Williams said he had no intention of catching the opposition parties by surprise and would call the House of Assembly back to amend the elections rules if an early election was needed.
That's an odd statement since the changes Williams introduced in 2004 do two things:
First, they allow an election can be called at any time.
Second, in the event of an election before the planned date, the subsequent election would be fours years later. Given that, if the Premier did seek an election writ before October (likely time: called by the end of February with voting before Easter), the next election after that would be in October 2011, exactly as it would occur anyway.
Liberal leader Gerry Reid and New Democrat leader Lorraine Michael both criticised the idea of an early election. Both said there was no need of going short and that an early election would forestall the Auditor General's review of the House of Assembly. Michael said an early election would go against the spirit of Williams' own amendments in 2004.
2. More AG news on Monday. Auditor General John Noseworthy will hold a news conference on Monday to discuss double billing by members of the House of Assembly.
3. Kennedy will run. St. John's lawyer Jerome Kennedy [left. Photo: cbc.ca] announced this weekend he will be seeking the Tory nomination in Carbonear. Local political scuttlebutt has it that Kennedy intended all along to run in his old hometown seat but was talked into the Signal Hill-Quidi Vidi by-election by Danny Williams.
As Bond Papers already suggested, don't be surprised to see Kennedy appointed to cabinet well before the next election. A cabinet shuffle could come any time before the end of February as the Premier gears up for the next election.
In related news, the provincial Tories placed newspaper ads over the weekend calling on interested people to contact party election chairman Ross Reid about their potential candidacy in any of the seats currently not held by the Progressive Conservatives. Several other seats are expected to vacated by current members of the legislature who won't be seeking re-election.