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Liberal MPs won’t empower themselves to turf Trudeau, control caucus membership

Dec 11, 2019 | 11:48 AM

OTTAWA — Liberal backbenchers have declined to give themselves the power to turf their leader, Justin Trudeau.

They’ve also passed on the chance to control who gets expelled from — or admitted to — the ranks of the governing party’s caucus.

The decisions were made this morning at the first formal meeting of the Liberal caucus since the Oct. 21 election reduced the Grits to a minority in the House of Commons.

Under the 2015 Reform Act, a law instigated by Conservative MP Michael Chong, each party’s caucus must decide at its first meeting after an election whether to adopt four rules aimed at shifting power to MPs rather than party leaders.

The Liberals voted today to decline adopting any of the four rules.

They also re-elected Montreal MP Francis Scarpaleggia to be their caucus chair, a post he’s held since 2011.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 11, 2019.

The Canadian Press