EDITORIAL: Carney can govern without the NDP

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With a strong minority government of 170 seats — just two short of the 172 needed for a majority — Prime Minister Mark Carney doesn’t have to make special deals with any other party to stay in power.

He can, if he chooses, return to the traditional way of governing with a minority, which is to seek support from the opposition parties on an issue-by-issue basis.

This as opposed to former prime minister Justin Trudeau’s supply and confidence deal with the NDP he signed in early 2022, with the Liberals remaining in power for three years until Carney called the federal election on March 23.

That ended in the widespread rejection of the NDP by voters across the country — reduced from 24 seats to seven, five below the 12 needed for official party status.

That included the defeat of party leader Jagmeet Singh, who finished in third place in his B.C. riding of Burnaby Central, behind the Liberal and Conservative candidates, and resigned on election night.

Indeed, based on the similarity of their election platforms — because Carney adopted the position of Pierre Poilievre and the Conservatives on many issues — there will be opportunities for the prime minister to get his legislation passed with the support of the official opposition party.

In our view, it would be far better to see the two mainstream parties that together captured 85% of the popular vote and 313 of 343 seats in the House of Commons work together where possible in passing legislation.

This as opposed to the Liberals kowtowing to the NDP, whose entire parliamentary caucus can now be fitted into a minivan, or the Bloc Quebecois, who don’t even believe in the country that Parliament represents.

We also disagree with granting the NDP official party status, since the rules about participation in the House of Commons are meaningless if they’re going to be ignored any time a political party falls below the minimum requirement of winning at least 12 seats.

Of course, Carney can try to entice at least two opposition MPs to cross the floor and join the Liberals to give him a majority government, but that will just increase public skepticism about the political process and undermine the belief that elections matter.