Liberals need partners, all parties ‘must pull together' against U.S. threat: political expert
The Liberal Party of Canada is set to form a minority government in the wake of Monday night's federal election, and that will come with challenges, one expert says.
'Presuming that the Governor General asks them to form government, they're going to have to find some partners out there, whether formally or not, to get their legislation passed,' said Trevor Harrison, professor emeritus of political sociology at the University of Lethbridge.
It's how the system works, Harrison says, and we'll just have to deal with it.
'Going into negotiations with the United States, with a very unpredictable president, it would be nice to have a very strong government that doesn't have to keep going back to find if it has support on things,' he said.
'On the other hand, Canadians have always been pretty good at compromising coalitions and we're going to have to do that even more so if it's a minority government.
'All the parties have to pull together to deal with, really, the threat from the south.'
Harrison says Monday night brought a few surprises in the east, but to the west in the Prairies and Alberta, not so much.
That part of the country remains, largely, Conservative blue.
Michelle Rempel Garner was quickly declared the winner in Calgary Nose Hill, marking the first Conservative win of many in Calgary and the rest of southern Alberta.
In Calgary and southern Alberta, declarations had been made for Conservative candidates in the following ridings at the time of this writing:
Michelle Rempel Garner in Calgary Nose Hill;
Stephanie Kusie in Calgary Midnapore;
Damien Kurek in Battle River-Crowfoot;
David Bexte in Bow River;
John Barlow in Foothills;
Rachael Thomas in Lethbridge;
Glen Motz in Medicine Hat-Cardston-Warner;
Bailey Burton in Red Deer;
Shuv Majumdar in Calgary Heritage;
Blake Richards in Airdrie-Cochrane;
Blaine Calkins in Ponoka-Didsbury;
William Stevenson in Yellowhead;
David McKenzie in Calgary Signal Hill;
Pat Kelly in Calgary Crowfoot;
Jasraj Hallan in Calgary East;
Tom Kmiec in Calgary East; and
Greg McLean in Calgary Centre.
The Conservatives' Greg McLean retook Calgary Centre after a back and forth battle with the Liberals' Lindsay Luhnau.
The Conservatives' Greg McLean retook Calgary Centre after a back and forth battle with the Liberals' Lindsay Luhnau.
Harrison noted at the time he spoke to CTV News Calgary, the Liberals were still hoping to pull a couple of seats in Calgary.
But at the time of this writing, the Liberals Calgary Confederation looked less likely than just an hour or so before, and it looked like the Liberals were also going to lose their seat in Calgary McKnight as well.
Calgary Skyview also appeared to be a loss.
'We are going to be seeing recounts,' Harrison said.
'That could bring its own surprises.'
It looked like the Liberals' George Chahal was going to lose his seat in Calgary McKnight. The loss was not yet declared at the time of this writing.
It looked like the Liberals' George Chahal was going to lose his seat in Calgary McKnight. The loss was not yet declared at the time of this writing.
Harrison says it's going to be interesting to see how Alberta's United Conservative government interacts with the new Liberal government.
He notes Premier Danielle Smith was laying out demands to whomever won before the election even occurred.
'This is not exactly a handshake way of engaging with a new government,' he said.
'(It's) part of the DNA of the UCP, but it also runs long in Alberta politics, is you run against Ottawa, and particularly you run against Liberal governments.'
With files by Brendan Ellis and Camilla Di Giuseppe
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