Delicate juggling for Trudeau’s government

THE SPECTATOR’S VIEW

With the return of Parliament Monday the Trudeau government is entering a crucial phase. How it handles key issues and strategies in the next few weeks will speak volumes about the government’s agility, toughness and durability.

Consider these two examples, which are key priorities as the government nears the halfway mark of its first mandate.

First, the planned tax changes that the government says are needed to level the playing field for all taxpayers. Second, the need for the Trudeau Liberals to turn their promises into reality, without being heavy-handed or dictatorial.

On the first, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Finance Minister Bill Morneau are backed into a corner. Both opposition parties plan to vigorously oppose the changes. There is a sizeable national lobby effort supported by all sorts of pro-business and professional groups dedicated to depicting the changes as an attack on small business and the middle class. Even some Liberal MPs are against the changes.

Yet Trudeau and Morneau insist the new measures are only about tax fairness, about closing loopholes that primarily help high-income Canadians. Small business advocates argue the existing rules are longstanding practices that help businesses grow.

There is good ammunition for both arguments. But it’s clear that the Liberals have not made a successful case in the minds of most Canadians. They need to go right back to Square 1 on a better communication plan, and be prepared to compromise.

The second point is even more challenging. The government’s legislative agenda is behind. While they’ve made good on some key platform planks, many remain unaddressed. That’s why there is such a sense of urgency around things like the tax changes. It’s as if the government is trying to catch up to its own ambitions.

But as it does so, it must be careful not to be or appear to be undemocratic and autocratic. Tactics such as limiting debate in Parliament were regularly employed by the Harper Conservatives. They were portrayed as using their majority status to bully Parliament and abuse democratic principles. The then-opposition Liberals and the NDP, too, screamed bloody murder about the Harper legislative steamroller.

Now the shoe is on the other foot, and the Liberals are poised to make the same mistake. A spokesperson for the prime minister has warned that “time allocation,” which effectively ends debate after a set period, may need to be employed for the government to keep pace with its legislative agenda.

Perhaps such measures will be needed. But Trudeau should be very wary. He is already accused of being too much like his predecessor. Stifling debate will only add to that.