Pull out your day-timers and circle May 11, 2021. Barring a vote of non-confidence in the British Columbia legislature between now and then, that is the day British Columbians will be going to the polls to cast their ballots. Or perhaps by then, they will be pulling out their retinal scanners in the convenience of their own home and submitting their encrypted e-ballot. Either way, a new government will in all likeliness be chosen in BC that day.

How do voters know that Back in 2001, the BC government passed legislation determining that there would be a general election on the second Tuesday in May, every four years. According to the Elections BC website, May 11, 2021, would be the fifth consecutive election taking place on a fixed date.

While you have your day-timer out, you might also want to circle October 4 and October 9, 2007. Again, barring votes of non-confidence, those are the dates of the next provincial elections in Ontario and Newfoundland and Labrador, respectively. Following BC's lead, both Newfoundland and Labrador and Ontario amended their election acts to fix their election dates.

This trend to fix election dates is slowly making its way across the country. PEI has considered it. New Brunswick is looking at it. Manitoba is also apparently open to the idea of doing it. And our new federal government has indicated they are interested in implementing fixed election dates, pending the approval of the other opposition parties, of course.

This idea is also picking up steam with Canadians. In fact, a 2005 Environics poll found that 77 per cent of Canadians would prefer fixed election dates.

How about here in Alberta Our next provincial election will in all likeliness be held in the summer or fall of 2007, but doesn't have to be held until fall of 2009. This affords the premier an opportunity to pick any date between now and the fall of 2009 to hold an election.

Having this authority to pick an election date gives a huge advantage to the incumbent government. Voters saw that advantage exercised on the federal stage when former Prime Minister Martin triggered an election in 2004 before the recently-merged Conservative Party had an opportunity to vote on its official party policy.

However, there are a few signs that Alberta might be one of the next provincial governments to adopt fixed election dates.

The provincial Liberals recently put forward Bill 210 which essentially mirrors BC's legislation, setting provincial elections for the third Monday in November every four years starting in 2008. Unfortunately, Bill 210 will in all likelihood die when session ends in the upcoming weeks.

As most majority governments tend to ignore bills put forward by opposition parties, an even better sign that Alberta might be taking the issue of fixed election dates seriously is that PC leadership hopeful, Dr. Ted Morton, is also on board.

Dr. Morton recently proposed Motion 508, urging the government to introduce legislation fixing election dates every four years. The motion was passed by the assembly, but not before it was amended to study the issue further before making such a move.

These initiatives will undoubtedly help put the issue of fixed election dates front and centre during the upcoming PC leadership race.

Other democratic reforms like recall, citizen's initiative referenda, pre-election disclosure of campaign contributions, and proportional representation will likely have to wait for fixed election dates to take hold in Alberta before they get their shot. But that time is getting closer every day.