Category Archives: Electing & Ousting Party Leaders

Updates on the Reform Act and Fixed-Date Elections

Posted on 2025/05/23 by J.W.J. Bowden

Nova Scotia Shows a Better Way In February, I outlined a government bill tabled by Tim Houston, Premier of Nova Scotia, which contained a line to repeal the province’s fixed-date elections law, amongst other things. The omnibus Government Organization and … Continue reading →

Posted in Electing & Ousting Party Leaders, Fixed-Date Elections, Party Discipline | Leave a comment

More Arthur Meighen Than Brian Mulroney? Pierre Poilievre Might Soon Confront The Reform Act

Posted on 2025/04/30 by J.W.J. Bowden

Election of 2025  On 28 April 2025, we returned yet another minority parliament in the 45th federal general election. Elections Canada’s preliminary results show that this general election brought out the highest voterturnout since 1993, at 68.7% compared to 69.6% … Continue reading →

Posted in Electing & Ousting Party Leaders, Party Discipline | 1 Comment

Ousting Party Leaders: From the King Doctrine to the Unenforceable Reform Act

Posted on 2024/10/25 by J.W.J. Bowden

Introduction Justin Trudeau stood defiant on 24 October 2024 and declared four days before the deadline that he would stay on as leader of the Liberal Party and Prime Minister in defiance of about one-fifth of Liberal MPs: “We’re going … Continue reading →

Posted in Electing & Ousting Party Leaders, Party Discipline | 2 Comments

Dissenting Liberal MPs Fail to Thatcher Trudeau

Posted on 2024/10/24 by J.W.J. Bowden

Even after suffering the worst defeat in electoral history in 2011, the Liberals had managed to cling onto their redoubt of Toronto—St. Paul’s and their core support of urban Torontonians who would surely never abandon them. A Conservative had not … Continue reading →

Posted in Electing & Ousting Party Leaders, Party Discipline | 2 Comments

Replacing the Prime Minister During An Election: A Forgotten Canadian Precedent

Posted on 2024/06/11 by J.W.J. Bowden

 Amusing Historical Parallels Voters feel exhausted after years of endless constitutional wrangling and a divisive referendum on the country`s new constitutional arrangements, and they further resent that the political class bogged itself down in this constitutional quagmire and all but … Continue reading →

Posted in Appointment of PM, Caretaker Convention & Government Formation, Commonwealth Realms, Comparative, Constitutional Conventions, Crown (Powers and Office), Electing & Ousting Party Leaders, Party Discipline | 5 Comments