A political scientist said Mark Carney\u2019s newly secured majority government is expected to bring more stability to Parliament but may not immediately change life for Canadians.<\/p>\n
Yael Belanger, a political science professor at the University of Lethbridge, said the Liberals\u2019 majority \u2014 secured after a trio of eastern byelections \u2014 gives the government full control over the House of Commons, its committees and the legislative agenda, allowing it to move forward with less resistance. He said this will also give the government greater authority to pass legislation without relying on opposition support.<\/p>\n
\u201cI honestly don\u2019t think it\u2019s going to impact Canadians good or bad in the short term,\u201d Belanger said. \u201cThe House of Commons is going to run a little bit more smoothly because every bill is not going to have to be debated.\u201d<\/p>\n
Belanger said the government has already outlined key priorities, including affordability, energy exports, defence spending, immigration levels and improving primary care.<\/p>\n
He added that the majority government could also strengthen Canada\u2019s position in upcoming trade talks with the United States and Mexico under CUSMA, as it will allow officials at the negotiating table to make firmer commitments.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe know that the government won\u2019t collapse in mid-negotiation, which means that ultimately, we can continue to argue our point.\u201d<\/p>\n
The majority win comes just weeks before the one-year anniversary of Carney becoming prime minister, and Belanger said it is too early to judge the government\u2019s performance, noting he is still relatively new in the role and leading a new cabinet.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe can\u2019t ally the new Carney government with that of the old Trudeau government. We have to ultimately start from scratch,\u201d Belanger said. \u201cAfter one year, the Carney government has done a decent job.\u201d<\/p>\n
Before the byelection wins, Belanger said there was a shift in Parliament that included MPs crossing the floor to join the Liberals, many from the Conservative party.<\/p>\n
Belanger said that trend raises questions about the Conservatives\u2019 internal direction and leadership under Pierre Poilievre.<\/p>\n
\u201cI believe at this point that even if Pierre Poilievre chooses not to resign, I believe that the party in the near future will make that decision for him,\u201d Belanger said.<\/p>\n
Looking ahead, Belanger suggested Canadian politics may be entering a less polarized phase, with Carney positioning himself closer to the political centre.<\/p>\n
\u201cMark Carney is definitely not the traditional Liberal leader that we\u2019ve been socialized to see,\u201d Belanger said, adding his approach could appeal to voters who are politically undecided while creating uncertainty among more partisan voters.<\/p>\n
Belanger said the government faces immediate pressure on both international and domestic fronts. He pointed to economic tensions with the United States as a key challenge, alongside housing affordability at home.<\/p>\n
\u201cHousing is a significant issue across Canada,\u201d he said. \u201cRates of homelessness across Canada are significant. Housing precarity is becoming more of an issue.\u201d<\/p>\n
Belanger said those domestic concerns are closely tied to broader economic stability and should be a priority for the government as it begins its majority mandate.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A political scientist said Mark Carney\u2019s newly secured majority government is expected to bring more stability to Parliament…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":16085,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[98],"tags":[8481,143,8482,111,8483,8484],"class_list":["post-16084","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mark-carney","tag-carney-government","tag-federal-government","tag-lethbridge","tag-mark-carney","tag-provincial","tag-university-of-lethbridge"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16084","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16084"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16084\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16085"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16084"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16084"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16084"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}