Minority parliaments create a political environment that discourages cabinet from bold acts. That means Justin Trudeau’s foreign policy will like be more risk-averse that it was before.
If successful, Chrystia Freeland could help bolster national unity and Canada’s relationships with the U.S. and Mexico. But relentless sexist attacks against her could derail progress.
Whether Chrystia Freeland’s new roles in Justin Trudeau’s cabinet are a promotion or a dead end depends on where party and regional alliances can be built.
Justin Trudeau will have to change his style of governing in the new minority government. Working in a co-operative government with other political parties could diminish executive dominance.
There’s a different Trudeau in office in 2019 than there was in 1972, but Justin Trudeau is also leading a minority government, just as his father did — and the Canada-U.S. relationship is key.
Both climate activist Greta Thunberg and former U.S. president Barack Obama made their presences known during the Canadian election. Was it interference?
There are many winners in a scenario in which Canada’s minority government enacts stronger supports for non-profit housing. The biggest are those who would get secure and affordable homes.
In the aftermath of the election, what is striking about many of the policy positions of Canada’s federal parties is their timidity, especially when it comes to climate change.
The progressive left should not content itself with being a junior partner in Liberal minority governments. In the next election, they should seek to propose a principled, realistic alternative.
The election results could mean a national pharmacare program will happen, albeit slowly. Canadians can also expect more safe injection sites and money invested in the opioid crisis.
The urgent issues facing Canada during the election are not less urgent now that the election is over. The prime minister is going to have to reinvent himself and commit to some important compromises.
For international observers, it may be stunning to see Justin Trudeau’s government reduced to a minority after his meteoric rise to power in 2015. It happened because he disappointed his progressive base.
A year after an infamous Twitter spat and the gruesome murder of Jamal Khashoggi in 2018, the Canada-Saudi relationship appears poised to return to business as usual, if it hasn’t already.
We’re stuck with first-past-the-post electoral system in Canada, but that doesn’t mean we have to use our vote as nothing more than a veto of the worst possible option.
Canada’s first serious attempt, and potentially last opportunity, to implement a national climate strategy hangs in the balance on Oct. 21. The Trudeau government is to blame for its precarity.
Yan Campagnolo, L’Université d’Ottawa/University of Ottawa
Politicians often make grand promises of more open government during an election campaign. But when it comes to cabinet secrecy, such promises should be implemented in a thoughtful manner.
There are a lot of reasons to criticize Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s handling of the SNC-Lavalin file. But on the matter of saving jobs, he got it right.