Like their Conservative counterparts who have already felt the Carney burn three times, federal New Democrats will be none too happy about the not-completely-unexpected news late Tuesday that Nunavut MP Lori Idlout has crossed the floor to join the Liberal Government as it creeps toward a post-election majority.
When I predicted in Tuesday’s post that Prime Minister Mark Carney would soon try to poach some NDP MPs facing hard days for their party, as well as some additional Conservatives, I didn’t expect it to happen until after the NDP leadership vote is counted in Winnipeg on March 29.
But, hey, Carney’s gonna Carney!
Now Carney only has to win two of the three by-elections on April 13 to have a majority, albeit a narrow one, and as the folk wisdom goes, two outta three ain’t bad!
Idlout is the fourth MP to switch parties since last year’s April 28 election. The other three were Conservatives disaffected with Opposition Leader Pierre Poilievre, including most recently Edmonton Riverbend MP Matt Jeneroux, whose decision on February 18 came as a shocker to the always confident Alberta Conservatives who thought they’d talked him out of it.
Idlout’s decision may well have had something to do with the prime minister’s plans for nation-building (and nation-defending) projects in the Arctic as well as the parlous state in which the NDP has been left by former leader Jagmeet Singh.
In a statement on social media, interim NDP leader Don Davies – who had just seen his caucus shrink from seven to six MPs – expressed his disappointment, which was certainly sincere, and his party’s pro forma disapproval of floor crossers.
“The position of the New Democrats on floor crossers is longstanding and clear,” he wrote. “We believe that when someone rejects the decision of their electors and wants to join another party, they should put their decision to their voters.
“In a democracy, something as important as the choice of party representation in Parliament must always remain with our constituents,” he continued. “We believe that should happen here.”
Well, OK. That is a fair argument that can be made in good faith – although one that’s most often made by parties that have just lost a caucus member to another party.
In the modern Parliamentary system, a lot of voters – probably the vast majority – make their choice based on the party, not the candidate, so as such a floor crossing, especially one soon after an election, is bound to feel like a betrayal.
Still, the right of MPs and MLAs to switch parties, or answer to no party at all, is a fundamental part of the Parliamentary system we know as Responsible Government, in which the cabinet is responsible to the elected members of the House. Responsible Government has been at the heart of Canadian government since Lord Durham’s famous Report in 1839, and a good thing it is, too!
Just ask Alberta Premier Danielle Smith, who has a little experience with floor crossing herself, if you get the chance!
Indeed, a popular complaint among voters – many of whom would also vocally disapprove of floor crossing at any time in a party’s mandate – is that the party system usually doesn’t allow MPs to vote with their conscience or the feelings of their own constituents when that runs counter to the government’s agenda.
A few floor crossings, or even a lot of them, won’t change this. But the spate of recent ones in Canada do demonstrate a desire among more than a few MPs to be able to operate at least some of the time outside the constraints of party discipline, on points of principle as well as pure self-interest.
I imagine in the case of Idlout, first elected as a New Democrat in 2021, she would like the constituents of her vast electoral district to have a voice at the table in decisions that will dramatically impact their lives and their environment, in the broadest sense of that word.
It is well understood that an Independent MP in the House of Commons has little influence. Unfortunately, at this moment in history, being an MP elected as a representative of a party without official party status is arguably little different. Job No. 1 for whoever is elected as NDP leader on March 29 will be fixing that in the next federal general election. It’s possible that will be their only chance.
In the meantime, while there is sure to be no joy in NDP circles today, one imagines that there may be some satisfaction among the leadership of the Opposition Conservatives. After all, the last thing they want right now is another election. This is true no matter what they may say.
It is obviously better from the Conservative perspective that Carney get his majority in a way that appears to be through machinations, even possibly Machiavellian ones, than through a demonstration of popular support, which he certainly enjoys at the moment. All the better if the latest defector comes from another party’s ranks.
