The Saskatchewan Law Review just published my and David Brock’s article “Beyond the Writ: The Expansion of the Caretaker Convention in the 21^st Century,” presumably available at fine law school libraries everywhere.

Here we chronicle and try to explain why most scholars, politicians, and civil servants believed as recently as twenty years ago that the caretaker convention, or principle of restraint, only applied the post-writ and transfer of power between governments after an election but why the caretaker convention rapidly and suddenly expanded to include the writ and even the pre-writ since 2010 or so. We traced the hinge upon which this transformation turns to the federal election of 2005-2006 and the aftermath of the transfer of power between Paul Martin and Stephen Harper in January and February 2006. The trend toward expanding the caretaker convention accelerated yet further after the Privy Council Office released the second edition of the Guidelines upon the dissolution of parliament in 2015. The provincial and territorial civil services followed suit.

Similar Posts: 

• Caretaker Convention and Government Formation
• The Caretaker Convention Gobbles Up More Time and Space: The Case of Prince Edward Island in 2023 (March 2023)
• Bowden, J.W.J. “The Origins of the Caretaker Convention: When Governor General Lord Aberdeen Dismissed Prime Minister Tupper in 1896.” Journal of Parliamentary and Political Law 16, no. 2 (2022): 391-444.
• Bowden, J.W.J. and Lyle Skinner. “‘There’s Nothing Strategic About This’: How Dwight Ball Distorted the Caretaker Convention in Newfoundland and Labrador in 2019.” Journal of Parliamentary and Political Law15, no.2 (2021): 211-235.
• Extreme Risk Aversion: The Caretaker Convention in 2021 (August 2021)
• The Over-Zealous Caretakers of Newfoundland Labrador in 2021 (March 2021)
• Justin Trudeau Remains Prime Minister But Also Subject to the Caretaker Convention (October 2019)
• The Over-Zealous Caretakers of the 2019 Election (October 2019)
• The Caretaker Convention and the Appointment of Supreme Court Justices During Elections: 2015 vs 2019 (September 2019)
• The Caretaker Convention in 2019 (September 2019)
• Manitoba’s Early Election Expands the Caretaker Convention (August 2019)
• How Dwight Ball’s “New Government” Distorted the Caretaker Convention (August 2019)
• The Caretaker Convention in Action in British Columbia (July 2017)
• A Caretaker Convention in the United States? (February 2016)
• Thoughts on How We Translate the Caretaker Convention (January 2016)
• The Evolution of the Caretaker Convention in Canada (January 2012)
• The Development of the Caretaker Convention (September 2011)
• Guidelines on the Caretaker Convention (August 2011)