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Opinion: Canada's members of Parliament should not be allowed to switch teams

Crossing the floor is a miscarriage of democracy and justice at a time when Canadians already have lost confidence in political institutions.

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Olympic hockey. Overtime. Elimination. Canada and Czechia tied 3-3, and the pride of a nation hangs in the balance.

Opinion: Canada's members of Parliament should not be allowed to switch teams Back to video

Across the country, Canadians lean toward their screens as the puck finds Mitch Marner. The red sweater with the black Maple Leaf meets the sharp lines of the Czech crest closing in. Three Czech players engulf him, sticks reaching, bodies collapsing inward. There is no open lane. No clean daylight.

Yet he keeps moving, twisting through pressure, and in the smallest sliver of space he lifts a backhand under the bar while they are still draped over him.

One minute and 22 seconds into extra time, Canada wins 4-3.

The red sweater with the black Maple Leaf is not cloth. It is covenant. When that puck hits twine, something moves beyond the arena in Milan. It reaches kitchens in Calgary, apartments in Montreal, living rooms in Edmonton. It moves through memory. Through history. Through the quiet belief that we still share something larger than ourselves.

Allegiance, loyalty and national pride are sacred.

Before the handshake line is done, Marner disappears into the tunnel. Minutes later he returns wearing Czech colours. Same hands. Same talent. Different crest. The goal is reinterpreted. The scoreboard revised. Czechia wins 4-3.

Absurd, you say. If allegiance could flip after victory, it would corrupt the spirit of the game and tarnish our collective national pride.

And it is precisely this principle that should trouble us in Canada.

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This week, Conservative MP Matt Jeneroux crossed the floor to join Prime Minister Mark Carney’s Liberals. Jeneroux won Edmonton Riverbend in 2025 with 30,343 votes, defeating the Liberal candidate who received 27,075. Citizens chose a Conservative representative. They did not choose a Liberal vote in a near-majority government.

When an MP switches parties after election night, the result becomes untethered from the makeup of Parliament. The ballot says one thing. The chamber reflects another. Representation becomes revision.

This is not abstract. The Liberals now sit at 169 seats, just three short of a majority. One MP’s decision can alter the balance of power in the House of Commons without a single voter revisiting the choice.

Contrast that with what the Supreme Court said last week in the Terrebonne case.

That election was decided by a single vote. One mail-in ballot was returned because Elections Canada sent envelopes with the wrong postal code. The court annulled the result.

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Chief Justice Richard Wagner stated that the purpose of the election law is to promote public participation at a time when institutions are under strain. The message was unmistakable. Democratic legitimacy demands precision. Every vote must count.

One misplaced ballot requires a new election. Yet one MP may override more than 30,000 voters without any renewal of consent. That contradiction is not subtle. It is a miscarriage of democracy and justice.

Conservatives have accepted defected Liberals in the past. Liberals have condemned defections when in opposition. The outrage rotates with power. Politics becomes power by any means necessary, even if it requires open hypocrisy.

Meanwhile, public trust erodes. Canadians already report low confidence in political institutions. Courts strain to reinforce legitimacy. Citizens strain to believe participation matters. And into that fragile moment walks the spectacle of post-election party switching, quietly rearranging democratic outcomes after the people have spoken.

If an MP believes their convictions have changed, there is an honourable path: resign. Run again under the new banner. Seek renewed consent.

If voters agree, they will send you back. If they do not, they will choose someone else. That is not democratic reform. It is common sense.

Hockey embodies our national pride. Democracy embodies our constitutional order. Undermine the result of an election and Parliament becomes divorced from its people.

A Parliament divorced from its people stands in direct tension with the Constitution, which affirms that government derives legitimacy from the will of the people. Undermine that will, and you undermine Canada itself.

When Canada wins 4-3, it must remain 4-3. If the result is to change, it is settled, as any Canadian would want, on the ice.

Balarama Holness is a former Montreal mayoral candidate, author and CFL Grey Cup champion with the Montreal Alouettes.

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