What happens to MPs who cross the floor?
Political oblivion often — but not always — awaits
It’s been a big month for floorcrossers: Maxime Bernier left the Conservatives to form his People’s Party of Canada, Leona Alleslev left the Liberals for the Conservatives and five MPs who crossed the floor to break from the Bloc Québécois are now crossing back.
Below, a brief history of the Canadian practice of floor-crossing, and why it may not be the democracy-strangling power play its detractors contend.
FLOOR-CROSSINGS ARE RARELY A NAKED PLAY FOR POWER
One of the more notorious floor-crossings still belongs to Vancouver’s David Emerson. As a Liberal in 2006 Emerson won re-election in the historically left-wing riding of Vancouver-Kingsway. Before Parliament had even convened, however, Emerson had ditched the Liberals for the promise of a cabinet post with the newly elected Conservatives. The decision was so widely criticized as a betrayal of Emerson’s constituents that even Conservatives found it a bit icky. But as modern Canadian floor-crossings go, it’s rare that an MP will cross their way into a plusher office and a better salary. In fact, with the exception of Canada’s wildly corrupt early years, it’s usually the other way around: A disaffected MP quits on principle and is rewarded with years in ignominy as an independent. Over the past 10 years a total of 20 MPs have changed their party affiliation. Not one of them did it in order to join the government benches.
FLOOR-CROSSERS OFTEN SEE THEIR RE-ELECTION CHANCES GO DOWN IN FLAMES
Leona Alleslev might be fine in the 2019 election. Her Ontario riding of Aurora-Oak Ridges-Richmond Hill was blue before Alleslev won it in 2015, and even then the race was close. But most of the time, constituents will punish their representatives dearly for crossing the floor. Disaffected Edmonton MP Brent Rathgeber left the Conservatives in 2013 to sit as an independent. In the next election, he was soundly defeated by his Tory replacement. The fall was even more dramatic for Conservative MP Eve Adams, who defected to the Liberals in 2015 but soon found herself unable even to win a Liberal nomination. A new study out of the University of Montreal tracked every Canadian floor-crossing since 1867 and discovered they usually end badly. From 1993 to 2015, of 20 floor-crossers who ran for reelection, all but six lost their seats. “Crossing the floor to sit with another party while in office is an unlikely and increasingly costly manoeuvre for Canadian MPs,” the study concludes. Probably the most well-known exception is Belinda Stronach, who famously left the Conservatives in 2005 to prop up the minority Liberal government of Paul Martin. In the 2006 election, despite being specifically targeted by her former Tory cohorts, she became one of very few Liberals who actually strengthened their share of the vote.
AND WHEN FLOORCROSSERS FORM THEIR OWN PARTIES, IT REALLY GOES DOWN IN FLAMES
Maxime Bernier’s new People’s Party of Canada does not have history on its side. For disenchanted MPs who form breakaway parties, the next stop is almost always utter political oblivion. Strength in Democracy, Paul Hellyer’s Action Canada, the United Party of B.C., Jim Pankiw’s Canada Party: All of these stirringly named political organizations were conceived by floorcrossing but lasted just long enough to be steamrollered into irrelevance at the ballot box. The only exceptions seem to come from Quebec separatists. The Bloc Québécois was founded by Progressive Conservative floorcrosser Lucien Bouchard and the Parti Québécois was founded by Liberal floor-crosser René Lévesque. Of course, while these parties were great at getting seats, they still failed at their ultimate goal of establishing a new country.
IT DIDN’T USED TO BE THIS WAY
Floor crossing used to be relatively common and uncontroversial. Canada itself was formed in part because a whole bunch of politicians temporarily forgot their usual political affiliations to cross the floor into “Confederation Parties.” From 1867 to 1917, 88 per cent of floor-crossers who ran for re-election could expect to keep their seats, according to the University of Montreal analysis. Only as Canadian voters began to pay closer attention to party affiliation did they become less tolerant of defectors. “Canada’s electoral system went from a candidate-centred system to a party-centred one, where the party leader and the label play a huge role in deciding the fortune of the individual candidate,” wrote the study. Nevertheless, in the more remote and rural parts of Canada — where elections can still turn on a few dozen votes — lawmakers remain relatively free to play legislative musical chairs. It’s so common in the Yukon that it’s even been referred to as the territory’s “sport.” Most notably, Yukoner Dennis Fentie got his start as an NDP MLA in the Yukon Legislative Assembly before defecting to the conservative-leaning Yukon Party in 2002. Not only did it not affect his reelection chances, he subsequently spent nine years as the territory’s premier.
FAILED LEADERSHIP CONTENDERS ARE AT PARTICULARLY HIGH RISK TO CROSS THE FLOOR
The next time a major party holds a leadership election, there’s a good chance that at least one of the contenders has a floorcrossing in their future. Scott Brison narrowly lost the leadership for the federal Progressive Conservatives in 2003, and now he’s Minister of Digital Government for the Liberals. The aforementioned Belinda Stronach had once challenged Stephen Harper to become the first leader of the amalgamated Conservative party. Liberal John Nunziata ran against Jean Chrétien in 1990, and by 1997 was winning re-election as an independent. Even the NDP has had would-be leaders jump ship: In 1961 the majestically named Hazen Argue lost out to Tommy Douglas to lead the newly formed NDP and became a Liberal within a few months.