KENORA, Ont. – Kenora’s Conservative MP says he’s disappointed to learn the federal Liberals have worked out a deal with the NDP to prop up Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government through 2025.
Eric Melillo, in an interview with Thunder Bay Television, said Canadians didn’t vote for the agreement and no NDP candidates ran on it either.
“That was certainly disappointing, but frankly I don’t know what tangible difference it’s going to make in the day to day operations of the house. The NDP hasn’t been providing much of an opposition to this point. They’ve been supporting this government on confidence votes and key pieces of legislation,” Melillo said.
“So from that point of view, my initial reaction is they’re formalizing something that was more or less already in place.”
The deal, which both the NDP and Liberals say is not a coalition, despite what interim Conservative Leader Candace Bergen has claimed.
However, it does prop up the Liberals, who held just 159 of the 338 seats in the House of Commons, 11 short of a majority. The NDP currently hold 25 seats.
The two sides have agreed to vote together on confidence votes, the Liberals agreeing to advance key cogs in the NDP’s platform, most notably national pharmacare and dental programs.
“We're different political parties, we stand for different things. But where we have common goals, we cannot let our differences stand in the way of delivering what Canadians deserve. That's why we're taking this step,” Trudeau said, speaking to media on Tuesday morning.
“What this means is that, during this uncertain time, the government can function with predictability and stability… and get things done for Canadians.”
Melillo said its par for the course for the NDP to prop up a minority Liberal government, which could be good news for the federal Conservatives, who can now act as Trudeau’s unquestioned opposition on Parliament Hill.
It also gives his party a chance to select a new leader to replace the ousted Erin O’Toole without the threat of an election being called mid-race.
“I think especially so after that we’re going to continue to hold the government to account, bring forward new ideas and really be the only true opposition in the House of Commons given the other opposition party is in essence giving up their ability to hold the government to account,” Melillo said.
MPs from all parties are not bound to vote along party lines, but history suggests most do and there can be repercussions for those who break ranks.
Former Thunder Bay NDP MPs Bruce Hyer and John Rafferty were punished for voting to kill the long-gun registry, losing speaking and party travel privileges, sanctions imposed by then interim NDP leader Nycole Turmel.
Melillo said while the initiatives being put forth by the NDP may have merit, he doesn’t trust the ‘coalition’ to move forward on any of them.
The NDP has been saying since 2019 it was going to force the Liberals to act and have come up short, Melillo said.
“They haven’t done that to this point, so I have no reason to believe this is going to manifest itself into any results,” he said.
