Q. “We all know that a provincial election has huge costs for society. Why is the government rushing to conduct an election campaign in the riding of Marie-Victorin when we know that the general election will be held at the end of 2022? ”
Daniel L.
R. The Legault government has hinted that the by-election will take place somewhere in early 2022. Could it not have stood by and waited for the general election? No. There is a legal obligation to fill the position of deputy left free, in this case, by Catherine Fournier, elected mayor of Longueuil on November 7.
Here is what Élections Québec explains to us about by-elections:
” […] The Election law provides that the government must declare a by-election when a deputy’s seat in the National Assembly becomes vacant more than six months before the date of the next general elections. ”
Élections Québec further specifies that “the government must issue the decree ordering the holding of the by-election no later than six months from the vacancy of the seat”.
This is a provision that was introduced in the Election law in 2013, at the same time as fixed election dates were being decreed, which made it possible to establish a deadline.
In the case that interests us, the general elections are scheduled for the fall of 2022. Without a by-election, that would mean that the voters of the constituency of Marie-Victorin would find themselves without a representative in the National Assembly for nearly a year. . Democratically speaking, it is quite indefensible.
Before 2013, Élections Québec tells us, the government was not required to issue such a decree when the vacancy occurred more than four years after the receipt by the Secretary General of the National Assembly of the list of candidates proclaimed elected.
This is not the first time that a by-election has been held a few months before the general election.
To verify this, you can consult these two lists, which can also be found on the Élections Québec site.
Consult the list of by-elections Consult the list of general elections
Note that the government could order the holding of a partial within an even shorter period, six months or less before the date of the general election. But it would then be at his discretion, and not to respect the Law.