The Problem

A public office holder may not use the office to further their own private interests, a relative’s or a friend’s, or someone else’s improperly.

A member may not use parliamentary duties to further their own private interests, a family member’s, or someone else’s improperly.

On 14 August 2019 the Commissioner found the Prime Minister contravened that rule in the SNC-Lavalin matter.

On 14 February 2023 the Commissioner found Mr. Fergus contravened the Act by writing to support Natyf Inc. while its broadcasting application was before the CRTC.

On 13 December 2022 the Commissioner found Ms. Ng contravened the Act by taking part in decisions to hire a friend’s firm.

On 13 May 2021 the Commissioner found Mr. Morneau contravened the Act by giving WE preferential treatment. He and a WE co-founder were friends under the Act.

On 12 September 2018 the Commissioner found Mr. LeBlanc contravened the Act over an Arctic surf clam licence. A named prospective manager was a relative of his spouse.

On 24 July 2024 the Commissioner found Ms. Verschuren contravened the Act by taking part in funding decisions tied to organizations she was involved with. The same report says she did not break the influence rule.

On 15 June 2021 the Commissioner found Ms. Ratansi contravened the Members’ Code by hiring her foster sister in her constituency office.

On 2 September 2026 the Commissioner found Ms. Idlout contravened the Members’ Code by claiming expenses at a business she owns and one owned by her spouse.

On 13 May 2021 a separate report found the Prime Minister did not contravene the Act over the Canada Student Service Grant and WE.

Members sit in the Parliament that enacts the rules on their pay, pensions, spending, conflict penalties and lobbying. The records below state what those rules say, not why they remain.

The Parliament of Canada Act sets the House of Commons sessional allowance at $141,200 for 2004–05. Each later year it is the previous year’s amount plus that amount times the wage index.

The House lists the allowance in effect on 1 April 2026 as $217,700.

The Members of Parliament Retiring Allowances Act says an allowance shall be paid to or in respect of a member who ceases to be a member, or who dies.

The Board of Internal Economy is chaired by the Speaker. It also includes two Privy Council members named by the Governor in Council, the Leader of the Opposition or a nominee, and members named by the government caucus and by opposition caucuses of at least 12 members.

The Board may make by-laws governing members’ use of funds, goods, services and premises.

The Board has exclusive authority to decide whether a member’s use of those funds was proper.

CBC reported on 14 May 2010 that the Board, including MPs from all four parties, had declined the Auditor General’s request to audit $533 million in annual House and Senate spending. The Board said the audit “would go beyond the scope of the auditor general’s mandate.”

CBC reported on 15 June 2010 that Conservative House leader Jay Hill and Liberal MP Marcel Proulx announced a later Board deal. The Auditor General could audit how parliamentarians control their budgets, but not the individual spending of all MPs.

The Conflict of Interest Act sets an administrative monetary penalty of not more than $500 for listed reporting failures.

The Commissioner’s 2024–25 report says there are no penalties when an investigation finds a contravention of the Act. It says the $500 amount “is not an effective incentive because the amount is so low,” and it recommends a maximum of $3,000.

Official 2011 results give the Conservative Party 166 of 308 seats (53.9%).

The same results give that party 39.6% of valid votes.

Official 2015 results give the Liberal Party 184 of 338 seats (54.4%).

The same results give that party 39.5% of valid votes.

An Elections Canada review says that, in the elections it covers, the lowest popular vote for a majority was 1997, when the Liberals won 51.5% of the seats with 38.5% of the vote. It says major national parties tend to be the principal beneficiaries when votes are converted into seats.

Elections Canada still describes the system as first-past-the-post. The candidate with the most votes wins, and an absolute majority is not required.

The accountability page records the 2015 Liberal platform line that 2015 would be the last federal election under first-past-the-post.

It also records the 1 February 2017 mandate letter: “Changing the electoral system will not be in your mandate.”

The Lobbying Act bars a designated public office holder from lobbying for five years after leaving office. The Commissioner of Lobbying may exempt a person.

The 2015 Liberal platform said 2015 would be the last federal election under first-past-the-post. It also said the plan would return Canada to a balanced budget in 2019.

The Speech from the Throne on 4 December 2015 repeated that 2015 would be the last federal election under first-past-the-post.

The special committee presented its electoral-reform report on 1 December 2016. The House voted the report down on 31 May 2017.

On 1 February 2017 the mandate letter said: “Changing the electoral system will not be in your mandate.”

That day in the House, the minister said changing the electoral system was not in her mandate.

Elections Canada still describes the system as first-past-the-post. The candidate with the most votes wins, and an absolute majority is not required.

