Mia Rabson, Stephanie Taylor and Marie Woolf, The Canadian Press Posted on Thursday, June 23, 2022 at 5:47 AM EDT
A deal of confidence and supply reached between the Liberals and the NDP three months ago changed the dynamics of the House of Commons, even in a parliamentary session that will be remembered mainly for the removal of another Conservative leader, and polarization largest in Canadian politics by a convoy against pandemic restrictions.
The deal, however, means MPs are heading to the circuit of summer barbecues and parades without having to prepare for a known or potential federal election in the fall for the first time in four years.
The NPD and the Liberals describe the deal as a success so far. For the Conservatives and the Bloc Québécois, the deal has been a recipe for frustration, which has left them out of many negotiations in the House because the Liberals no longer had to ask which opposition party would be their partner. ball.
Under the agreement announced on March 22, the NDP offered to support the government in a majority vote of confidence and the Liberals agreed to cooperate on some of the NDP’s priorities.
In the months that followed, the NPD actually voted with the government on trust bills, including the budget, but also a number of non-confidence issues. NPD MPs helped the government limit the debate on some bills and achieve others, including controversial changes to the Broadcasting Act, through the House and Senate.
The Liberals advanced some of the NDP’s priorities, including the incorporation of a national dental care program into the federal budget and some housing programs.
House Speaker Mark Holland on Wednesday downplayed the effect of the deal, saying the main impact is “providing stability to Parliament”.
“There’s really very little in the supply and trust agreement,” he said.
NPD leader Jagmeet Singh said on Wednesday that he believed the deal was working as expected and hoped it would continue to meet NDP priorities in the coming months.
But he warned that if Prime Minister Justin Trudeau did not comply, he would be willing to withdraw NDP support for the Liberal minority government. He said he intends to push the government hard to offer more to help Canadians struggling under the weight of near-record inflation.
“We have made it very clear that we also need to see additional support,” he said. “The agreement sets a floor … but it doesn’t set a ceiling for what we can ask for or what we can fight for.”
Singh and Trudeau met several times, as required by the agreement, and cooperation and exchange of information between the parties is said to have been good.
Liberal MP Rob Oliphant, the parliamentary secretary for Foreign Affairs, said from his point of view that the deal encouraged Trudeau and the Liberals, who could pursue their priorities without the constant threat of being defeated.
“I think he’s put some spring in his way,” Oliphant said in an interview. “I see him very engaged for the last two months, where there were a couple of months where I wasn’t sure he was so engaged.”
Oliphant said the deal had the opposite effect on conservatives, putting them “adrift.”
“What it does is it blows the wind out of the sails of the Conservatives, because they know they are not able to defeat us easily,” he said. “And I don’t think they know what to do with it.”
Opposition House Leader John Brassard had somewhat similar sentiments in a scrum with reporters on Tuesday.
“I definitely have no doubt it changed the whole dynamic of our leadership team,” he said.
Conservatives characterize the trust and supply deal as a coalition government of the NPD and the Liberals, effectively giving the Liberals the majority they failed to achieve in the 2021 elections.
It also meant the end of any discussion the Liberals had with the Conservatives, Brassard said.
“The official opposition was being closed,” he said. “We were the last to hear a lot of things going on in the House of Commons because the Liberals just went to the NDP and said, ‘That’s what we want to do,’ and get their agreement.”
There were occasional signs of co-operation between more than one party, with all MPs voting in favor of legislation to ensure that older people receiving the Guaranteed Income Supplement and COVID-19 benefits do not have money recovered. .
In the midst of all this, the Conservatives were involved in internal struggles as their third leadership career in six years exposed some deep divisions within the party.
Erin O’Toole was voted leader of the caucus in early February, just as a convoy of Canadians blocked streets around Parliament Hill and several border crossings, demanding everything from the end of all VOCID restrictions. 19 until the elimination of Trudeau.
The convoy has painted much of the political picture throughout 2022. Ongoing consultations and committee hearings on the government’s decision to invoke the Emergency Act add to the tension.
The government is being accused of withholding information that could explain its justification for the Emergency Act. The Minister of Public Security, Marco Mendicino, is in hot water to say that the police requested that the act be invoked, a fact that has been contradicted both by the police and by his own colleague, the Minister of Emergency Preparedness. , Bill Blair.
The movement of liberal bills has been slow. Only four major bills were approved between Christmas and Wednesday, and one of them, the Fall Economic Statement, took so long that some Canadians had to wait weeks for tax returns that could not be processed until that new tax deductions were made official.
Both the budget bill and the new legislation that has been accelerated in response to a recent Supreme Court ruling on the use of extreme intoxication as a criminal defense are expected to be passed before the holidays begin. of summer.
This report from The Canadian Press was first published on June 23, 2022.