By-elections When MPs Change Party

Summary#

Bill C-278, titled An Act to amend the Parliament of Canada Act, proposes to amend that Act. Its stated goal is to make a House of Commons seat vacant when an MP joins a registered party different from the one that endorsed them at the last election, or joins a party after being elected without a party endorsement. These are proposed rules, not provisions shown as being in force.

• The MP would be deemed to have vacated the seat and would cease to be a member of the House when the rule applies.
• The leader of the party the MP joins must notify the Speaker in writing without delay.
• The Speaker must send a warrant to the Chief Electoral Officer to issue a writ for an election to fill the vacancy.
• If there is no Speaker, the Speaker is absent from Canada, or the Speaker is the MP whose seat is vacated, the party leader must send the warrant instead.

What it means for you#

• MPs: If you join a registered party different from the one that endorsed you at the last election—or join a party after being elected without a party endorsement—the proposed rule would vacate your seat. The text does not make leaving a party, without joining another, a reason to vacate a seat.
• Party leaders: A leader whose party an MP joins must notify the Speaker without delay. In the listed cases where the Speaker cannot send the warrant, the leader must send it.
• Voters: A vacancy would lead to a writ for an election to fill the seat. The bill does not directly change who can vote or how votes are counted.
• The Speaker and Chief Electoral Officer: The Speaker must send the warrant when notified, unless one of the listed exceptions applies. The Chief Electoral Officer would receive it to issue the election writ.

Money#

No cost information is in the available material.

• The bill requires steps toward an election to fill a vacancy, but gives no estimate of the cost of those steps or of the election.

What is unclear#

• The supplied material does not include the current Parliament of Canada Act, so existing rules and any overlap with them could not be checked.
• The bill does not explain how to determine when someone has become a party member or how a disagreement about that status would be handled.
• It gives no timeline for the Speaker or party leader to send the warrant after the notice or triggering event.
• The bill does not provide a start date. The material also does not state the bill’s current status or whether it will become law.
• The bill refers to the definition of “registered party” in the Canada Elections Act, but that Act is not included in the supplied material.

Case for#

• The bill appears intended to ensure that a seat won with one party’s endorsement, or without party endorsement, is not held after the MP joins a different registered party.
• A possible argument for the bill is that voters would get a chance to choose a representative in an election after such a change.
• The bill sets out who must notify the Speaker and who must send the warrant in specified circumstances, rather than leaving those steps unstated.

Case against#

• One concern is that the seat would be vacated automatically under the proposed rule, without a process in the bill for considering the MP’s reasons or the circumstances of the change.
• The bill does not say how disputes about party membership would be decided or what review or appeal, if any, would be available.
• A by-election would be required to fill the vacancy, but the bill gives no cost estimate or timing rules.
• The rule addresses joining a different party, but does not make leaving a party without joining another a trigger for vacating the seat.