The devil is in the details

In 2007 the Cons passed a law to fix election dates. At the time, Rob Nicholson, then-Minister of Democratic Reform and now the Minister of Justice, declared that the measures restricted the prime minister from calling an election unless a vote of no-confidence occurred before October 19, 2009.

Then in 2008, Harper called an election based on the excuse that parliament wasn't working. There was no confidence vote involved, just Harper's imagination at work.

So in 2009, Democracy Watch takes the government to court over the issue and a judge rules that:

"The matter of convention in this set of circumstances is political in nature and is outside the jurisdiction of the court, bearing in mind the separation of powers under constitutional supremacy."

That, but the way is legal speak for the government can do whatever to hell it wants and we have nothing to say about it.

Another nail in the coffin of true democracy brought to you by the Ministry of Democratic Reform?

War is Peace and Freedom is Slavery