John Courtney (1936-2023), political scientist RIP

The death of John Courtney, the political scientist and longtime professor at the University of Saskatchewan, was noted in a moving obituary a few days ago.

I met Professor Courtney a few times and once interviewed him at some length on the subject of political party leadership conventions in Canada. He was one of the rare political scientists in Canada to see that the functioning of a parliamentary system is greatly impeded if party leaders are not part of and accountable to the parliamentary party caucus. 

He influenced my own thinking along those lines, though in Do Conventions Matter?, his big book on the subject, he somewhat backed away from that proposition, preferring to defend the delegated in-person convention over the all-member-vote process then beginning to take over.

He was a charming, friendly man, and very encouraging to anyone interested in Canadian politics, it seemed to me.