The lesson: when you have a minority government, it is not wise to work without a net.
Now, why is this pertinent, given that the Carney government did indeed roll the dice and has thus far won in its efforts to pass its budget? It is because it has steadfastly refused to try to build any kind of coalition with the opposition, save for a vague promise to Elizabeth May to 'honour' their climate change commitments. And the fact that their were abstentions on the part of both the Conservatives adn the NDP is hardly indicative of future performance.
In what I consider to be an ultimately boneheaded move, they rejected any outreach to the NDP, rubbing their noses in the notion that they don't need their support, offering not even a soupcon of allyship.
The opposition NDP wanted the minority Liberal government to devote roughly $10 billion to affordable housing, pharmacare and other priorities, but was rebuffed ahead of Monday’s crucial budget vote, the Star has learned.
{A} source said the NDP wanted the funding to come from new revenue, as well as by shifting planned spending from areas like national defence, to which the budget devotes almost $82 billion over the next five years.
Now, no one would expect the government to simply acquiesce in the NDP request, but something other than a complete dismissal might have laid the groundwork for future collaboration. Was it arrogance that informed this rejection? I think so, and it may presage a time in the future when the Liberals might need opposition support and won't have it. Consider this:
Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet slam[ed] the government for failing to clinch support from another party. He alluded Tuesday to many battles to come before the Liberals presented a massive, 637-page omnibus budget bill that will have to travel through the minority Parliament in the coming weeks.
Blanchet suggested the general election averted in Monday’s vote could now occur as soon as next spring.
“At each step of this long process, including the committee, they will have to start all over again because they were not good partners for anybody,” Blanchet said.
“They exploited the momentary weaknesses of everybody and this is not how policy should be done, so I believe it will come bite their ass.”
It would also appear that not all Liberals are onside with the government's intransigence, one MP arguing they
didn’t spend enough time trying to attract support from other parties ahead of Monday’s vote. Instead, the MP said the government seemed preoccupied with floor-crossers, after Nova Scotia’s Chris d’Entremont defected to the Liberals and a second Tory — Edmonton’s Matt Jeneroux — abruptly announced he will resign his seat.
I think one of the problems with this current iteration of the Liberals is that they are led by a technocrat who fails to appreciate the fact that politics is the "art of the possible." One hopes that before it is too late for his government, Mr. Carney will learn that hard fact of life.
