In just five months, five members of Parliament have crossed the floor to join Prime Minister Mark Carney’s Liberal caucus. B.C. MP Don Davies, the federal NDP’s parliamentary leader, has introduced — for the fifth time since he was first elected to the House of Commons in 2008 — a private member’s bill on Tuesday that seeks to rein in floor-crossing MPs.
If passed by Parliament, Bill C-278 would amend the Parliament of Canada Act to provide that a member’s seat in the House “is vacated and a byelection called for that seat if the member, having been elected to the House as a member of a registered party or as an independent, changes parties or becomes a member of a party, as the case may be.”
In a news release on the proposed legislation, the NDP states that it “would not prevent MPs from leaving their caucus or changing their political affiliation. Instead, it would require any MP who wishes to join another party’s caucus to either seek a renewed mandate through a byelection or sit as an independent until the next general election.”
Edmonton-born Davies, 63, who represents the federal B.C. riding of Vancouver Kingsway, told The Tyee that an MP who left a party and opted for Independent status would be “fine” because it would serve as “an important bulwark against party oppression or to protect a matter of conscience.”
“But if you want to sit in another caucus than the party you were elected with, my bill would deem your seat vacated in 30 days and a byelection would be called,” he explained.
“You can floor cross. You just have to make the case to your constituents, and if you think you have good reasons for it, you’ll get a mandate from voters. If you don’t, then you won’t.”
NDP MP Don Davies, who represents Vancouver Kingsway, calls aisle crossing ‘undeniably undemocratic’ and is not new to the fight.
Photo supplied.
Davies’ riding predecessor famously switched parties but chose not to seek re-election.
In the 2004 federal election, David Emerson ran as a Liberal candidate in Vancouver Kingsway, won and was appointed industry minister in former prime minister Paul Martin’s cabinet.
Emerson was re-elected as a Liberal in the Jan. 23, 2006, federal election but two weeks later, on Feb. 6, 2006, switched parties to become international trade minister in Stephen Harper’s newly elected Conservative government. In so doing, Emerson made Canadian history by becoming the first MP to cross the floor before the government was sworn in following an election.
It also spurred the emergence of an NDP-aligned Recall David Emerson campaign and a Liberal-aligned De-Elect Emerson campaign.
But Emerson remained in Parliament and in 2008 briefly served as foreign affairs minister following the resignation of Maxime Bernier — the current leader of the People’s Party of Canada. However, Emerson did not run as a candidate in the 2008 general election.
Aisle crossings ‘corrosive’ to democracy: Davies
History has once again been made with the current federal Liberal government. The addition of four Conservative MPs — Matt Jeneroux (Edmonton Riverbend), Marilyn Gladu (Sarnia-Lambton-Bkejwanong), Michael Ma (Markham-Unionville) and Chris d’Entremont (Acadie-Annapolis) — along with former NDP MP Lori Idlout (Nunavut) has resulted in Carney becoming “the first Canadian prime minister to form a majority government through floor crossing rather than a general election,” as the NDP highlighted.
In the April 2025 election, the Liberals formed a minority government with 169 House seats compared with the Conservatives’ 144.
As Davies told The Tyee, “in an election, voters get the opportunity to express their democratic choice. When a parliamentarian crosses the floor to join a different party than they were elected with, they are unilaterally — at the very least — altering the will of their electorate.”
He believes that it also creates a “corrosive effect on our democracy” and is “undeniably undemocratic.”
It also does little to instil voter trust in elections, in Davies’ view.
“We have a problem with voter turnout in elections, and this contributes to that,” he said.
“The prospect that MPs have been enticed by backroom deals emerges,” Davies continued. “The idea that only government members get resources for their constituencies brings pork-barrel politics to the table.”
“Marilyn Gladu has literally said that she thinks she will get more things for her riding because she’s on the government side.”
In an interview with the Sarnia Observer, posted online on April 9, Gladu was asked “what rewards, if any,” she was “expecting for crossing to the Liberals.”
She replied: “I did not get offered anything but, watching for 10 years, people on the government benches tend to get more for their ridings and their projects. Interestingly, after I crossed, I had a call yesterday from the infrastructure and housing minister’s office wanting to get together and talk about the things we need in Sarnia-Lambton. I had sent [Housing Min…
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