海角社区官网

The choice to adopt the Reform Act 鈥� a law that allows caucus members to exercise several powers, including the ability to expel their leader if certain criteria are met 鈥� is set to be decided on Sunday, when Liberal MPs hold their first post-election caucus meeting ahead of next week’s new session of Parliament.聽

“It’s about restoring power to caucus,” said a Liberal MP who favours adopting the act. “We’ve done a hard reset within the Liberal party. There is renewal.”

The Star spoke to eight other Liberal caucus members who embraced the law, many of whom shared their perspectives on the condition they not be named.

“It’s the only measure that helps to restrain the nearly unfettered power of a prime minister and his office,” said another MP, adding that Carney should give his MPs the green light to adopt it.

That would serve as “yet another demonstration of how different he is from Justin Trudeau,” the MP said, stating that such a move would show that Carney “respects caucus” and “welcomes scrutiny.”

Nate Erskine-Smith, a 海角社区官网MP who was dropped from cabinet, told the Star he has always supported the act and “will continue to do so.”聽

Other Liberal MPs expressed a desire to adopt the act after the tumultuous final months of Trudeau’s tenure, where caucus members with no ability to trigger a leadership review took on, as one MP put it, a “nothing-we-can-do mentality” about the party’s tanking fortunes.聽

The Reform Act, which was first championed by Conservative MP Michael Chong, came into effect in 2015. It聽allows party caucuses to decide whether to adopt four powers set out by the law, one of which is the power to launch a leadership review if at least 20 per cent of a party鈥檚 caucus wishes to do so. If that threshold is met, a leader can be removed if a majority of members vote to oust them via secret ballot. Should that happen, another power allows caucus to conduct a secret ballot vote to select an interim leader. Other powers include the ability to expel caucus members and to remove the caucus chair.聽

Adopting the act does not mean that MPs are agitating behind the scenes to exercise the powers granted to them under the law. The Conservative party, which has previously adopted powers conferred by the act after federal elections 鈥� including following聽this year’s contest聽鈥� used the law to eject former Tory MP Derek Sloan in 2021 and former leader Erin O’Toole one year later.聽

One Liberal MP, who spoke on condition they aren鈥檛 named, said the party should adopt the Reform Act authorities, even if they are extremely unlikely to be used in the current government鈥檚 mandate or even the next one.

Those powers are important for caucus, the MP said, after 鈥渨hat we鈥檝e been through鈥� regarding opposition to Trudeau.

The MP said they are a 鈥渧ery, very big supporter of Mark Carney,鈥� and urged him to support the adoption of the Reform Act to signal he is confident in his leadership and his ability to stay plugged into his caucus.

鈥淭here鈥檚 almost no risk of it being invoked unless there is a major, major gaffe鈥� that 鈥渋rrevocably鈥� changes how the public supports Carney, the MP said. 鈥淚f I was the prime minister, I would not be afraid of that.鈥�

Sources told the Star they expect that veteran MP Hedy Fry, the Liberals’ longest serving caucus member, will try to stage a formal vote on adopting the act. Under the law, the caucus member with the “longest period of unbroken service in the House of Commons” is expected to preside over such votes.聽Fry declined to comment when contacted by email Tuesday and did not respond when asked a followup question about MPs’ expectations she will oversee the vote.

Some MPs told the Star that they didn’t want the matter to be handled through a process like voting by a show of hands, and would prefer a process where MPs can vote privately without exposing their preference.聽

“Hedy is absolutely determined to make sure” the process is fair, one MP said, speaking on condition they weren’t named.聽

Another MP said the vote must be conducted via secret ballot, particularly for caucus members who are still hoping to be given other roles and responsibilities, or who may have their eyes on a cabinet role in the future.聽

But some MPs have expressed reservations about moving forward with the act.聽

One of them, who spoke on the condition they not be named, worried that endorsing the act would prompt Carney to make decisions that pandered to caucus, instead of advancing the leader’s long-term vision for the country.聽

Others weren’t sure the powers are even necessary.聽

“I don鈥檛 understand what the big deal is,鈥� said Corey Hogan, a rookie MP elected in Calgary. Hogan noted that Liberal caucus members who opposed Trudeau ended up getting what they wanted when he resigned before the election.

The push to adopt the act now, Hogan added, feels like MPs 鈥渇ighting the last war.鈥�

Hogan said he’ll hear out their arguments, but he believes caucus already effectively has the authority to push out a leader.