In
Canadian politics
The politics of Canada function within a framework of parliamentary democracy and a federal system of parliamentary government with strong democratic traditions. Canada is a constitutional monarchy, in which the monarch is head of state. In pr ...
, a leadership review is a vote held at a political party convention in which delegates decide whether to endorse the incumbent party leader or schedule a
leadership convention {{Politics of Canada
In Canadian politics, a leadership convention is held by a political party when the party needs to choose a leader due to a vacancy or a challenge to the incumbent leader.
Overview
In Canada, leaders of a party generally rem ...
to elect a new leader. In most parties at present, such a vote is required at the first convention following a general election. While a leadership election is only required if the incumbent leader fails to receive support from a simple majority of delegates (or if a motion to hold a leadership election passes by one vote), in practice leaders who do not win the review by a substantial margin are expected to either call a leadership election and re-offer or resign altogether. The term also refers to reviews under the
''Reform Act'', in which the party caucuses in the
House of Commons
The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. ...
decide on whether to retain the leader.
Traditionally in most
Canadian political parties
This article lists political parties in Canada.
Federal parties
In contrast with the political party systems of many nations, Canadian parties at the federal level are often only loosely connected with parties at the provincial level, despite ha ...
, there was no mechanism for a political party to forcibly remove an incumbent leader. This changed in the late 1960s as a result of a grassroots revolt within the
Progressive Conservative Party of Canada
The Progressive Conservative Party of Canada (PC; french: Parti progressiste-conservateur du Canada) was a centre-right federal political party in Canada that existed from 1942 to 2003.
From Canadian Confederation in 1867 until 1942, the ...
against the leadership of
John G. Diefenbaker
John George Diefenbaker ( ; September 18, 1895 – August 16, 1979) was the 13th prime minister of Canada, serving from 1957 to 1963. He was the only Progressive Conservative party leader between 1930 and 1979 to lead the party to an electio ...
after leading the party to two successive electoral defeats. Party president
Dalton Camp
Dalton Kingsley Camp, (September 11, 1920 – March 18, 2002) was a Canadian journalist, politician, political strategist and commentator, and supporter of the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada. Although he was never elected to a se ...
agitated for the right of the party to hold a leadership review. Camp called for such a review and, in 1966, ran for re-election as party president declaring that if he was returned to the position, he would call a leadership convention for 1967. He won an important endorsement from Allan S. Blott, the President of Saskatchewan's Progressive Conservative Student Federation, the core of Diefenbaker's political base. At the time, Blott was married to Catherine "Kit" Sampson, the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada's National Youth Director. With strong youth support, Camp was handily re-elected and the party passed a motion to hold a leadership convention by the end of 1967. In January 1967, Diefenbaker asked the party executive to call a leadership convention "at the earliest possible date". Diefenbaker stood as a candidate in the
September 1967 convention and was defeated by
Robert Stanfield
Robert Lorne Stanfield (April 11, 1914 – December 16, 2003) was a Canadian politician who served as the 17th premier of Nova Scotia from 1956 to 1967 and the leader of the Official Opposition and leader of the federal Progressive Conservative ...
. Subsequently, the Progressive Conservatives instituted a constitutional requirement that a leadership review be held at every party convention.
In January 1983, Progressive Conservative leader
Joe Clark
Charles Joseph Clark (born June 5, 1939) is a Canadian statesman, businessman, writer, and politician who served as the 16th prime minister of Canada from 1979 to 1980.
Despite his relative inexperience, Clark rose quickly in federal polit ...
voluntarily called the
leadership election for later that year after winning the support of only 66.9% of delegates at a leadership review. He ran in the election but was defeated by
Brian Mulroney
Martin Brian Mulroney ( ; born March 20, 1939) is a Canadian lawyer, businessman, and politician who served as the 18th prime minister of Canada from 1984 to 1993.
Born in the eastern Quebec city of Baie-Comeau, Mulroney studied political sci ...
