Over the weekend, the CBC put out a facile piece that tried to examine why the UK has an easier time ditching prime ministers than Canada does, and in the process, missed most of the important nuances that make our systems different. The issue is not “party discipline,” because people underestimate how strong it actually is within the UK, even though you have rebel backbenchers on a more frequent basis than you do here, but the biggest difference remains the fact that it’s a holdover from how the leadership selection process worked until recently in the UK. Up until about a decade ago, the UK still maintained the proper Westminster tradition of the party caucus deciding on the leader, and that meant the caucus also had the power to remove said leader. When they moved to a more Canadian-style system of party membership selection of leaders, the holdover from caucus firing remains strong, whereas it died in Canada by the 1920s—especially when Mackenzie King got into a scandal and told his caucus that they didn’t elect him, so they couldn’t fire him.

The other part about the piece that irked me, and will continue to irk me every time it’s brought up is the (garbage) Reform Act, and the false belief that it alone can empower MPs to turf a party leader. That’s completely untrue—MPs have never needed special legislation to give themselves permission to vote non-confidence in their leader. Michael Chong dreamed up this belief when he promoted the Act, and instead made it harder for MPs to challenge their leaders because he put in thresholds and processes that actually make it harder for MPs, not easier. And no, the Liberals didn’t have a hard time ousting Justin Trudeau because they didn’t sign onto the (garbage) Reform Act—they had a hard time because the members of his caucus who wanted him out were trying to convince him to go willingly using polling data to back up their claims, or to call a vote, rather than simply organising a vote on their own, which they could have done if they were serious about it. And in the end, it took Chrystia Freeland’s public resignation to force Trudeau’s hand. The (garbage) Reform Act remains the greatest democratic con in Canadian political history since the original sin of leadership conventions in 1919, and I wish the media would stop mouthing all of the lies about this egregious attack on the rights of MPs.

My Latest:

My weekend column points out how ridiculous it is that the government needs to resort to fundraising in order to make an official residence liveable.

Ukraine Dispatch:

Russia has been pounding Kostyantynivka in the “fortress belt” to try and make front-line gains, while attacks on Dnipro, Zaporizhzhia and Kharkiv killed at least ten people. Fuel shortages in Russia are spreading thanks to Ukrainian attacks.

Noteworthy:

• Here are photos from inside the shell of 24 Sussex.
• Paul Wells demonstrates his impatience with the government’s inability or unwillingness to actually communicate, per the condo “bailout” plan.
• Lindsay Tedds shows how Alberta’s anti-trans legislation and disability changes are both sides of the same coin denying bodily autonomy.

For those of you who missed it, my Loonie Politics Quick Take here:

— Dale Smith (@journodale.bsky.social) 2026-06-27T15:35:43.358Z

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