Sorry, Duff.

Democracy Watch has gone before the Federal Court of Canada -- it argues that the Harper government violated its own fixed-date election law by going to the polls last fall following [prior to] prorogation of Parliament by the Governor-General.

The Prime Minister's strategic decision was quite obviously politically smart but also demonstrated a lack of courage on his part -- knowing full well that his government was about to be defeated in the House of Commons. In short, Harper was not convinced he could win an election.

To my mind, Democracy Watch is barking up the wrong tree here. An ordinary statute passed by Parliament is exactly that. It can be repealed by the present or a future parliament at any time. It has no extraordinary constitutional status. Conversely, when the Prime Minister asked for prorogation, we were dealing with the area of well established constitutional convention. Like it or not (and I'm still steaming even though the Governor-General's decision was both legally and constitutionally correct) that body of precedent cannot be effectively challenged in the courts, IMHO. I could be wrong but I think I'm on firm constitutional ground.