Kerry-Lynne Findlay’s impossible tightrope act is over, but the chorus of cheers and jeers now moves from the circus ring of caucus to the raucous stage of stunned party members.
asserted
chorus → move → members
The Conservative division of labour, where the party membership hires leaders but the caucus fires them, violates the old conservative maxim that you cannot serve two masters.
asserted
you → hire → masters
Responsible government rests on two principles that unite the tasks of hiring and firing.
asserted
that → rest → hiring
First, Cabinet alone is responsible for governing, because it both introduces spending bills and executes them.
asserted
it → govern → them
Unlike a presidential cabinet, Canadian ministers cannot deflect responsibility for bad laws to Congress.
asserted
ministers → deflect → Congress
Second, Parliament alone — typically the majority party caucus — is responsible for hiring and firing that governing Cabinet, as Justin Trudeau eventually learned.
asserted
Trudeau → hire → Cabinet
Unlike the American House majority, Liberal MPs could not deflect responsibility for a bad executive to voters.
uncertain
MPs → deflect → voters
Constitutions do not regulate parties outside government.
asserted
Constitutions → regulate → government
But the Westminster ethos still led opposition parties to adopt the same structure: party caucuses hired and fired their leaders.
asserted
caucuses → lead → leaders
If responsibility doesn’t seem distinctively conservative, just ask progressives, who generally bristle at the “smoke-filled rooms” of “party insider” caucuses.
asserted
who → seem → caucuses
The original Progressive party rode a populist western wave of democratization that may have undermined its own leaders, but impelled both major parties to introduce delegated conventions.
uncertain
that → ride → conventions
Later, the populist Canadian Alliance used a one-member-one-vote method to hire the unready Stockwell Day, which produced a short and stormy tenure for both leader and party.
asserted
which → use → leader
Yet its democratizing wave effectively pressured all Canadian parties to let members hire and fire party leaders.
asserted
members → democratize → leaders
In practice, of course, caucuses could always find ways to fire their leaders.
uncertain
caucuses → find → leaders
But nobody seemed to mind having torn up responsible government.
asserted
nobody → seem → government
The Cold War was over, democracy had won, and the end of history was nigh.
asserted
end → win → history
Even British parties democratized their leadership contests.
asserted
parties → democratize → contests
Yet elsewhere, Westminster history continued unabated.
asserted
history → continue → ?
For instance, the conservative Australian Liberal Party maintained its closed-door policy, even if no longer smoke-filled.
asserted
Party → maintain → policy
In both 2015 and 2018, its governing majority caucus quickly and smoothly replaced its prime ministers, turning upcoming electoral disasters into renewed majorities.
asserted
caucus → govern → majorities
Each change put the egg on the face of the leader, not the party.
asserted
change → put → leader
Needless to say, B.C. Conservatives can only dream.
asserted
Conservatives → say → ?
New Zealand’s National Party preserved the same exemplary method.
asserted
Party → preserve → method
Even its Labour rival, keener to indigenize than even the BC NDP, returned in 2021 to the old caucus selection method.
asserted
rival → indigenize → method
Even British Conservatives have recently pioneered a clever way to satisfy the demands of 21st-century democracy while re-empowering Tory MPs.
asserted
Conservatives → pioneer → MPs
Their caucus uses multi-round voting to whittle down the slate of leadership hopefuls to a first- and second-place finisher, then presents the two finalists to party members for their ultimate decision.
asserted
caucus → use → decision
But caucus has pressured two of the last four prime ministerial runners-up to stand down before any such membership vote: after all, they whisper, who wants to lead a caucus that prefers their rival?
asserted
that → pressure → rival
A third runner-up, Liz Truss, lasted 49 days as the members’ choice before caucus got its preferred candidate, Rishi Sunak.
asserted
caucus → last → candidate
If the B.C. Conservative caucus could have ended Kerry-Lynne Findlay’s tenure after 49 days without having to betray the membership, they might have been the ones pushing for an early election.
uncertain
they → end → election
When caucuses hire their own leaders, they can select for governing skill rather than twittering volume.
asserted
they → hire → skill
If their preferred choice goes rogue as leader, caucus can threaten to fire them without inflicting on the party a public race at once uncertain, protracted, and divisive.
asserted
caucus → prefer → race
Caucus squabbles thus remain in-house and drama-free: no private investigators, few Findlay Files, little time for the embattled leader to purge competent party strategists.
asserted
leader → remain → strategists
If (say) Peter Milobar or Caroline Elliott were an obvious caucus-approved leader-in-waiting, the B.C. right might still be united —maybe even under a disciplined Findlay.
uncertain
right → approve → Findlay
Canadian Conservatives even have an opening to follow their British counterparts.
asserted
Conservatives → have → counterparts
In the name of democratization, the Conservative 2014 Reform Act empowers caucus with several prerogatives over the leader: candidate selection, MP expulsion, choice of chair.
asserted
Act → empower → chair
In spite of democratic pressure, most Anglo conservative parties have maintained their responsible conservative approach to leader selection: caucus fires, caucus hires.
asserted
parties → maintain → selection
Oddly enough, their electorates have not discarded them as reactionary proto-fascists, but have instead elevated them to government.
asserted
electorates → discard → government
Why do Canadian conservatives sabotage both their principles and prospects by forcing their leaders to serve two masters?
asserted
conservatives → sabotage → masters
The Aporia
