An NDPer is launching a Quixotic bid to rein in prime ministerial power, but he certainly has a point
When Joe Clark won a minority victory in the 1979 federal election, he waited four months after his appointment as prime minister before convening the House of Commons. Thus, for one third of 1979, Canada was effectively under the command of a man whose party had only won 35.46 per cent of the popular vote – and hadn’t even bothered to convene Parliament to hear from the representatives of some of the other 64.54 per cent of the country.
No prime minister has ever gone quite that rogue, but there are multiple examples from history of prime ministers proroguing a parliament that wasn’t acting to their satisfaction. In 2008, Harper prorogued Parliament to head off a planned no-confidence vote by the Opposition parties. More recently, Trudeau prorogued Parliament in 2020,In much of the rest of the democratic world, this kind of behaviour would be abhorrent to the point of inspiring riots.
From the beginning, prime ministers have been pretty shameless at using snap elections to acquire political power: Wait until your poll numbers are good and the opposition is in shambles, and then try and lock in a five-year mandate.
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