The problematic election of 2016

(Warning: Really obscure Canadian content)
Debated yesterday* for the first time in Ottawa is Bill C-16, An Act to amend the Canada Elections Act which introduces fixed election dates for Canadian Federal Elections. The date would be the third Monday in October in the fourth year after the previous election, except where it is "in conflict with a day of cultural or religious significance or a provincial or municipal election" in which case we pick an alternate day which "must be either the Tuesday immediately following the Monday that would otherwise be polling day or the Monday of the following week."

All well and good, except that we'd better hope that no election comes due in 2016, 2043, 2073, 2100, or 2114 in the next century or so. Otherwise, despite their best intentions, observant Jews will still have to vote in advance. For in all those years, election day is the first day of Sukkot, and neither alternate day is any more suitable.

(*It is amusing, in light of the events of last May, to see the Liberals worrying about the definition of "confidence".)