing party will be punished for being so stupid as not to be able to work something out. Since we don't have a 2-party system, we'll vote for "the other guy."

We actually saw that last rule come into play here last month - the provincial liberal party worked themselves into a position where they were forced to compromise on key legislation or call an election. It looks like the voters are have passed judgement on both the #1 and #2 parties - if an election were held today, the #3 party would win.