NDP parliamentary leader Don Davies has introduced a bill to ban MPs from crossing the floor without getting the support of their voters in a byelection.
Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, Davies said his bill would require members of Parliament who wish to join another party to face their constituents through a byelection or sit as an independent until the next general election.
Davies says he has tabled similar legislation in every Parliament since he was first elected in 2008, but that “this has fundamentally altered the nature” of the government that Canadians had elected and he believes the time has come for change.
“I think political opportunism has gotten to such a point in this place that it’s overriding fundamental respect for democracy,” Davies said.
This motion comes after four former Conservative MPs — Marilyn Gladu, Matt Jeneroux, Michael Ma and Chris d’Entremont — and former NDP MP Lori Idlout crossed the floor to join Prime Minister Mark Carney’s caucus in five months, which helped the Liberals secure a majority government after being elected as a minority.
Following Idlout’s switch in March, Davies said to reporters that MPs who wish to join another party should allow voters to approve that decision.
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“I’m becoming increasingly concerned by the way that Mr. Carney is trying to stitch together a majority government in this country,” Davies said.
“Whether or not there’s a majority government is fundamentally a decision of the Canadian people at the ballot box, and it should happen that way, not through backroom deals cut behind closed doors in Ottawa.”
He then said in French that Idlout’s decision is “anti-democratic.”
In September 2025, Davies said he was “100 per cent” confident his entire caucus would stick with the NDP for the fall.
“We’ve engaged over the summer, I’ve had meetings with all of our caucus members and discussions,” he said at the time.
“It’s going to be very exciting,” he continued. “We have seven very experienced, very energetic, passionate parliamentarians.”
Exclusive Ipsos polling conducted for Global News in March found that Canadians’ displeasure with floor-crossing MPs has not hurt the overall approval for Carney or his Liberal government.
In fact, those approval numbers have increased since last year, with more than one-third of Canadians saying they are even more supportive of Carney after three MPs left the Conservatives to join the Liberals in recent months.
The Ipsos poll found 62 per cent of Canadians surveyed believe MPs should not be allowed to switch parties after an election, while nearly 70 per cent said crossing the floor should trigger an immediate byelection in the MP’s district.
However, when asked if the three recent floor-crossings made them more or less approving of Carney, 37 per cent of Canadians said they were more approving and 23 per cent were less approving.
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