[AnOldCowhand]

....no longer get to tell us when the next federal election will be.

Can someone 'splain to me why the PM's in Canada and England have to "call for an election"? Don't they have a set date like us? If not, is there anything that limits their terms?

[ConservativeStLouisGuy]

Can someone 'splain to me why the PM's in Canada and England have to "call for an election"? Don't they have a set date like us? If not, is there anything that limits their terms?

I've only been here in Canada two years, but from what I gather Parliament has to be "dissolved" after a "no confidence" vote is voted on....and there are "certain times" when certain things can be brought up for discussion....looks like May 19 for the "no confidence" vote in the Canadian Parliament -- after that time we'll be gearing up for Conservative win in the election! :-)

[Squawk 8888]

A term in the House of Commons is a maximum of five years, howeverit is standard practice to dissolve that House after four years. The main exception is if the governing party loses a vote in the House, at which point the Governor can either call on another party to form a government or dissolve the House and call an election. This is expected to happen soon because the even though the Liberals have more seats than any other party they control fewer than half of them so they require support from other parties to remain in power.

Next week I'll explain whey a missed field goal in Canada scores a single point.

[goldstategop]

Some provinces like British Columbia and Ontario have already adopted fixed date elections. The federal Prime Minister can drop a writ - that is, call an election when its politically advantageous to his party's prospects of victory. A lot of people feel that grants the ruling party too much power and makes a mockery of the idea the people can change their government when Parliament's term constitutionally expires. So there's a movement to have federal elections held every five years as prescribed by the Constitution Act.

(Denny Crane: "Sometimes you can only look for answers from God and failing that... and Fox News".)