Hmmm. Interesting.

[thebitterguy]

Down south, in Sam's place, some of the folks are getting their knickers in a twist because, well, the folks in the White House (lovely piece of real estate, that. I wonder why they painted it white?) are discussing ways to delay elections in case of an'incident'.

Well, fiddle-de-dee, if that ain't enough to call for a sudden invocation of the Second Amendment (the bit about the well-regulated militias, which is basically the people saying to the government "mess up, and we shoot ya").

Now, what's interesting isn't the huge partisan kerfuffle.

Oh, no. They'll get into Center Right vs Medium Right shouting matches over anything. "Your guy did this, your guy did that, your guy's a drunk, your guy's a lech, blah, blah, blah."

No, what's interesting is this. Section 4, Subsection 2.

For those of you who can't figure out a link, here's the line.

"In time of real or apprehended war, invasion or insurrection, a House of Commons may be continued by Parliament and a legislative assembly may be continued by the legislature beyond five years if such continuation is not opposed by the votes of more than one-third of the members of the House of Commons or the legislative assembly, as the case may be."

So. What the Yanks are calling the advent of the antichrist, we're calling "a part of our constitution".

Are they just over-sensitive? Are we too blase?

Comments

[proemial.livejournal.com]

We just plan ahead better.

[mouseferatu.livejournal.com]

If such a thing were already part of our Constitution, it wouldn't be that big a deal. It would be something that both major parties, and all branches of government, were prepared for and knew how to handle.

But it's not. And the agency that's asking for the power to postpone elections is headed up by one of the most partisan individuals in a highly partisan administration.

It's a very different situation. So no, we're not over-sensitive, and no, you're not too blase. It's just that you're comparing apples to--well, doorknobs.

[rentagurkha.livejournal.com]

Actually, the two provisions aren't at all the same.

The Americans are talking about suspending an election that's already underway. The provision you're mentioning would only be practical to use before the election was called, as after the election is called it's almost impossible to recall Parliament.

I'm not really in favour of suspending elections for any reason, I'm just pointing out that you have different issues here.

[thebitterguy]

The specifics are different, yeah, but the basic issue (delaying an election due to Waugh, etc) are similar enough that I thought it worth commenting on.