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The morning after the Liberals secured a thin majority government, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre said Prime Minister Mark Carney has no more excuses if he doesn’t deliver for Canadians.
“The Liberals wanted a majority — well, absolute power comes with absolute responsibility,” the leader of the Official Opposition told the House of Commons on Tuesday.
“They will actually have to get things done. They will have to do so without blaming others and they will have to start now.”
With the help of five floor-crossers and a few byelection wins, the Liberals cobbled together a majority less than a year after winning a minority government.
Carney and his party argued that a majority would help them speed along the government’s agenda, even though the Liberals had been able to find success in pushing key pieces of legislation through Parliament with opposition support.
The Liberals’ majority is slim, but still gives the party control over some key procedures in the House. They can outvote the rest of the opposition parties as long as their MPs vote in unison — that includes on legislation and motions that would limit the amount of time debating legislation.
Former House of Commons senior parliamentary counsel Steven Chaplin says he can’t find a precedent anywhere in the Commonwealth for a government assembling a majority by ‘bits and pieces,’ and explains why the opposition could still hold up Liberal legislation unless they change House rules to reset committees.
Currently, the Liberals don’t have control of committees — which are constituted to reflect the parties’ seat standings in the House — meaning the Conservatives and Bloc could outvote the Liberals while reviewing legislation. But committees can be reconstituted by issuing a motion in the House, which the Liberals now have the votes to pass.
While the Liberals still need the winners of Monday’s byelections to be sworn in before technically gaining full control of the House, opposition parties are already grappling with the new reality.
Poilievre signalled that he intends to keep up the pressure on the government and hold Carney to account.
“I will continue to lead that fight in this House, across the country and in the next election,” he said.
Analysis
Mark Carney enters his majority era
Even though his party lost some leverage and a closely contested byelection in the Montreal suburb of Terrebonne, Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet said he thinks they are well positioned for future electoral success.
“The Bloc Québécois did much better than we did last year [in Terrebonne],” he said during a news conference, arguing that the Liberals picked up votes from former NDP and Conservative supporters.
Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet attributed his party’s byelection loss in Terrebonne to Conservative and NDP voters choosing Prime Minister Mark Carney’s Liberals. ‘There seems to be no alternative about who is to negotiate with Donald Trump,’ Blanchet said. ‘Even if, so far, [Carney] has fixed nothing.’
“We did very well while everybody else crashed,” Blanchet said, adding that he’s “excited” to fight the next election.
A Liberal majority leaves less room for the smaller parties as well. Even with a reduced caucus after last year’s election, the NDP was able to sway some votes in the minority Parliament.
NDP MP Jenny Kwan said she hopes the new Liberal MPs will “stand up and speak truth to power” in the House, rather than just toeing the party line.
“There’s a reason why I entered into politics and it is to fight for people,” Kwan said during a news conference.
Green Party Leader Elizabeth May also held some leverage while the Liberals were just under the majority line.
The Liberals courted the lone Green MP to support the government in November’s budget confidence vote, which only passed by a factor of two.
As long as the Liberals teetered on a majority, May’s single vote could have influence. Now it’s less likely the Liberals will come knocking on her door.
But May said that she thinks her vote will still come into play in certain situations.
“This majority Liberal government is a squeaker of a majority. One vote’s going to matter,” she told reporters on Parliament Hill.
Source: cbc
