Carney shrugs off question about Liberal caucus Reform Act consideration

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OTTAWA — Prime Minister Mark Carney didn’t have much to say about his MPs looking at adopting legislation that would allow them to trigger a leadership review.

Speaking to reporters at West Block Wednesday evening, Prime Minister Mark Carney shrugged off questions about his MPs adopting the Reform Act — legislation tabled by Conservative MP Michael Chong in 2015 that would easily allow caucus members a variety of powers, including a leadership review of the party leader.

“All recognized parties in Parliament are bound by the Reform Act, it’s the law of the land,” Carney told reporters.

“There are four votes consistent with the Reform Act that will take place, they’ll take place at the first caucus meeting, which is Sunday.”

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First reported this week by Politico, the Act comes as Liberal MPs — still reeling from the end of the Justin Trudeau administration which saw several caucus members go public with their desire to see the contentious PM steep down — seek an easier exit ramp in case things end up going south with Carney.

“Everything was done sloppily,” one anonymous Liberal MP told the National Post on Wednesday, referring to caucus’ efforts to oust Trudeau.

Another MP said the party chose not to adopt the Act after the 2021 federal election.

“Had we done so, we would have avoided a lot of the problems,” they said.

The Conservatives routinely adopt the Reform Act since it was first introduced, and in 2022 used it to oust former Tory Leader Erin O’Toole.

bpassifiume@postmedia.com
X: @bryanpassifiume