By constitutional convention, an election must be called by the governor general following the mandatory dissolution of parliament.
[4][5] During the legislative process, the Liberal-dominated Senate added an amendment listing conditions under which an election date could be modified, in order to avoid clashes with religious holidays, municipal elections, and referendums; but, the House of Commons, led by Prime Minister Stephen Harper's Conservatives, rejected the amendment and the Senate did not pursue it.
"[7] However, the prime minister is still free to request an election at any time, as the amendments to the Canada Elections Act clearly state, "nothing in this section affects the powers of the governor general, including the power to dissolve Parliament at the governor general's discretion".
This was illustrated by the dissolution of parliament at Harper's request on September 7, 2008, which led Democracy Watch to initiate proceedings in federal court against the Prime Minister, the Governor in Council, the Governor General, and the Attorney General of Canada, challenging the decision to call an election prior to the fixed election date.
The Legislature of Alberta, under a Progressive Conservative majority government, passed the Election Amendment Act, 2011, on December 8, 2011.
[12] Amendments enacted by Jason Kenney's United Conservative government in 2021 eliminated the three-month period and fixed the date of the election on the last Monday of May.
[13][14] Further amendments enacted by Danielle Smith's UCP government in 2024 fixed the date of the election on the third Monday in October.
[17] The legislation amended the Constitution Act of British Columbia to require an election on May 17, 2005, and the second Tuesday in May every four years thereafter.
[27] Houston's government requested a snap election for November 26, 2024, before the first scheduled fixed date was reached.
However, Premier Doug Ford requested an early dissolution of the legislature with an election to be held on February 27, 2025.
However, on March 5, 2014, just over 18 months after the previous election, the assembly was dissolved by Lieutenant Governor Pierre Duchesne at the request of Premier Pauline Marois, who headed a minority government.
[39] A strong motivation for this law was the practical difficulties of holding an election during the Arctic winter.
While campaigning in 2016 the Yukon Liberal Party, and leader Sandy Silver, promised fixed election dates amongst other electoral reform.