Canada’s ‘caretaker convention’ offers blueprint for containing an unbridled POTUS
WASHINGTON, D.C.
Americans are strapping in for another two months of Trump-fuelled turbulence, wishing their country had some bedrock principles for how disgruntled leaders ought to behave after losing an election.
Canada might have just the thing.
The “principle of restraint,” also called the “caretaker convention,” enforces the country’s constitutional norm of responsible government and has been regulating the behaviour of outgoing incumbents for nearly 150 years.
It kicks in whenever an election is called, which dissolves Parliament and removes the principal mechanism by which elected federal lawmakers in Canada are held to account, and lingers until the new government is sworn in.
During that period, it requires the government in power to show restraint when it comes to new policies, spending measures and appointments, “since it cannot assume it will command the confidence of the House of Commons in the next Parliament.”
The convention is not a law, but has been an important guiding principle for outgoing governments for so long it would likely stand up in court, said University of Ottawa constitutional scholar Errol Mendes.
It’s an acknowledgment “that a government which has been defeated should not in any way be able to affect the ongoing attempts by the new government to carry out its new policies,” Mendes said.
“It would be outrageous in any Canadian election period, and after the election, to see the sort of thing that’s happening the United States.”
The U.S. is on edge following
President Donald Trump’s decision to replace senior Defense Department leaders and his administration’s refusal to acknowledge Joe Biden as presidentelect.
“You are destabilizing the chain of command as you are also calling into question the most fundamental part of our democracy,” said Brett Bruen, a consultant and former U.S. diplomat who worked as an adviser in Barack Obama’s White House.
“It is a perfect storm in terms of what could go wrong.”
On Monday, Trump unceremoniously fired Defense Secretary Mark Esper via tweet – a post-election development so long expected that Esper had reportedly already drafted a letter of resignation in case it was needed.
But the next day, the purge continued: three other civilian advisers, including Esper’s chief of staff and the top
Pentagon officials in charge of policy and intelligence and security, were gone, replaced by Trump loyalists.
One of the replacements, retired army brigadier-general and Fox News fixture Anthony Tata, once called Obama a “terrorist leader” and is known for promoting conspiracy theories. He was Trump’s original pick for the policy job, but the Senate refused to confirm him.
Christopher Miller, formerly the head of the National Counterterrorism Center, has replaced Esper. His chief of staff is Kash Patel, a Trump backer best known as the author of a controversial 2018 memo that accused FBI and Justice Department officials of working to undermine the president.
Reports suggest the moves may be an effort by Trump to accelerate the withdrawal of U.S. troops from the Middle East, in particular Afghanistan – a longstanding promise that Esper and others stringently opposed.