Fixed Election Date Court Case

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Voter Rights Campaign
Summary of Fixed Election Date Court Case

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"Canadians Against Snap Federal Elections"

Set out below are documents about Democracy Watch's court case challenging Prime Minister Stephen Harper's arbitrary election call
(in reverse chronological order)

The case was filed in the Federal Court of Canada in September 2008 as part of Democracy Watch's Voter Rights Campaign, and as the first case on this issue in the world, the case will also effect fixed-election-date laws in 6 provinces and the Northwest Territories, and similar laws in parliamentary democracies worldwide:

NEWS RELEASE: Democracy Watch Appeals Federal Court Ruling That Legalized Conservative Prime Minister Harper's September 2008 Snap Federal Election Call Despite Fixed-Election-Date Law -- Group Calls on PM Harper To Promise Not To Call Another Snap Election (March 10, 2010)
NEWS RELEASE: Democracy Watch Appeals Federal Court Ruling That Legalized Conservative Prime Minister Harper's September 2008 Snap Federal Election Call Despite Fixed-Election-Date Law -- Group Calls on Prime Minister to Promise Not Call Another Snap Election -- Will Seek Quick Hearing If Needed to Prevent Another Snap Election Call, and Has Created a Facebook Group To Protest Another Snap Federal Election (January 13, 2010)
WEBSITE ARTICLE: Court ruling means Conservatives misled Parliament and broke their 2006 election promise to pass a law fixing the dates of federal elections -- Democracy Watch will appeal (CTV.ca and 23 other media outlets across Canada (all publishing Canadian Press wire article), September 17, 2009) -- To see the Federal Court ruling, click here
NEWS RELEASE: Federal Court Hears Challenge Today of Legality of Conservative Prime Minister Harper's September 2008 Federal Election Call -- World's First Court Challenge of Fixed-Election-Date Law Will Determine Effect of Similar Laws in Six Provinces and the Northwest Territories, and in Other Parliamentary Democracies (September 8, 2009)
TV INTERVIEW: Duff Conacher on CBC Newsworld's afternoon show about Democracy Watch's court challenge of Prime Minister Harper's 2008 election call (September 8, 2009)
TV INTERVIEW: Duff Conacher on CTV Newsnet about court challenge of Prime Minister Harper's 2008 election call (September 8, 2009)
WEBSITE ARTICLE: Democracy Watch challenges Prime Minister Harper's 2008 election call in Federal Court as a violation of fixed-election-date law (Canada.com, GlobalTV.com, National Post and 10 CanWest News Service newspapers, September 8, 2009)
WEBSITE ARTICLE: Democracy Watch challenges Prime Minister Harper's 2008 election call in Federal Court as a violation of fixed-election-date law (Canoe.ca and 24 SunMedia newspapers, September 8, 2009)
NEWS RELEASE: Federal Court Will Hear Challenge of Legality of Prime Minister's September 2008 Federal Election Call on September 8, 2009 -- Democracy Watch Prepared to File Another Court Challenge if Prime Minister Tries Calling Another Snap Election This Summer (June 23, 2009) -- To see CP article about news release (published by 9 media outlets across Canada) on CTV.ca, click here
NEWS RELEASE: Ruling on Motion Means Court Challenge of Legality of Prime Minister's Federal Election Call Will Be Decided After the Election (October 3, 2008)
NEWS RELEASE: Democracy Watch Files Court Challenge of Prime Minister's Federal Election Call -- Violates Fixed Election Date Law and Charter Rights (October 1, 2008)
WEBSITE ARTICLE: Election call by Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper violates constitutional conventions and his own fixed-election date law (Canada.com and 10 other CanWest News Service newspapers, September 6, 2008)
NEWS RELEASE: Conservatives’ False Claims About Fixed-Election-Date Law Bite Back -- Federal Election Should Not Be Held Until House of Commons Votes Against Significant Government Measure, and Until Other Key Issues are Resolved (September 5, 2006)
WEBSITE ARTICLE: Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper uses lame excuse that "Parliament is not working" to try to justify calling an election before the new fixed federal election date of October 2009 (Canoe.ca and 4 other Sun Media outlets, August 15, 2008)

Page last updated March 10, 2010

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Voter Rights Campaign Summary of Fixed Election Date Court Case

Voter Rights Campaign
Summary of Fixed Election Date Court Case