Muddling through a minority Parliament: a view from government and opposition benches

OTTAWA—Whether a government is a strong minority—as now—or a weak one—as in 2006 under Stephen Harper—the challenges and opportunities are pretty much the same, perhaps just not to the same degree. The main theme throughout the period of the minority, on which all efforts must be focused, has to be election readiness. A political party just never knows when it might be back in an election. So it’s important that the parliamentary wing of the party, the party’s membership and those at party headquarters are prepared and ready to go. There are obviously varying degrees of readiness, but “ready to go” at any time must be the standard. Surviving means never taking anything for granted. Those in Parliament, party headquarters, and those out in the field need to appreciate that the government could fall at any time, triggering an election. The government could fall by accident, miscounting votes heading into a confidence vote. Or the government may pull the plug on itself, perhaps when the polls are positive or when a crucial issue is before the government when the stars are aligning. The most recent example of that occurring was in the fall of 2008 when Harper wanted to go to the electorate after more than two years of leading a minority government. He spent time during the summer meeting with opposition leaders individually then after meeting with them all, declared Parliament to be unworkable and sought dissolution. There is no reason why that can’t happen in 2020 or 2021 with Justin Trudeau. Therefore, vigilance on government and opposition benches is crucial to ensure that when an election comes, it comes not by accident, but because either the government wants to try its luck or the opposition gets together to remove the government from office. Leaving aside the issue of triggering an election, there are opportunities and challenges for both government and opposition parties in Parliament. Last month, the Trudeau government, while concentrating on winning its first confidence vote on supply, let the opposition take control of the Commons and push through a Conservative motion to establish a special committee on Canada-China Relations over the government’s objections. The government needs better intelligence as to what the opposition is planning. It can then decide whether what is being planned makes sense and need not be opposed, or if it isn’t agreeable, try to block it, or work with the opposition parties to change the matter into something the government could support. Surprises are to be avoided. The same goes for the opposition parties; they need to know what the government is planning so they can perhaps combine to stop it or amend it to make it more palatable. Government should be especially vigilant on opposition days. This is when one opposition party controls the day’s agenda, private members’ bills and motions coming from the opposition. For opposition parties, these tools present glorious opportunities to get their messages out, get exposure for platform ideas and generally run the government ragged. With a minority, gone are the days when a government can shut the parliamentary process down by using its majority. In this Parliament, it looks like the government has decided it will buy into the importance of pharmacare when one parses the comments on Dec. 16 in the government’s fall economic statement. New Democrats should be alert to this to ensure the Liberals, as they have done so often in the past, don’t steal this policy as their own, implement it, leaving the NDP with yet another moral victory. Both the NDP and Bloc should realize that the government can’t implement pharmacare without the help of the provinces. So both parties should be ready to act on this matter. For the government, as explained above, the main question on private members’ bills, motions, and opposition days is whether it can live with the matter being approved or whether it could through negotiation. Just because the idea originated on the opposition side doesn’t mean it can’t be supported. Both the government and opposition must pick their fights carefully. Work in House committees presents the biggest opportunity for opposition parties and the biggest challenge for government in a minority. The government does not have a majority and therefore does not control the agenda. That means on the government side members can no longer attend committees unprepared. The chief government whip is usually the person on the government side who, in conjunction with the PMO, deals with the government’s actions at committee. The mandate here for the whip is to keep the government out of trouble or be alert to trouble on the horizon and implement strategies to counter what the opposition wants. For the opposition, committees present a superb opportunity to take control of the agenda. Again, the government must be vigilant to ensure this doesn’t occur or if it does, the government is ready for it. In order to protect and advance the government’s agenda at committee, all government members need to be present at all times, or at least have a substitute member ready to attend. House committees during a minority also present the greatest opportunities for all parties to work together on policy matters. Managing the day-to-day work in the House of Commons and its committees in a minority is more than a full time job, because accidents can happen. Outside of the Chamber, parties must be engaged in constantly updating election platforms so they are immediately election ready. Parties should be constantly dealing with candidate recruitment and fundraising. On major confidence matters, such as approval of the budget, outreach to opposition parties should occur at a very early stage. In this Parliament, that task could be given to Associate Minister of Finance Mona Fortier. If budget promises are made to opposition parties, they must be fulfilled. This gets us to the foundation of what makes for a productive minority Parliament—trust. No trust among the parties will soon become an ugly, bitter experience for all. If one’s word is given on a matter, there has to follow through. If matters change parties cannot be blindsided. This means that those in charge of negotiating among the parities cannot promise more than they can deliver. Also, Andrew Scheer’s notice to resign and subsequent Conservative leadership race does not mean that parties can be less vigilant. Accidents can still happen and are most likely to occur when members aren’t being vigilant. Trust, vigilance, respect, hard work, compromise, and the ability of MPs to work together are the key elements required for muddling through a minority Parliament. Life is going to be very different on Parliament Hill in 2020. Bruce Carson has been a senior aide to three prime ministers, Stephen Harper, Brian Mulroney and Joe Clark. He is the author of 14 Days: Making the Conservative Movement in Canada, published by McGill-Queen's University Press and a veteran of many surprise votes on the floor of the House of Commons. The Hill Times

Muddling through a minority Parliament: a view from government and opposition benches

Trust, vigilance, respect, hard work, compromise, and the ability of MPs to work together are the key elements required for muddling through a minority Parliament. Life is going to be very different on Parliament Hill in 2020.

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Muddling through a minority Parliament: a view from government and opposition benches

Trust, vigilance, respect, hard work, compromise, and the ability of MPs to work together are the key elements required for muddling through a minority Parliament. Life is going to be very different on Parliament Hill in 2020.

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