WHEN JUSTIN TRUDEAU UNVEILS HIS CABINET, HIS CHOICE OF HOUSE LEADER COULD BE THE MOST IMPORTANT ONE HE MAKES. IN A MINORITY, THE POSITION BECOMES KEY TO ENSURING THE GOVERNMENT CAN FUNCTION AND SURVIVE.
Position is key to ensuring minority government can function, survive
They won’t be Canada’s voice to the world. They won’t be managing the government’s books. They may not even be minister of anything, but when Prime Minister Justin Trudeau unveils his cabinet on Wednesday his choice of house leader could be the most important one he makes.
Every recognized party in Parliament has a house leader, who act as parliamentary traffic cops deciding what moves forward when. In a majority, a government’s house leader can simply tell the opposition what to expect, but in a minority the position becomes key to ensuring the government can function and survive.
Without the force of numbers, the government’s house leader has to negotiate every piece of legislation with opposition counterparts to ensure bills don’t fall.
Speculation in Ottawa, including in a piece by Montreal newspaper La Presse, is that Trudeau will name current Heritage Minister and Montreal MP Pablo Rodriguez to be house leader, replacing Bardish Chagger.
Rodriguez is a veteran MP with years of experience in the house, including during the last Conservative minority parliament. He lost his seat in the 2011 election, but was reelected in 2015 and again in October.
Outgoing Liberal minister Ralph Goodale said he will wait to weigh in on the choice until the prime minister makes it public Wednesday, but said Rodriguez certainly has the skill set.
“Pablo is a very skilful parliamentarian and he is well liked,” he said. “If that is the choice the prime minister has made, he will acquit himself very well.”
Goodale was appointed finance minister when Paul Martin became prime minister in 2003, but said when the Liberals were re-elected as a minority Martin asked him to give up that role.
“The prime minister spent some considerable time trying to persuade me that I should leave finance and become house leader,” he said.
“It really is the nerve centre for all the operations of the government that involve getting something through Parliament.”
Goodale served in the house leader position during Jean Chrétien’s time as prime minister and would be the Liberal’s house leader for most of the Conservative minority parliament. He said it’s essential that all sides remember this is what voters wanted.
“It is really important that you respect what Canadians have decided.”
Former Conservative MP Jay Hill served as both house leader and government whip during the last minority parliament and said it’s a high-stakes game all the time.
“It’s a huge challenge, because every vote becomes critical to the government’s agenda,” he said.
While only confidence motions like budgets and throne speeches can trigger an election, a government’s failure to pass legislation can be an embarrassing setback.
Hill said he tried to be as diplomatic as possible and everything in a minority parliament will take longer than it otherwise would, because of those negotiations, but he said that’s much better than the alternative of a surprise defeat.
“You try to have it all ironed out ahead of time and sometimes, it takes hours and hours of negotiations behind the scenes.”
Hill said sometimes small changes can become major breakthroughs. During his time, the then Liberal minority government agreed to allow its MPS a free vote on a trade deal with Colombia. He said that meant he could try to drum up support one member at a time to get the deal passed, which happened only after several months of effort.
Wrangling your own party members is also part of the job. Hill said he reminded his fellow Conservatives every week how important it was that they be at votes on time and not head to the airport unexpectedly.
“You don’t want to go into the history books as the person that caused the government to fall, because you just didn’t show up.”
Former NDP MP Libby Davies was her party’s house leader for many years, including when Hill held the job. She said Trudeau is going to have to pick someone who can work well with others.
“If the house leader is someone who is pretty aggressive, pretty dominant and very partisan it doesn’t bode well for a working relationship,” she said.
She said the key for the government is to work with the opposition and respect the nature of a minority parliament.
“You have to know the trigger points about what will set off an opposition,” she said. “You’re going to piss people off very quickly and it’s going to create a tense and fractious political environment.”
She said opposition parties have to do their part as well, because the public isn’t going to be eager for a snap election, especially if it is not over a substantive issue.
“If it looks like people are mucking around, playing games and being highly partisan, I just think the reaction to that is not positive at all.”