Party whip (Canada)

In Canada the Party Whip is the member of a political party in the House of Commons of Canada, the Senate of Canada or a provincial legislature charged with ensuring party discipline among members of the caucus. The whip is also responsible for assigning offices and scheduling speakers from his or her party for various bills, motions and other proceedings in the House.

Responsibilities

The party whip works to ensure that the number of MPs in the House or at committee meetings is adequate to win a vote if one is called. When a vote is called in the House, division bells ring until the whips for each party are satisfied that there are sufficient numbers of members of their own party present for the vote to proceed.

The whip's role is especially important when there is a minority government or if the government has a slim majority, as the absence of a handful of MPs during a confidence vote can result in the defeat of the government. Party discipline is strict in Canada and MPs are expected to vote with the rest of their party in all but a few designated free votes.

Use in Canadian government

James E. Walker, Chief Government Whip from 1963 to 1966, commented: "Once you get beyond the taxicab radius of Ottawa, nobody seems to have heard of a Whip. For that matter, nobody in Ottawa, three blocks from the Hill, has ever heard of the Whip either!"

The position of Chief Government Whip is not a cabinet-level office, however, the Whip may receive a concurrent appointment such as minister without portfolio or Minister of State and sit in cabinet by virtue of that position.

For a time, the Reform Party of Canada publicly styled their parliamentary whip with the title of "Caucus Coordinator" rather than Whip.

Current Whips

Senate

• Government Liaison in the Senate: Patti LaBoucane-Benson
• Opposition Whip in the Senate: Judith Seidman

House of Commons

• Chief Government Whip: Mark Holland
• Deputy Government Whip: Ginette Petitpas Taylor
• Chief Opposition Whip: Blake Richards
• Deputy Chief Opposition Whip: Alex Ruff
• Bloc Québécois Whip: Claude DeBellefeuille
• NDP Whip: Rachel Blaney

List of Chief Government Whips

Thomas Mayne Daly	1872–1873	under Prime Minister Sir John A. Macdonald
George Elliott Casey	1874–1878	under Prime Minister Alexander Mackenzie
Rufus Stephenson	1878–1882	under Prime Minister Sir John A. Macdonald
Arthur Trefusis Heneage Williams	1882–1885
Paul-Étienne Grandbois	1885–1891
George Taylor	1891–1892	under Prime Minister Sir John Abbott
	1892–1894	under Prime Minister Sir John Thompson
	1894–1896	under Prime Minister Sir Mackenzie Bowell
	1896	under Prime Minister Sir Charles Tupper
James Sutherland	1896–1900	under Prime Minister Sir Wilfrid Laurier
William Samuel Calvert	1901–1909
Frederick Forsyth Pardee	1909–1911
John Stanfield	1911–1917	under Prime Minister Sir Robert Borden
William Sora Middlebro	1918–1920
	1920–1921	under Prime Minister Arthur Meighen
George William Kyte	1921–1925	under Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King
Pierre-François Casgrain	1926
William Alves Boys	1926	under Prime Minister Arthur Meighen
Pierre-François Casgrain	1926–1930	under Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King
Thomas Edward Simpson	1930–1935	under Prime Minister R. B. Bennett
Ross Gray	1937–1940	under Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King
William Horace Taylor	1940–1945
William Gilbert Weir	1945–1948
	1948–1957	under Prime Minister Louis St. Laurent
Elston Cardiff	1957–1958	under Prime Minister John George Diefenbaker
John Pallett	1959–1962
Théogène Ricard	1962–1963
Alexis Caron	1963	under Prime Minister Lester Pearson
James Edgar Walker	1963–1965
Bernard Pilon	1966–1968
	1968–1970	under Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau
Lloyd Francis	1970-1971
Grant Deachman	1971–1972
Thomas Lefebvre	1972–1975
Joseph-Philippe Guay	1975–1977
Gus MacFarlane	1977–1979
Bill Kempling	1979–1980	under Prime Minister Joe Clark
Charles Turner	1980–1984	under Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau
Chuck Cook	1984–1985	under Prime Minister Brian Mulroney
Thomas Fennell	1985–1988
Jim Hawkes	1988–1993
Jim Edwards	1993	under Prime Minister Kim Campbell
Alfonso Gagliano	1993–1994	under Prime Minister Jean Chrétien
Don Boudria	1994–1996
Bob Kilger	1996–2001
Marlene Catterall	2001–2003
Mauril Bélanger	2003–2004	under Prime Minister Paul Martin
Karen Redman	2004–2006
Jay Hill	2006–2008	under Prime Minister Stephen Harper
Gordon O'Connor	2008–2013
John Duncan	2013–2015
Andrew Leslie	2015–2017	under Prime Minister Justin Trudeau
Pablo Rodríguez	2017–2018
Mark Holland	2018–present

External links

• List of Chief Government and Opposition Whips