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Voters of Don Valley West weren't left out of Prime Minister Stephen Harper's byelection thoughts, after all.

They will head to the polls Sept. 22 to elect a new MP for the riding, left vacant by the retirement of former incumbent John Godfrey who is taking over as headmaster of Toronto French School.

The candidates are Liberal Rob Oliphant. Conservative John Carmichael, New Democrat David Sparrow and the Green Party's Dr. Georgina Wilcock.

In late July, Harper called Sept. 8 byelections for three ridings across the country but Don Valley West was not on the list.

That's because Godfrey had switched his retirement date to Aug. 1 from his original plan of July 1.

Because Don Valley West would not become vacant for another few days, Harper was not permitted to call a byelection then, Elections Canada spokesperson John Enright said.

But Harper's latest move with Don Valley West has left University of Toronto political science professor Nelson Wiseman puzzled.

Harper was well aware ahead of time when Godfrey was retiring so Wiseman isn't sure why the prime minister didn't find a way to have all four byelections on the same date rather than setting Don Valley West apart.

He could have picked Sept. 22 (or even another date) for the first three byelections, knowing he would subsequently send Don Valley West voters to the polls the same day.

Or he could have announced a Sept. 8 Don Valley West byelection immediately upon Godfrey's retirement date, which would have provided the minimum 36 days for the campaign.

Either way, Wiseman wonders about the significance of setting the Don Valley West byelection date apart from the other three.

Harper, keen to win a Toronto seat, may get a boost from the Sept. 8 byelections which he hopes will carry over to Don Valley West two weeks later, Wiseman said.

"If they win (Sept. 8), they will use that to say people are more on their side," he said.

"If they ever want to win a majority government, Don Valley west is one of those kinds of seats they want to win."

Meanwhile, all four byelections came amid growing talk of a fall general election.

Under the Parliament of Canada Act, if byelection campaigns are under way when a general election is called, the writs for the byelections are withdrawn and superceded by the general election, Elections Canada spokesperson Diane Benson said.

That basically means the byelections roll into the general election.

But the timing of the byelections combined with political strategy means another scenario could take place.

Parliament is now set to resume Sept. 15 but that doesn't mean it will.

Harper has made suggestions in recent weeks that he won't resume Parliament until later in the fall.

At that point, either he or Opposition leaders could bring the government down, triggering a general election.

That means voters in the four ridings facing byelections could elect MPs in September who would only serve for a matter of weeks before running in a general election.

Benson said there is no average price tag for running a byelection, arguing it depends on the demographics of each riding.