Democratic Representative Caucus
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Democratic Representative Caucus
Caucus démocratique représentatif |
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|---|---|
| Former federal party | |
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| Leader | Chuck Strahl |
| Founded | 2001 |
| Dissolved | 2002 |
| Split from | Canadian Alliance |
| Ideology | conservative |
The Democratic Representative Caucus was a parliamentary group consisting of Members of the Canadian Parliament who left the Canadian Alliance in 2001 in protest against the leadership of . Following the Alliance's disappointing performance in the 2000 election, Day came under severe criticism from his own party. Several high-profile Alliance MPs began publicly calling for him to step down. Through the spring of 2001, several members of the Alliance resigned their shadow cabinet seats, the most high-profile resignation being that of deputy leader Deborah Grey.
On May 2, Art Hanger was the first Alliance MP suspended from caucus for criticizing Day. Over the next two months, 11 other Alliance MPs were either suspended from caucus or resigned. On May 16, Hanger was followed by Chuck Strahl, Gary Lunn, Jim Pankiw, Val Meredith, Grant McNally, Jay Hill and Jim Gouk. In late June, they were joined by Monte Solberg, Andy Burton and Brian Fitzpatrick, and in the first week of July by Inky Mark and Grey. Through the summer, this group of MPs sat as "Independent Alliance Caucus", and were jokingly dubbed the "Rebel Alliance" by political commentators.
In early September, an offer was made to the MPs in which they would be readmitted to the Alliance caucus if they promised to refrain from criticizing Day's leadership. The MPs surveyed their constituents, and on September 10, the offer was accepted by Hanger, Gouk, Solberg, Fitzpatrick and Burton. The remaining seven MPs refused, and formed the Democratic Representative Caucus on September 12, with Strahl as its parliamentary leader and Grey as deputy leader. This was not intended as a new political party, but simply as a group caucus.
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