Dropping the Writ
August 18, 2021 | Canada
The federal election is underway and we know this because the writ has ‘dropped’. But did you know that the term “dropping the writ” is actually inaccurate?
The federal election process started on August 15, 2021, when Prime Minister Justin Trudeau visited the Governor-General and asked her to dissolve Parliament. Once Parliament has been dissolved, writs are drawn up for each of the country’s 338 ridings for a federal election. A writ is a formal written order instructing the returning officer to hold an election to select a Member of Parliament.
But a writ is not actually ‘dropped’. Despite its inaccuracy, the ‘writ drop’ expression has been used to mark the start of an election from around the 1980s and is thought to be a uniquely Canadian term.
Read more about what the election call actually means (CBC News).
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