On 23 April 1996 the Finance Minister quoted the 1993 Liberal promise to replace the GST, and said that day’s plan begins the process and does not complete it.

The GST is still 5%.

On 1 November 2006 the House heard the 2006 Conservative platform line: a Conservative government would preserve income trusts by not imposing any new taxes on them.

On 31 October 2006 the Finance Minister announced a tax on distributions from publicly traded income trusts.

A 2007 law set the next election for 19 October 2009, unless Parliament was dissolved sooner.

Parliament was dissolved on 7 September 2008. The election was held on 14 October 2008.

Budget 2019 projected a deficit of $19.8 billion for 2019–20.

By October 2012, 65% of the 2011 Conservative platform promises were counted as kept in whole or in part. By March 2014 that share was over 80%.

The Canada Elections Act sets the date of the next general election. It does not let voters recall an MP.

In the 42nd Parliament, the average MP voted with their party 99.6% of the time. The most rebellious MP still voted with the party 96.6% of the time.

MPs from the same party vote together over 99% of the time on average. One MP in the last two decades was first elected with no party.

The whip enforces party discipline. On a vote, members are to vote with the party.

In this part of the law, a caucus is the MPs of one recognized party.

A caucus may expel a member only if 20% of its members ask for a review and a majority agrees by secret ballot.

Those expulsion rules apply only if the caucus votes to adopt them after an election.

On 2 April 2019 the Prime Minister removed Jody Wilson-Raybould and Jane Philpott from the Liberal caucus.

On 20 January 2021 Conservative MPs voted by secret ballot to expel Derek Sloan from caucus.

On 4 February 2022, Angus Reid reported that 37% of Canadians feel there is no room for political compromise. 48% disagree.

A July 2025 Digital Public Square survey, published 12 January 2026, puts the average rating of how polarized Canada feels at 6.5 out of 10. 30% say Canada is highly polarized, and 55% say polarization is getting worse.

Eric Merkley’s 2026 book examines “the growing affective polarization and inter-partisan hostility in Canada,” including Conservative supporters “antagonistic towards Liberal and NDP voters and vice versa.”

In a 12 September 2024 release, 48% say the Conservatives have shifted right and 43% say the Liberals have moved left. 36% call themselves political orphans, including 47% of people who place themselves in the middle, and 48% say no option really represents their views.

MPs said cross-party collaboration declined in the 42nd Parliament, and that House debate was empty and repetitive. Heckling did not decrease.

A summer 2024 survey published on 28 October 2025 says Canada’s divisions “are much less intense than in the U.S.” and that Canadians “express moderate levels” of affective polarization. It says this is “not about policy differences,” and that political differences “haven’t yet deeply divided us.”

Left–right polarization in Canada is much less pronounced than in the United States.

A 20 October 2022 Policy Options article says “Canadians generally are not getting more extreme in our views.” It reports Eric Merkley saying Canadians are not growing more polarized along a left-right ideological spectrum.

In the Digital Public Square survey, 40% identified as right-leaning, 30% as left-leaning and 30% as in the centre. On a 7-point scale, 66% placed themselves in the three centrist positions, 7% on the far right and 5% on the far left.

A 2010 article by Christopher Cochrane says Canada’s left/right ideological divide “is wide by cross-national standards.”

Scholars define wedge politics as “a calculated political tactic aimed at using divisive social issues to gain political support, weaken opponents and strengthen control over the political agenda.” They write that the tactic aims at undermining an opponent’s support base.

A study of House of Commons debates from 2006 to 2011 finds that a party used one issue to create divisions among opposing MPs and among voters of other parties. It finds that this effort won new support in the 2011 election, especially among cross-pressured voters and in the ridings targeted in those debates.

A 20 October 2022 Policy Options article reports Eric Merkley on a tendency for media pundits and political parties to whittle complex policy debates into binary contests: “left versus right, government versus opposition; the elite versus the people.”

A study of Question Period from April 2006 to June 2021 finds significant incivility, especially insults and toxicity, and finds that this incivility increases as the next general election approaches. The authors write that one return can be increased support from a party’s own base.

The candidate with the most votes wins the seat. A party may endorse only one candidate in a district, and that party’s name can appear on the ballot.

The whip’s job includes having members vote with the party.

Governments of every stripe have used omnibus bills for decades. In 2017 the House defined one as a government bill that changes more than one Act without a common thread, or that links unrelated matters.

In the 42nd Parliament the average MP voted with their party 99.6% of the time. The most rebellious MP still did so 96.6% of the time.

