I thank Lydia Miljan, Professor of Political Science at the University of Windsor, for having invited me to contribute to her series Five Ways to Fix Canadian Democracy Without Constitutional Reform, which the Fraser Institute published on 30 June 2026. The self-explanatory title includes five such essays, to which I contributed on “Strengthening the Reform Act by Restoring Michael Chong’s Original Bill.”

Bowden, J.W.J. “Strengthening the Reform Act by Restoring Michael Chong’s Original Legislation.” Chapter 2 in Five Ways to Fix Canadian Democracy Without Constitutional Reform, edited by Lydia Miljan, 5-8. Vancouver: The Fraser Institute, 30 June 2026.

In April 2014, Conservative MP Michael Chong tabled a bill to restore the power of the parliamentary party over the leader.^[1] But Chong had to accept a key amendment to secure passage of the Reform Act in June 2015. Chong’s original bill would have added five procedures to the Parliament of Canada Act which outlined how recognised parties in the House of Commons could conduct leadership reviews, oust their leaders and appoint an interim leader, remove members from the parliamentary party, and re-admit said members to the parliamentary under some conditions. These provisions would have applied to all parliamentary parties automatically and at all times. But the Reform Act as enacted made them contingent instead: every caucus has to decide when it first meets after each general election whether to subject itself to each of the procedures, separately, and only for the life of that particular parliament. Worse still, the Speaker of the House of Commons ruled in 2019 that he has no authority to enforce how caucuses vote – or refuse to vote – on whether under the Reform Act.[2] These procedures could have applied to the Parliaments elected in 2015, 2019, 2021, and 2025, but only the Conservative parliamentary party has ever decided to put any of the procedures into effect. Parliament should amend the legislation to apply all these procedures automatically to every parliamentary party at all times, as Michael Chong had originally intended.

Similar Posts: 

• Electing and Ousting Party Leaders
• Updates on the Reform Act and Fixed-Date Elections (May 2025)
• More Arthur Meighen Than Brian Mulroney? Pierre Poilievre Might Soon Confront the Reform Act (April 2025)
• Ousting Party Leaders: From the King Doctrine to the Unenforceable Reform Act (October 2024)
• Dissenting Liberal MPs Fail to Thatcher Trudeau (October 2024)

Notes

[1] Reform Act, S.C., 2015, c. 37, at section 4.

[2] Geoff Regan (Speaker of the House of Commons), “Privilege: Alleged Process Used to Determine Liberal Caucus Membership – Speaker’s Ruling,” House of Commons Debates, 42^nd Parliament, 1^st Session, Volume 148, Number 403, Thursday, 11 April 2019, at pages 26975-26976.