National Post (National Edition)
Ottawa's Shakespearean drama slips between thriller, comedy
Canadians see it signified close to nothing
OTTAWA • What began as a day of high drama – would the federal government fall over a vote to create an “anti-corruption committee” – became much ado about nothing as the Liberals handily won the vote against the Conservative motion with the last-minute help of the NDP and Greens.
Wednesday morning, there was a palpable buzz among federal political staff, MPs and journalists.
Were Canadians going into a general election in the middle of a second wave of COVID-19 on a non-confidence motion that no one expected in the first place, or not? That was the question.
The answer rested alternatively on the shoulders of the federal NDP, the Green Party of Canada's three MPs, or former Liberal-Justice-Minister-turned-independentJody Wilson-Raybould, depending on which of the multiple voting schemes one may have seen thrown around by pundits and reporters on social media all morning.
Though the day's suspense ended up being short lived when the NDP made it clear in the early afternoon that they would prop up the government, even Government House Leader Pablo Rodriguez admitted late Wednesday that the last few days had been “stressful” for all.
The real election speculation began Tuesday, when Rodriguez made it clear that his government considered a motion proposed by the Conservatives to create an anti-corruption committee — which would be tasked with delving into the WE Charity scandal and other possible conflicts of interest involving the Liberals — a confidence vote.
In other words, if the motion passed the Liberals would consider that they had lost the confidence of the House and would ask the Governor General to dissolve Parliament and launch an election. But for that to happen, the Conservatives would need the support of the two other opposition parties.
The same day, both the Conservatives and the Bloc Québécois made it clear that now is their winter of discontent and that they would vote for the motion.
But the electoral suspense went into overdrive on Tuesday afternoon when NDP leader Jagmeet Singh refused to say how his party would vote. That opened the door to speculation that he may support the motion and make the government fall.
The NDP made the suspense last through Wednesday morning by refusing to give any indication as to how they would vote until a press conference at 1 p.m. Then Singh put an end to (most) elections speculation by saying: “We will be voting against an election.”
True to his own self, Singh still maintained a modicum of suspense by inexplicably refusing to answer specific questions by reporters as to how his party would actually vote in a few hours.
Would the NDP MPs vote against the motion with the Liberals? Or would they abstain from voting, thus still creating a small chance that the Conservatives would pass their motion by getting support from the Greens and Jody Wilson-Raybould?
“You' ll see,” Singh responded cryptically, seemingly an attempt to avoid saying on camera that the NDP would dodge triggering an election by voting against the idea of creating a committee aimed at exposing more Liberal scandals.
Right after Singh's press conference came Conservative leader Erin O'Toole, who briefly addressed reporters about the importance of his party's motion and the depth of the Liberals' corruption.
O'Toole then only took a small amount of questions before ducking out of the room — much to the ire of reporters onsite — to head into the House of Commons for Question Period.
If uneasy lies the head that wears the crown, it did not show at all on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's face during the Question Period that immediately preceded the confidence vote.
Trudeau comfortably leaned back into his seat in the House of Commons at the beginning of the question round, and at various other moments when he wasn't responding to an MP's question during the nearly hour-long period.
Other times, he would turn left towards Rodriguez to crack a quick joke or comment.
The confidence vote finally came right after Question Period, and true to his word, Singh's NDP — as well as the three Green Party MPs — voted against the motion with the Liberals.
The closest the federal government ever came to losing the confidence of the House was thanks to a misread by a clerk of the house during a vote on an amendment to the motion.
After the tally of all in-person and virtual MPs, a clerk mistakenly inverted the scores and declared that there were 181 “yays”, and 143 “nays”.
“Um, you want to double check that, please?” Speaker Anthony Rota asked, his voice full of skepticism.
Indeed, the vote on the amendment was defeated 181-143, and then the full motion was subsequently defeated with a similar score.
The Liberals' minority government lives to see another day.
WOULD CANADIANS GO TO THE POLLS? THAT WAS THE QUESTION.