Olive branch doesn’t go far
Extended to parties on left, by and large
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau extended an olive branch in the throne speech — but it was mostly to the parties on the left.
The speech devoted major sections to climate change, reconciliation and pledged to work toward pharmacare. It also held up an NDP platform commitment — universal dental care — as something worth exploring.
The election delivered 157 Liberal MPS, 121 Conservatives, 32 Bloc Québécois MPS, 24 NDP MPS and three Greens. That breakdown means the Liberals can pass legislation with either of the NDP or the Bloc or Conservatives, but the throne speech mentioned many more progressive priorities than Conservative ones.
The speech focused on the need to fight climate change, promising aggressive action.
“Canada’s children and grandchildren will judge this generation by its action — or inaction — on the defining challenge of the time: climate change,” read the speech.
The Liberals also included a line pledging to fight “just as hard” to get resources to market and offer unwavering support to those in the natural resource industry. There was also a mention of a Conservative campaign commitment to parental benefits tax-free.
Robin Maclachlan, a former NDP staffer and currently vice- president of Summa Strategies, said it was obvious the Trudeau government will look mostly to the NDP and Bloc as it tries to get confidence votes through a divided Parliament.
“It is clear that they understand that the co-operation in the Parliament is going to come from the progressive parties,” he said.
Maclachlan said Liberal voters are by and large on the left now and working too closely with the Conservatives is unlikely to be a big boost to the party’s electoral fortunes. “The voting coalition that elected them in 2015 and re- elected them with a minority doesn’t want to see them working with Andrew Scheer’s Conservatives,” he said.
He said the challenge for the Liberals will be to convince progressive voters that the party is worth supporting. “They risk playing into Jagmeet Singh hands if they start to look like the party that campaigns from the left, but governs from the right.”
Maclachlan said the challenge for Singh is to decide whether the speech, which was short on specifics, is enough to see his party endorse the speech.
“I am not sure there is enough here that it’s not just a mandate of talk.”
Singh did not firmly indicate whether his party would vote against the speech, but said he was disappointed in the lack of specifics. Bloc Québécois Leader YvesFrançois Blanchet said his party would likely support it, sparing the government any concerns it would be defeated.
Geneviève Tellier, a professor in the School of Political Studies at the University of Ottawa, said she was surprised the speech was lifted directly from the Liberals’ campaign.
“I am struck by the fact that there are many many initiatives that come directly from their own platform,” she said.
Tellier said she would have expected a little bit more of a nod to other parties than what the Liberals delivered.
She agreed, however, the Liberals are really only reaching in one direction across the aisle.
“If I were the Conservatives, if I were a western province I would not see much in this speech.”
The House will sit again on Friday with the first question period of the session. Currently, the House is scheduled to sit until Dec. 13 before breaking until the new year.