Advocacy groups file lawsuit against John Horgan's snap election call
Democracy Watch, Integrity B.C. want a declaration that the early election violates B.C.'s Constitution Act
A lawsuit filed against John Horgan says the B.C. premier contravened the constitution when he dissolved the legislative assembly and called a snap election.
Documents filed in B.C. Supreme Court by advocacy groups Democracy Watch and Integrity B.C. are seeking a declaration and order that the premier's action violates the fixed election date measure in B.C.'s Constitution Act and the constitutional convention created by previous fixed elections in 2005, 2009, 2013 and 2017.
The lawsuit is not asking to stop Saturday's provincial election.
"By calling a snap election during a pandemic instead of waiting for the fixed election date a year from now, Premier Horgan acted like an old-school power-crazed politician, not a new democrat committed to fair and democratic elections," said Duff Conacher of Democracy Watch.
Horgan called the election on Sept. 21, claiming that with COVID-19 expected to be a fact of life over the next year, it made sense to do so to create more certainty and stability in government.
Horgan had been leading a minority NDP government with the support of the B.C. Green Party through a Confidence and Supply Agreement.
In 2017, the NDP-led government passed legislation moving the fixed election dates from May to the third Saturday in October.
The early election call has been criticized for being a power grab by the premier and his party while the polls were showing both enjoying unprecedented popularity and a wide lead over the opposition.
Integrity B.C. founder Wayne Crookes says Horgan's snap election call was self-interested, hypocritical and unfair.
"It violates the fixed election date measures in B.C.'s constitution that the NDP has publicly supported, and the written agreement that the NDP had with the Green Party, and the good democratic tradition of fixed elections every four years that has developed through the past four B.C. elections," he said.
In 2001, B.C. became the first province in Canada to adopt fixed election dates.
The fixed date for the next provincial election was supposed to be Oct. 16, 2021.