Is it weird that I don't really know what happens when a prime minister dies in office? There isn't a well known precedent as to what happens when the leader of our country dies while leading it. And while we haven't had a PM die in office since John Sparrow Thompson died while visiting Queen Victoria in 1894, I still think it's odd that there is not a well-known protocol for the future of the country when the PM dies.

In contrast, the US (please let me nerd out on it for a paragraph) has a very clear set of rules, thanks in most part to John Tyler. Tyler was the vice-president to William Henry Harrison, who took office in 1841 to die a mere 32 days later. For years, the lore was that Harrison caught pneumonia because of his insanely long inaugural address but he actually died from gastrointestinal issues from the dirty, gross sewage water in Washington D.C. at the time (the dirty water would also be blamed in the death of Lincoln's 10-year-old son Willy, who died during Lincoln's first term...) But after Harrison died, the US didn't really know what to do and if John Tyler would just be president until a special election could be held, or until the party, senate, or congress could decide on a new leader. Or if he would sit in the president's chair for the rest of Harrison's term and be expected to carry out and support Harrison's platform and policies in total. But nope, John Tyler was like "no, I'm president. That's what's happening. I'm president and I get to do what I want to do for the next three years and element months." That, by the way, is definitely not a direst quote.

This became known as the "Tyler Precedent" and it became protocol for all the Vice Presidents there on after - he would become the president without being elected into the position and have full authority to execute his platform, not the one of his predecessor. It became official with the 25th amendment, which was passed in 1967.

However, there is no Veep in Canada, so when a PM dies, things are left mostly to the reigning party to pick a new leader and thus a new prime minister. And this is where the Queen steps in - kinda. The Governor General, her official representation in Canada, officially is supposed to appoint the new prime minister, usually under the strong advice of the until the controlling party. This is how Sparrow came into power, refusing to step in when John A. Macdonald died and ultimately stepping in when John Abbott was over it and wanting to retire. Upon his death, the Tories turned to Mackenzie Bowell because he was the most senior cabinet member at the time, having served in the House of Commons since confederation in 1867 - I get to write about Bowell next week, and I'm surprisingly excited about it.

I heard a rumour that in the current administrations, the Minister of Finance is thought of being the most senior member, and therefore the obvious choice as a deputy PM, but there is no binding policies to that. And that insinuates that if Justin Trudeau croaked tomorrow, the Liberal Party would be expected to ask Finance Minister Bill Morneau, who arguably is also one of their more controversial cabinet ministers. Maclean's Magazine dubbed him "Canada's Most Expensive Minister". In actuality, Ralph Goodale is considered deputy leader of the Liberal Party, so he would most likely be elevated to the PM's office in case of the death of JT.

Some prime minsters have selected a Deputy Prime Minister, a role which holds more in title than actual responsibility. Pierre Trudeau was the first to do this in 1977, mostly as a way to reward the loyalty of Allan J. MacEachen, a long serving member of his cabinet. There has been no deputy prime minsters since the beginning of the Harper era in 2006. And the deputy PM would just ask as a caretaker PM until an official replacement could be assigned by the Governor General.

The death of John Thompson probably caused as much confusion as I have now as to what happens when a PM dies in office. I really didn't know any of this until I read into Sparrow although it is something I was always curious of. It would be interesting to have a Vice Prime Minister of Canada, because then there could be a HBO show dedicated to the ongoings of the office, such as VEEP. It could be called VEEPM. I'd watch the shit out of that.