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Today in the Senate: Let's undo what we never did in the first place - Macleans.ca
Therefore, honourable senators, I conclude — and some of us concluded in advance, when Bill C-16 was before us — that the law supposedly establishing fixed election dates in this country is literally “non sense;” it is a nullity. To borrow the memorable words of Mr. Bumble from Charles Dickens’ Oliver Twist: “The law” — that law — “is an ass.”
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The bill that we passed into law is a facade. It is misleading; I would almost say it was intended to mislead. In any case, it is of no force or effect.
In the end, what this bill amounts to is a promise by a majority government not to engineer an election for four years, unless circumstances make it necessary to do so. As far as I can tell, this is not a departure from current practice, but an endorsement of it. In which case, all Harper is proposing to do is shorten the standard term from five years to four.