Category Archives: Electing & Ousting Party Leaders

Restoring Michael Chong’s Original Reform Act


  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 … Continue reading

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Updates on the Reform Act and Fixed-Date Elections


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

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


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

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


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

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Dissenting Liberal MPs Fail to Thatcher Trudeau


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