MPs are elected as individuals, and MPs from the same party vote together over 99% of the time on average.

A caucus is the MPs of one recognized party.

Expulsion takes a request from 20% of the caucus and a majority secret ballot.

Those rules apply only if the caucus adopts them after an election.

The MP sessional allowance in effect on 1 April 2026 is $217,700.

Median total income in 2024, excluding people with no income, was $46,300 in 2024 constant dollars.

CBC News reported on 24 April 2012 that International Cooperation Minister Bev Oda’s three-day Savoy bill, after a hotel switch, was $1,995, about $665 a night, including orange juice at $16. She repaid $1,353.81.

The Toronto Sun reported on 10 April 2026 that order-paper answers showed $524,815.04 billed for in-flight catering on 28 prime ministerial trips from March 2025 to February 2026. The largest, to the United Arab Emirates and the G20 in Johannesburg, was $158,986.43.

The National Post reported on 18 June 2024 that an order-paper answer put in-flight catering for Justin Trudeau’s September 2023 Indo-Pacific trip at $223,234. It also reported a $100,000 in-flight catering bill for Governor General Mary Simon and 29 guests on a March 2022 trip to Dubai.

In a June 2015 report, the Auditor General found that 30 senators or former senators had expenses outside Senate rules, not for parliamentary business, or too poorly documented for an audit opinion. The audit covered more than 80,000 items totalling $45 million, from 1 April 2011 to 31 March 2013, and did not assess intent.

The Trudeau Report of 20 December 2017 found that Justin Trudeau contravened sections 5, 11, 12 and 21 of the Conflict of Interest Act over vacations on Bells Cay, a private island in the Bahamas owned by the Aga Khan, including 26 December 2016 to 4 January 2017. He did not contravene subsection 14(1) of the Members’ Code, or subsection 6(1) or section 7 of the Act.

Global News reported on 28 June 2026, using Ethics Commissioner summaries, that 38 per cent of ministers are landlords and that 103 MPs or their spouses disclosed rental income, a rental property, or a related business, including Conservatives, Liberals, Bloc Québécois MPs, and an independent. As of 23 June 2026, 11 of 343 disclosures were still unpublished, so this is not a share of the whole House.

The Lobbying Act calls lobbying legitimate, and says the public should be able to know who is paid to do it.

In 2024–25 there were 1,670 consultant lobbyists, 7,214 in-house lobbyists, and 31,058 oral, arranged communications. MPs were named in 11,417 reports, more than any other office in that table, ahead of ministers at 1,774 and the Prime Minister at 78.

Designated office holders include ministers and deputy ministers. That section does not list MPs.

A paid consultant must file a return within 10 days of agreeing to lobby.

A corporation or organization must file when employees lobby public office holders as part of the job.

The Commissioner must develop a code of conduct for lobbyists.

The next general election falls in the fourth calendar year after the last one, unless Parliament is dissolved sooner.

The election period must be at least 37 days and no more than 51 days. An election can also be called on another date.

In the Fiscal Reference Tables, the accumulated deficit was $481,499 million in 2005–06, $628,910 million in 2014–15, $685,450 million in 2018–19, and $1,266,484 million in 2024–25. As a share of GDP those totals were 33.9%, 31.5%, 30.7%, and 41.2%.

The Annual Financial Report states the federal debt, meaning the accumulated deficit, at $1,266.5 billion on 31 March 2025.

Statistics Canada’s preliminary population estimate for 1 April 2025 is 41,548,787.

Dividing the 2024–25 accumulated deficit of $1,266,484 million by that estimate gives $30,482 per person, rounded to the nearest dollar.

Public debt charges in 2024–25 were $53.4 billion, 9.8% of expenses, up $6.1 billion from the year before.

Actual spending on the Canada Health Transfer that year was $52,070,383,303.

Budget 2025 projects public debt charges of $55.6 billion in 2025–26, rising to $76.1 billion in 2029–30.

On 4 June 2025, the Parliamentary Budget Officer projected public debt charges of $69.9 billion by 2029–30. That projection predates Budget 2025.

The C.D. Howe Institute writes that deficit financing raises intergenerational fairness issues, because the people who benefit from the spending do not pay its full cost. It also says a public update of the finances before an election can attenuate deficit bias.

A 2024 Fraser Institute study says accumulating debt today increases the tax burden on future generations, because they will be responsible for paying it off.

The Parliamentary Budget Officer’s 2024 report still finds current federal fiscal policy sustainable over the long term, with room of 1.5% of GDP ($46 billion in current dollars) to raise spending or cut taxes and stabilize net debt at 29.1% of GDP.