The party constitutions of the Liberal and Conservative parties only permit a leadership vote following an electoral defeat.
Liberal MP Ken McDonald withdrew remarks made last week that seemed to indicate he would support the Liberal Party considering a leadership review of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
However, even if a sizable portion of Liberal MPs supported such a review, Trudeau’s government would not allow it to happen in an official manner.
The constitution of the Liberal Party does not include a process for leadership reviews. It does permit registered Liberals to cast “leadership endorsement” ballots, indicating their continued support for the existing leader.
Every riding association administers the endorsement ballot, which has a 100-point weighting distributed evenly among all the ridings. A boss requires fifty percent of the points needed to remain in the country.
However, a vote of this kind doesn’t happen until the party has lost a general election. In a similar vein, the Conservative Party constitution stipulates that a vote on leadership should only take place in the event that the incumbent leader lost the previous election.
Ken McDonald, the MP, retracts his assertion that the Liberals require a leadership review.
According to a political expert, Ken McDonald’s reversal on Trudeau doesn’t repair the harm.
According to Dalhousie University political science professor Lori Turnbull, forcing a leader out before they lose an election isn’t really part of Canadian “political culture.”
