Although I’ve been critical of a lot of Conservative policies (OK…all Conservative policies), this is one idea which I really do like.

Obviously it doesn’t make a lot of sense in a minority government situation, but there’s no reason not to have fixed election dates when majority governments have been elected. Just from an internal party perspective it makes things a lot easier with respect to timing conventions and nomination meetings. The guessing game parties have to go through for candidate nominations is hell, and having a real timeline as to when the next election is would be a huge benefit.

It would also eliminate the asinine media “will they or won’t they” media speculation as to when the election call is coming. And it would remove a major benefit of incumbency and prevent the five year stretch terms when the current government is floundering in the polls (*cough*MulroneyCampbell*cough*).

So good on the Tories for proposing this. Hopefully the other parties will be supportive.