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Doug Johnson's avatar

Sorry Mr. DeLorey, the NDP could not force a vote, only members of a recognized party may request that, "the “yeas” and “nays” be entered in the Journals." Standing Orders of the House of Commons of Canada #45(1). As you note, "the NDP no longer holds official party status in the House of Commons." Sincerely Doug Johnson, retired Legislative Assistant

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Fred DeLorey's avatar

You're wrong. It takes five MPs to trigger a vote. NDP have seven. They had no intention of actually triggering a vote, they were just playing politics like so many attack the other parties for.

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Sebastien Togneri's avatar

No Doug is correct. Ironically, Peter Julian, as NDP House Leader and one of the worst decision makers in parliamentary history, shoved Standing Order changes down our throats with the Liberals. It used to be that Standing Order Changes were made on a unanimous cross-party basis only and he broke that precedent. I'm told that Peter Julian's own staff as well as NDP MPs counseled him against agreeing to Standing order changes without all-party support. But he went ahead anyways and unknowingly disenfranchised his own party (not thinking he would lose his own seat and that his party would lose official party status) because it used to be the case that all you needed was 5 members to stand in their place to force a vote. That is no longer the case. The Liberals and NDP forced Covid era changes to the Standing Orders. Now one person (not on video but present in the House of Commons Chamber) from a recognized party only (which is 12 MPs or more) can force a vote. Consequently, the NDP have no power to demand a vote.

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Doug Johnson's avatar

Show me where in the current Standing Orders of the House of Commons where it says 5 MPs can trigger a vote. To quote Deputy Speaker Tom Kmiec when he called the vote, “if a member of a recognized party participating in person wishes to request a recorded division, I would invite them to rise and indicate it to the Chair.” This can be found at 18:15hrs of the June 4th Hansard, 2025.

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don morris's avatar

May I ask why the CPC, which certainly has official party status, didn't force the vote? It seems odd that the author blames the tiny 7 member NDP for not forcing the issue, while the party he supports has over 140 MP's, who didn't force a vote.

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Larry Kazdan's avatar

Sorry Mr. DeLorey, but I don't see how the NDP gambling with a constitutional crisis is responsible politics. The NDP made their point that the government will have to consider NDP priorities in future if they expect their vote.

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