this post was submitted on 13 Mar 2025
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What is This Group is About?/De Quoi Parle ce Groupe?

The unofficial non-partisan Lemmy movement to bring proportional representation to all levels of government in Canada.

🗳️Voters deserve more choice and accountability from all politicians.

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Le mouvement non officiel et non partisan de Lemmy visant à introduire la représentation proportionnelle à tous les niveaux de gouvernement au Canada.

🗳️Les électeurs méritent davantage de choix et de responsabilité de la part de tous les politiciens.


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We're looking for more moderators, especially those who are of French and indigenous identities.

Nous recherchons davantage de modérateurs, notamment ceux qui sont d'identité française et autochtone.

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While constitutional conventions "are not enforced by the law courts", this pretty much allows any unelected official to hold the role of Prime Minister.

We need to respect the law, including constitutional conventions.

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[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

It's not a precedent -- this has already happened several times. John Turner was PM in 1984 without having a seat. Mackenzie King won an election and became PM all while not being an MP in 1926. He was even a seat-less PM for a couple of months again in 1945.

Prior to the convention of standing for election soon after becoming PM being a hard-and-fast thing, John A. McDonald was in a similar position at Confederation in 1867, and so were two more 19th-century PMs, Abbott and Bowell.

Given the way that the Conservatives blew several conventions out of the water last time they were in power (proroguing Parliament inappropriately, and refusing to allow a coalition second crack at forming a government after an election) I agree it would be a good idea to make this a law. But ringing an alarm bell over Carney specifically is a bit too much. The Liberals are already talking about which back-bencher will resign and Carney run: somewhere in the West Island of Montreal looks like a likely candidate as they are super-safe Liberal seats.