Editor's note: Add Nova Scotia Premier Stephen McNeil to the list. McNeil announced this morning that he will step down as premier once the Liberal Party selects a new leader. As we noted in the article, Nova Scotia will have a general election in 2021.
Newfoundland and Labrador has a new premier-designate, but Andrew Furey won't be in the House of Assembly for awhile. Furey won the Liberal Party leadership race this week over John Abbott. Neither Furey or Abbott are in the assembly.
Furey will have to wait for someone to step down, run in that riding in a by-election, and of course, win that election. While Furey has never held political office, his father (George) was the Senate speaker and his uncle (Chuck) was a former provincial cabinet minister.
Dr. Furey is an orthopedic surgeon who founded Team Broken Earth in helping out in medical missions.
Furey will replace Dwight Ball, who will step down as premier once Furey is in place.
Ball is in his second term as premier, elected to a strong Liberal Party majority in 2015 and a minority government in May 2019. There were a few scandals that could have led to Ball's resignation in February.
Furey has a number of non-COVID-19 issues of contention, including Muskrat Falls, the Lower Churchill Project hydroelectric project in Labrador designed to lower electricity rates. Due to construction issues, electricity rates will go up to pay for the project.
A provincial election will be required within a year once Furey is sworn into office. Furey has already said he will not call an election in 2020.
Newfoundland and Labrador will join Nova Scotia and British Columbia in scheduled 2021 elections. Hopefully, elections will be easier to implement in 2021. As we are learning, some elections can't wait.
CanadianCrossing.com Newfoundland and Labrador coverage
2020 Canadian politics preview
The federal Parliament will have its first by-election since the beginning of the pandemic. MP Michael Levitt is leaving his seat in the York Centre (Toronto) riding to become the president and CEO of the Canadian Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Centre for Holocaust Studies. Levitt has been an MP since the 2015 election.
Levitt told the Speaker of the House that his last day will be September 1.
The by-election won't involve door-to-door campaigning and neighbourhood events, elements typically seen in a riding for an election.
Elections Canada will have a chance to study the impact of the pandemic on the ability for constituents to vote. York Centre will be an experiment of sorts on conducting a federal election during a pandemic.
The federal Liberal government has minority status. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau works with the NDP and the Bloc Quebecois as well as the Green Party and, on some votes, the Conservatives, the Official Opposition. There is NO inclination for any party to call or want an election at this point.
Canadian politics notebook: What is impacted by the COVID-19 corornavirus pandemic
CanadianCrossing.com Saskatchewan coverage
Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe resisted rumours, if the rumours were true, of a spring election. The writ should be dropped in late September for the scheduled October 26 election.
Saskatchewan schools will be closed on election day. The schools will be used as polling stations. The province's teachers will have a paid professional development day.
The highly independent Elections Saskatchewan got the Ministry of Education to adjust the school calendar so schools could be available for voting.
Elections Saskatchewan is trying to increase the number of places to vote for those in Saskatchewan.
"We have purchased about 400,000 masks. We've purchased many litres of hand sanitizer. We are in the process of procuring [Plexiglas] shields," said Michael Boda, the chief electoral officer for Elections Saskatchewan.
About 4,000 voters cast a mail-in ballot in the 2016 election. through the mail. Boda said Elections Saskatchewan is "building capacity" and voters will be able to apply in September for a mail-in ballot.
The 2020 Saskatchewan election may not be a head-turner but we will monitor to see how well the election is run during a pandemic.
The U.S. election will run on November 3. Hopefully, the election will be reasonably smooth. Likely Saskatchewan will have the smoother experience.
Canadian politics coverage on CanadianCrossing.com
The postal deadline for the 2020 Conservative Party of Canada leadership election is August 21. The results will be announced some time after the deadline.
The final four are Peter MacKay; Erin O'Toole (Durham riding); Leslyn Lewis; and Derek Sloan (Hastings—Lennox and Addington riding). The winner will succeed Andrew Scheer as the leader of the Official Opposition. If MacKay or Lewis is the winner, the same would apply as what is happening in Newfoundland and Labrador. They would need to win the by-election to be in Parliament.
You might recall that Jagmeet Singh won election as the NDP Leader but had to wait for an by-election to be in Parliament.
photo credit: @FureyAndrew
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