On a Monday (a Monday back in early November of 2021 min you), NDP MP Charlie Angus said his party’s leader, Jagmeet Singh, had an “initial conversation” with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau about striking a formal agreement to prop up the minority Liberal government for the next three years. On Tuesday, Singh said there had been “no discussion at all of a coalition,” but that he was “open to hearing from the government.”
Though both parties stress that that such a deal may never materialize, there is very little downside for the governing Liberals to pursue such an option: they have, after all, had no trouble pushing their legislation through a minority Parliament for the past two years, with the support of the NDP and Bloc Québécois; a formal agreement would simply mean the prime minister would not need to worry about building ad-hoc coalitions to pass each individual bill. And the only price he’d have to pay is adding a little more socialism to his left-wing policy pot.
What this country needs is for the Conservatives to take a clear stand against Liberal policies, so they will be seen as a credible alternative when Trudeau's house of cards eventually comes crashing down
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Yet even without a formal agreement in the last Parliament, Singh was able to get concessions from the Liberals in exchange for his support, such as when the NDP agreed
to prop up the government in September 2020, in exchange for expanded sick benefits and continued pandemic supports.
One way or another, it’s not going to be hard for these two parties to find common ground. A look at their
election platforms shows that their differences are more a matter of degree, rather than substance.
The pendulum will undoubtedly swing the other way at some point. Unchecked government spending will eventually affect our credit score, making it more costly to borrow money. High taxes and an official vendetta against Canadian resources will put people out of work and scare away investors. Increased carbon taxes and a depressed supply of petroleum and natural gas will drive up the cost of living for Canadians who are already struggling to cope with high inflation.
What this country needs is for the Conservative party to take a clear stand against these disastrous policies, so it will be seen as a credible alternative when the Liberals’ house of cards eventually comes crashing down. Until that happens, none of us should be surprised that there are no checks on Justin Trudeau’s relentless drive to vastly increase the size and scope of the Canadian state.