Close X
Monday, November 11, 2024
ADVT 
National

Liberal-NDP deal 'political theatre': expert

Darpan News Desk The Canadian Press, 23 Mar, 2022 10:09 AM
  • Liberal-NDP deal 'political theatre': expert

OTTAWA - New Democrat Leader Jagmeet Singh could face some tough questions as the ink dries on a newly announced deal that would see his party support the Liberal minority government for the next three years.

"They don't have any more power by this at all," said Lori Turnbull, a professor of political science at Dalhousie University.

Details of the confidence and supply agreement the NDP reached with the Liberals were kept a closely guarded secret by a small circle of people around the leaders of both parties until Monday evening, when members of Parliament from both parties were let in on the plans.

And while Singh said his caucus supports the deal, the regular weekly caucus meeting on Wednesday will be a chance for NDP MPs to further discuss this significant shift in party focus.

The deal says NDP MPs will side with the Liberals on key votes until 2025 — meaning they won’t bring down the government over the coming budget, for example, which is expected to be released in the next few weeks.

In return, the Liberals have promised movement on some key NDP issues. But the document released by the Prime Minister’s Office on Tuesday is short on details about how that will happen.

Turnbull said while deals like this tend to be uncommon, it's fully within normal parliamentary practice for parties to work together, especially in a minority situation.

Where it could become problematic, she said, is if the Liberals use it to truncate debate on important bills. It's too early to know whether that's where things are headed.

"There's an obvious incentive here to take everything and jam it into an omnibus budget bill so that everything has to go through," she said.

"There is a loss for accountability if that's where this ends up."

Conservatives have slammed the deal, saying it is about Prime Minister Justin Trudeau cooking up a way to keep himself and the Liberal government in power for longer.

Marilyn Gladu, an Ontario MP for the party, said Wednesday the agreement will impact what opposition MPs will be able to accomplish in committees.

"In the past, if all of the opposition parties in a minority government disagreed with the government's direction, we could influence — that is gone now."

On Tuesday, Trudeau had said committee would keep doing "their essential work" and Singh stressed the NDP would remain an independent opposition party that would hold the Liberal government to account.

Two of the major priorities — dental care and pharmacare — come with significant price tags and will require the co-operation of the provinces.

A dental-care program for lower-income Canadians is to begin this year by providing services to children under 12, with full implementation by 2025. A cost estimate hasn't been provided.

Singh promised to implement government-subsidized dental care in both the 2019 and 2021 elections. The NDP estimated in September that complete dental care coverage would cost $1.5 billion in the first year and just under $1 billion a year later.

The parties also say they will “continue progress toward a universal national pharmacare program” by passing legislation before the end of 2023.

A 2019 expert panel report estimated pharmacare would cost the government $3.5 billion a year initially, rising to $15.3 billion by year five.

B.C. NDP MP Jenny Kwan said many of her colleagues are excited about making those two programs happen.

"If we were in government, we would be able to do more, but this is a minority government and so this is about compromising, getting as much as you can," she said.

Given that the two parties are closely aligned on many of these stated priorities already, Turnbull questioned why a deal was even necessary.

"To me, this is a bunch of political theatre," she said.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said the agreement ensures government predictability, citing global and economic instability caused by Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Conrad Winn, a political-science professor at Carleton University, said the world military situation has shifted dramatically in recent years. There have been calls for the Liberals to increase military spending, an issue that could drive a wedge between them and the NDP.

“I think it's relevant to the stability of Justin Trudeau’s job as prime minister, but it's irrelevant to Canada's stability,” Winn said.

“Because on the central issue, military preparedness, the NDP and the Liberals could not be more far apart.”

Trudeau said that issues on which the two parties do not agree will be managed on a case-by-case basis, and that the Liberals could still get support from other parties in some votes.

Meanwhile, the Liberal leader won't be in his party's caucus meeting Wednesday. Trudeau is instead in Brussels to meet with EU, NATO and G7 leaders about the war in Ukraine.

MORE National ARTICLES

Canada's military should be better equipped: Joly

Canada's military should be better equipped: Joly
Speaking at the University of Toronto's Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy, Joly said there are new challenges on the world stage after Russian President Vladimir Putin decided to start a war against Ukraine.     

Canada's military should be better equipped: Joly

B.C. wildfire service to increase prevention work

B.C. wildfire service to increase prevention work
B.C.'s budget released last month allocated $145 million over three years for Emergency Management BC and the BC Wildfire Service to kick-start the province's transition to a more "proactive approach" to wildfire preparedness and response.

B.C. wildfire service to increase prevention work

A man allegedly pushed a stranger down a flight of stairs at a downtown SkyTrain station

A man allegedly pushed a stranger down a flight of stairs at a downtown SkyTrain station
One of the suspects followed the victim to the SkyTrain entrance and pushed him down a flight of stairs. As the victim was laying on the ground, the suspect allegedly kicked the victim before a passersby intervened. The suspect fled the area before police arrived.    

A man allegedly pushed a stranger down a flight of stairs at a downtown SkyTrain station

Poll suggests wide worries about inflation

Poll suggests wide worries about inflation
Four-fifths of respondents to the Leger poll had started or planned to buy cheaper items at the grocery store to save on food bills, and cut back on how much food they throw out to stretch every dollar.

Poll suggests wide worries about inflation

Hate crimes up 37 per cent in 2020: StatCan

Hate crimes up 37 per cent in 2020: StatCan
New data from Statistics Canada show the number of hate crimes reported to police across the country went up 37 per cent in the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic compared with the previous year. The agency says 2,669 hate crimes were reported in 2020 — the highest number since comparable data became available in 2009.

Hate crimes up 37 per cent in 2020: StatCan

NACI favours Pfizer over Moderna vaccine for kids

NACI favours Pfizer over Moderna vaccine for kids
The National Advisory Committee on Immunization has released new guidelines that favour giving kids a Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine over the newly approved Moderna version. Health Canada approved Moderna's pediatric COVID-19 vaccine for kids ages six to 11 on Thursday.

NACI favours Pfizer over Moderna vaccine for kids