. Subsequently, the party altered its rules so that a mandatory leadership review would only occur at the first convention following a general election rather than at every convention. Since 1983, 66% has been considered an informal benchmark for leaders to surpass in order to avoid calling a leadership election.
The
Liberal Party of Canada
The Liberal Party of Canada (french: Parti libéral du Canada, region=CA) is a federal political party in Canada. The party espouses the principles of liberalism,McCall, Christina; Stephen Clarkson"Liberal Party". ''The Canadian Encyclopedia'' ...
adopted a similar leadership review mechanism.
The
New Democratic Party
The New Democratic Party (NDP; french: Nouveau Parti démocratique, NPD) is a federal political party in Canada. Widely described as social democratic,The party is widely described as social democratic:
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
* t ...
had used a system in which the leader ran for re-election at every convention however, no federal
NDP
NDP may stand for:
Computing
* Neighbor Discovery Protocol, an Internet protocol
* Nortel Discovery Protocol, a layer two Internet protocol, also called SONMP
* Nondeterministic programming, a type of computer language
Government
* National ...
leader had ever faced a serious challenge under this system which usually resulted in the incumbent leader being acclaimed. After instituting a
one member, one vote
In the parliamentary politics of the United Kingdom and Canada, one member, one vote (OMOV) is a method of selecting party leaders, and determining party policy, by a direct vote of the members of a political party. Traditionally, these objectives ...
leadership election system in 2003, the NDP also adopted the leadership review mechanism used by other parties. At such a vote held on April 10, 2016 at the NDP's federal convention held in
Edmonton, Alberta
Edmonton ( ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Alberta. Edmonton is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Alberta's central region. The city anchor ...
, incumbent leader
Thomas Mulcair
Thomas may refer to:
People
* List of people with given name Thomas
* Thomas (name)
* Thomas (surname)
* Saint Thomas (disambiguation)
* Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) Italian Dominican friar, philosopher, and Doctor of the Church
* Thomas the Ap ...
lost a leadership review vote when only 48% of delegates supported his continued leadership.
Provincial political parties also use leadership reviews. The
2006 Manitoba Progressive Conservative leadership election was called by party leader
Stuart Murray after he received only 55% support in a leadership review. In 2006, Alberta Progressive Conservative Premier
Ralph Klein
Ralph Philip Klein (November 1, 1942 – March 29, 2013) was a Canadian politician and journalist who served as the 12th premier of Alberta and leader of the Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta from 1992 until his retirement in 20 ...
agreed to step down as party leader that year after he received the endorsement of only 55% of delegates in a leadership review.
[ ]
In early 2022, a ''Reform Act'' leadership review resulted in the
Conservative
Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...
caucus ousting
Erin O'Toole
Erin Michael O'Toole (born January 22, 1973) is a Canadian politician who has been the member of Parliament (MP) for Durham since 2012. A member of the Conservative Party, O'Toole served as the party's leader and the leader of the Official ...
as leader of the party.
Albertan Premier,
Jason Kenney
Jason Thomas Kenney (born May 30, 1968) is a Canadian former politician who served as the 18th premier of Alberta from 2019 until 2022 and the leader of the United Conservative Party (UCP) from 2017 until 2022. He also served as the member of ...
(2017-2022), narrowly obtained a majority of the votes in a leadership review with just over 51% endorsing him, but Kenney resigned in the face of a divided party.
This triggered the
2022 United Conservative Party leadership election
The 2022 United Conservative Party leadership election was held on October 6, 2022, in Alberta to select a new leader of the United Conservative Party and Premier of Alberta. The leadership election was triggered following the May 18, 2022, le ...
.
See also
*
Leadership spill
In Australian politics, a leadership spill (or simply spill) is a colloquialism referring to a declaration that the leadership of a parliamentary party is vacant and open for contest. A spill may involve all or some of the leadership positions (le ...
, a similar practice in Australian politics
References
{{reflist
Political terminology in Canada
*
1966 introductions