Case information

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Case summaries are prepared by the Office of the Registrar of the Supreme Court of Canada (Law Branch). Please note that summaries are not provided to the Judges of the Court. They are placed on the Court file and website for information purposes only.

Charter of Rights – Constitutional law –Right to vote – Elections – Constitutional conventions – Amendments to Canada Election Act, S.C. 2000, c. 9, introduced fixed election dates – Prime Minister advised Governor General to dissolve Parliament before a statutory election date and absent a vote of non-confidence – Governor General accepted his advice and dissolved Parliament, triggering the 2008 election -- Whether the Federal Court of Appeal erred in law in ruling that the provincial law and government precedents, and the debates in Parliament and adding of the provisions to the Canada Elections Act did not create a constitutional convention that restricts the Prime Minister from advising the Governor General to call a “snap” election in between the statutory fixed election dates – Whether the Court of Appeal erred when it failed to rule that Prime Minister violated the convention when he advised the calling of a “snap” election in September 2008 -- Whether the Federal Court of Appeal erred in law in ruling that the Prime Minister advising the Governor General to call a “snap” election in September 2008 did not violate the right to fair elections shared by voters, interest groups, and political parties under section 3 of the Charter – Whether the Federal Court of Appeal erred in ruling that the Applicants were not sufficiently representative to have full standing to litigate those rights -- Whether the Court of Appeal erred in law in ruling that the provisions added to the Canada Elections Act do not restrict the Prime Minister from advising the Governor General to call a “snap” election in between the statutory fixed election date, and erred when it ruled that the Prime Minister did not violate the provisions when he advised the calling of a snap election in September 2008 -- Whether the Court of Appeal’s judgment sets a precedent that is of public and national importance because it fundamentally undermines the purpose, application and enforcement of not only the federal statutory fixed-election date provisions but also similarly worded provincial and territorial statutory fixed-election date provisions.

On September 7, 2008, the Prime Minister of Canada advised the Governor General of Canada to dissolve the 39th Parliament of Canada and to set a polling date of October 14, 2008. The Governor General exercised her power to dissolve Parliament and set the polling date as requested. The Applicants, Democracy Watch and its President and Coordinator Duff Conacher, referred to collectively as “Democracy Watch”, applied for several declarations confirming that the Prime Minister’s actions contravened the Canada Election Act, S.C. 2000, c. 9, s. 56.1, and constitutional convention, and that the October 14, 2008 election was contrary to s. 3 of the Charter. The application for judicial review and a subsequent appeal were dismissed.