Article content

Reaction to the twinned announcements from Jody Wilson-Raybould and Jane Philpott that they would run as independents in the next election ranged from curiosity to incredulity to outright hostility.

Independents, after all, even running as incumbents, rarely win in Canadian elections. Research shows that voters tend overwhelmingly to vote for the party first, the local candidate second. Without a party label, and the machinery that goes with it, independent candidates have a hard time getting heard, and would have even were the campaign finance rules not so heavily stacked in the parties’ favour: parties can raise funds, on which local candidates can draw, long before the writ is dropped, whereas indies cannot issue tax receipts for donations until after the election has been called.

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or Andrew Coyne: Wilson-Raybould, Philpott trade rigid party politics for freedom of the damned Back to video

If they do somehow squeak through — the last to do so were former Conservative MPs Bill Casey and André Arthur, in 2008 — they typically find themselves isolated and powerless. Without official party status, they have few opportunities to speak, move legislation or ask questions in the House; lacking staff or a research budget, that is probably just as well. They are free, to be sure: free to speak their mind and to represent their constituents without fear of the party whips. But it is the freedom of the damned.