The province should move to fixed election dates to save time and money, New Brunswick's chief electoral officer says.
Annise Hollies said Wednesday it takes her staff close to a year to get ready for an election, and when they don't know when that election is going to take place, it causes complications like those that occurred last year.
"Because there were so many rumours, we went out and rented computers from the province of Ontario," Hollies said. "Then the election wasn't called, so we had to return them. And then, after that, we had to go out and buy our own."
Hollies said her staff often ends up duplicating preparations for an election because they don't know when it's coming.
"People could be trained in advance, we'd know when the date is; we could rent space and be ready for an election," Hollies said.
Former Conservative premier Bernard Lord promised to look at fixed election dates during his 2003 campaign.
"People like to know when the elections are going to be," Lord said in May of that year. "Let's take a serious look at this and see if it would be a better system and if it is, how do we put it in place?"
Liberal Premier Shawn Graham has yet to commit to that idea.
