For many years, the Manitoba Progressive Conservative Party has supported set election dates. Knowing well in advance when the next election is going to be held is good for democracy because it allows for those who run elections and those who participate in them to properly plan.

It also takes away the ability of the governing party to call an election simply because it feels it is to their political advantage to do so even if it is not in the best interests of the electorate.

The next provincial election is the first one in our province’s history that is governed by a set election date. It will be held on October 4th , 2011. With a set election date comes new media and political attention to milestones as was seen this week as the one year anniversary to the election was passed.

Premier Greg Selinger used the one year mark to hold a campaign rally where he trotted out the same old and tired fear mongering tactics that his Party has used before. That is particularly strange for a party that has been in government for 11 years. Instead of focusing on defending their own record, they scarcely paid attention to it.

The Manitoba P.C. Party also held an event, called the Countdown to Change breakfast in Winnipeg. It highlighted the areas that are in need of change in our province, including reducing crime, improving healthcare, supporting agriculture, living within our means and protecting Manitoba Hydro by changing the route of Bi-Pole III. In addition, the P.C. Party has already nominated 19 candidates across the province and many of them have been working over the past year knocking on doors and meeting residents.

With only one year left until an election, there is a growing sense that Manitobans are looking for change and that the next election is going to be a highly competitive one. The call for change is coming from a number of different areas. Many farmers rightly believe that they their concerns have been ignored by the NDP government for the past 11 years and that the government doesn’t appreciate the importance of agriculture to the provincial economy. Others are concerns about the dismantling of Balanced Budget legislation and the enormous deficits that have resulted.

Many Manitobans are concerned about the direction the NDP has taken Manitoba Hydro, in particular forcing it to build a new transmission line on one of the longest and most expensive routes imaginable.

While the work that is normally carried on through the Legislature will continue over the next year, there will be added to it the anticipation of the next provincial election. An election that is now less than a year away. The countdown is on.