Liberal MPs considering voting for power to trigger leadership review after Trudeau experience

OTTAWA — Liberal MPs are considering adopting for the first time Reform Act rules that would give them the power to trigger a leadership review of their new leader Mark Carney. As first reported by POLITICO , Liberal MPs have been quietly discussing going ahead with the rule changes in a vote — with some wanting it to happen via a secret ballot — that is set to happen at their Sunday caucus meeting, which is the first since the April election. Liberal MPs told the National Post they are satisfied with Carney’s leadership and have no reason to believe they will be using the new powers to remove him anytime soon but want to avoid a repeat of the escalation that led to then prime minister Justin Trudeau’s resignation in January. One MP said they have not seen any serious effort within caucus to ensure that the Reform Act rules pass, but that many want the option of using a leadership review in the future. “I’ll tell you, the Trudeau experience is the key reason for that,” said the MP. “We didn’t vote in favour of the Reform Act,” the person added, pointing to the caucus meeting following the 2021 election. “Had we done so, we would have avoided a lot of the problems I think, that we experienced, particularly in the past couple of years with Trudeau.” Another MP said they did not want to “relive the situation that we just went through.” “Everything was done sloppily,” they said of MPs’ efforts to oust Trudeau. If adopted, the rules under the Reform Act — a law introduced by Conservative MP Michael Chong in 2015 — allow caucus to trigger a leadership review of a party leader, expel or readmit a caucus member, elect or remove a caucus chair, and to elect an interim leader. Conservatives have adopted the rules — in part or in full — repeatedly since the 2015 election as a manner of routine. The first and only time they used them was to trigger a leadership review that led to the exit of then Conservative leader Erin O’Toole in 2022. On May 6, a majority of Conservative MPs voted to adopt the option to trigger a leadership review but said it should not be seen as a warning to current leader Pierre Poilievre. Alex Marland, a professor at Acadia University who specializes in political party discipline, said it is “refreshing” to see the Liberal caucus consider taking back some of its power. “It really shows that Justin Trudeau had an incredible hold over the caucus,” he said. “The fact that they’re having an open conversation about it shows some scarring resulting from what happened with the end of his leadership.” There are, however, some limitations to this newfound freedom. Voting on the Reform Act rules usually happens in public, for everyone to see, which could deter some MPs who have their sights on a promotion from openly seeking a future leadership review. As one MP explained, if the vote is open, Carney’s first impression of some MPs voting in favour of the Reform Act might be that those caucus members will want to throw him out. “I’ll be honest with you: I’ll vote for the Reform Act if it’s a secret ballot. If it’s not a secret ballot, then our hands are tied, because we have ambitions,” said the MP. Liberal MP Nathaniel Erskine-Smith — who was just recently dropped out of cabinet and wrote on X it was “impossible not to feel disrespected” — said he has always voted in favour of the Reform Act and will be voting once again to enact the rules on Sunday. “This isn’t about casting doubt on anyone’s leadership, whether it was Trudeau or Carney,” said the Toronto MP. “I mean, I think the idea is accountability to caucus on an ongoing basis. I think that’s a good thing. So, I’ve always supported the measures and will continue to.” Unlike some of his Liberal colleagues, Erskine-Smith said that his view on the Act “isn’t coloured by recent experience.” Marland said in many ways, the Liberals’ vote on the Reform Act will be a “test.” “If we see that the Liberal caucus votes to empower itself, then the Liberal caucus is saying to everybody that we do not want to have a prime minister who has all this power centralized in the Prime Minister’s Office, as has been the case in the past,” he said. “But the very fact that we’re talking about it and questioning whether the Liberals will go along with it really supports the general pattern, and the general pattern is of MPs relinquishing their power to the centre,” he added. Despite wanting to vote for the Reform Act rules, some MPs are quietly hoping that the prime minister will give them permission to empower themselves. “We’re quite enthusiastic about Carney, and we would be even more enthusiastic if he came out and said, ‘Look, I’m going to show you just one more way I’m different from Justin Trudeau. Go ahead, let’s pass this Reform Act, because I think that caucus matters and there should be a check on the power of a leader,’” said one of the MPs. “That would really blow people away.” National Post calevesque@postmedia.com Get more deep-dive National Post political coverage and analysis in your inbox with the Political Hack newsletter, where Ottawa bureau chief Stuart Thomson and political analyst Tasha Kheiriddin get at what’s really going on behind the scenes on Parliament Hill every Wednesday and Friday, exclusively for subscribers. Sign up here. 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