It is really quite simple Sean. There can be exceptions to rules, based on circumstances. And it is not "either or" because people are reacting in different ways to this. And us getting theoretical and technical about it is far from the whole story.
What matters is two things: whether the government was justified in taking this action, and how the people will respond - and I don't just mean in the next election.
As for what anyone outside the NDP is likely to conclude, you might also want to consider how those people are going to react to what happened in the PC party that led to her departure in the first place. That really is the bigger breach, and the bigger story, IMO.