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Negotiations over one of the biggest trade deals in history, the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), concluded yesterday. The Conservative government hopes that this will be seen as such a beneficial trade deal that it will win them re-election.

As the sectors of Canada’s economy that will benefit or suffer under TPP are becoming known, Canadians need to also be mindful of the constitutional rules that were violated to get this deal during a federal election.

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When Parliament was dissolved on Aug. 2, the Conservative government became a “caretaker” government and remains such until Canadians decide whether to once again give the party the reins of power or elect a much different Parliament that will turn those reigns over to one or more of the other political parties.

The limitation on the powers of the incumbent government is called the “caretaker convention” and it is not, as some trade lawyers who were eager for a TPP deal have suggested, merely government policy. It is a constitutional rule. And Prime Minister Stephen Harper knew this.