David Brodie

A friendly reminder to Conservatives and all those agitating for a snap federal election in the midst of winter: an election will take place when, and only when, the government loses the confidence of the duly elected House of Commons. Newsflash: this isn’t new - it’s how it has always been in our Westminster-style democracy. Prorogation, whether one likes it or not, is a tool in any prime minister’s toolkit and one that Liberal AND Conservative PMs have used on multiple occasions in the past; former PM Stephen Harper notably prorogued the Commons in early December 2008 to (transparently) avoid a non-confidence vote that would have defeated his minority gov’t. I actually think that many Canadians would like to see a Liberal leadership race play out so that party members — in fact anyone who wants to join the party for free and have a say on its next leader and Canada’s next PM — can democratically elect the leader of a major party in this country that still happens to be in gov’t during a time of great national consequence. Many Canadians have grown tired of the Liberals and are justifiably looking for change. There are also many others that have lost confidence in Trudeau’s leadership, but still want to vote Liberal in the next election. These Canadians, and they’re not a negligible number, deserve to be able to vote for a Liberal leader they believe in come the next election. More democracy, whether within or outside a party, is always a good thing. So please: let’s dispense with this “We need an election today!” nonsense. We will have an election this year, perhaps imminently, but it will only happen once the government has lost the confidence of the House of Commons. Period. #cdnpoli