Work it out, people

So, now what?

Last Monday’s federal election resulted — as many had predicted — in a minority government, with Justin Trudeau’s Liberals hanging onto power despite narrowly losing the popular vote to Andrew Scheer’s Conservatives.

It’s apparently what many Canadians wanted. And it completely changes the political dynamic in Ottawa.

Trudeau will now need the support of at least some opposition MPs to pass legislation and survive any confidence votes.

And the Liberals, having lost their automatic majority on parliamentary committees, will no longer be able to control the narrative as tightly.

But it may not be as difficult for the Liberals as some commentators seem to think.

First, Canadians won’t want another election too soon, certainly not in the next two years. So any party that forces the issue would do so at its peril, risking the wrath of the electorate.

That means voters expect the parties to work together, at least to some extent. That’s a message that shouldn’t be ignored, given the election’s relatively high turnout of 66 per cent.

So Trudeau — with a solid minority of 157 seats (not that far from a majority of 170) — could look for support from differing opposition parties on an ad hoc basis. He said last Wednesday his government does not plan to form a coalition government with another party.

But it still could mean – and likely will be the case – that the Liberals work with the NDP and others on progressive issues, while turning perhaps to the Tories for support on some contentious topics, like pipelines. (It’s hard to imagine the Conservatives voting against in such a scenario).

After a fractious, too often nasty election campaign and a result that reflects a deeply divided nation, working together is what this country needs.

The parties also need to take stock of a vote in which there was no clear winners, save perhaps the Bloc Québécois, which, with 32 seats, has seemingly rediscovered its political relevance.

Both of Canada’s major parties can claim support from no more than a third of Canadians. The NDP, despite its much-publicized surge late in the campaign polls, took not quite 16 per cent of the vote, its worst showing since 2004.

And the Greens, despite Canadians naming the environment as one of their top concerns, managed to draw just 6.5 per cent nationally. Although better than their vote haul in 2011 or 2015, it’s below the 6.78 per cent they managed in 2008. Nevertheless, they did take three seats, including in Fredericton, their best-ever result.

It looks like both the NDP and Greens lost some support to strategic voting.

Meanwhile, in Nova Scotia, though Liberal support fell from 61.7 per cent in 2015 to

41.4 per cent on Monday, that was more than enough to keep 10 of 11 ridings on the government’s side.

Canadians have spoken.

For now, anyway.