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“What happens in caucus stays in caucus, and you’re going to hear me say that today and tomorrow and every day going forward,” Maloney told reporters. “I joke with my wife sometimes … you can ask me the same question five different ways, you’re not gonna get a different answer.”

In the days leading up to the first meeting of the new Liberal caucus ahead of this week’s start of the new session of Parliament, nearly a dozen MPs told the Star they were looking to adopt the Reform Act for the first time ever following an intense battle last year to push out former prime minister Justin Trudeau.

The debate over whether to adopt the act, a decade-old law championed by Conservative MP Michael Chong that allows party caucuses to decide whether to adopt four powers, including the ability to launch a leadership review if at least 20 per cent of MPs wish to do so, did not hinge on any dissatisfaction with Carney, many MPs made clear.

Instead, it reflected a party scarred by its battle to oust Trudeau last year and desperate to ensure the prime minister’s inner circle doesn’t hold too much power.

In his address to MPs ahead of the vote, Prime Minister Carney did not make mention of the coming vote, instead highlighting the stakes of the coming Parliament and his agenda that includes redefining Ottawa’s relationship with the U.S., boosting the Canadian economy and tackling crime while maintaining fiscal discipline. 

“We’re going to have to do things previously thought impossible, at speeds not seen in generations,” Carney told the Liberal caucus in the portion where media was present. “And your commitment, your ideas, your energy, will be essential, and our partnership will be vital.”

He told the caucus, which includes more than 60 newly-elected MPs, that it was his “solemn commitment” to work with them and “seize this moment.”

On Sunday, MPs who spoke to reporters ahead of the meeting appeared split on whether those powers were necessary, but ultimately, those who opposed the legislation won out, even in a vote that was held by secret ballot, according to one source.

The result of the vote stands in contrast with the Conservatives, who voted earlier this month to adopt the ability to kick out leader Pierre Poilievre if they want.

Secretary of State Wayne Long, known as the first MP to publicly call for Trudeau to resign last summer, told the Star he felt the threshold to invoke it was too low.

Likewise, St. Catharines MP Chris Bittle told reporters the choice of ousting a leader should be decided by Liberal party members, not MPs and called the Reform Act a “Conservative” piece of legislation. He said, however, that he was open to changes to the Liberal Party’s constitution at the 2026 convention in Montreal. 

“Canadians want to see us moving forward. They want to see us working,” he said. “Let’s move on.”

Sudbury’s Viviane Lapointe also said she was voting against it, pointing to Carney’s 85 per cent support in the Liberal leadership race.

With the Liberals also voting Sunday on who would become caucus chair — an MP who would lead caucus meetings — several said they were supporting Maloney.

“He will absolutely make sure that caucus is well represented,” London North Centre’s Peter Fragiskatos said, adding that he wants the new caucus chair to meet regularly with the prime minister, something that stopped happening during the Trudeau-era. “There’s an opportunity here to remake how caucus is done.”

Monday, King Charles is set to arrive in Ottawa before his milestone Throne Speech to open the first session of Parliament under Carney’s Liberals on Tuesday.

First on the government’s to-do list, Carney said, is a middle-class tax cut expected to be in place before July 1, as well as immediate legislation to fast-track nation-building projects and eliminate federal internal trade barriers.

Not present in the House of Commons then, but hoping to insert himself in the conversation, is Poilievre, who also opened his speech to caucus Sunday to the media as he vowed to continue holding the Liberal government to account.

Poilievre, who lost his longtime Carleton seat in the April election and will now seek a safe rural Alberta seat, celebrated the Conservative party’s “expanded coalition,” and outlined his focus on the cost of living, crime, immigration and the economy.

He slammed Carney for not committing to tabling a budget until the fall, accusing his government of “double speak” in the process, and said Canadian workers had carried “this morbidly obese government” on their backs for too long.

Still, the Conservative leader spoke in a less aggressive tone than usual at times, a bid to Conservatives and potential voters who’ve urged the firebrand leader to show his softer side.

“When we expose Liberal failures, when we argue about policies, we don’t do it just to hold the government to account, we do it because we want things to get better,” Poilievre said. “We will present ourselves as a government in waiting to ensure that that hope remains.”

With files from Alex Ballingall and Raisa Patel.