The Globe and Mail - 24.10.2019

A4 O THEGLOBEANDMAIL| THURSDAY,OCTOBER24,

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau
says he wants the Trans Moun-
tain pipeline project completed
as “quickly as possible,” and
sought to assure voters in Alber-
ta and Saskatchewan that his re-
electedgovernment hears their
concerns.
Speaking in Ottawa on
Wednesday, he also said a new
cabinet will be sworn in on Nov.
20, with a cut to personal income
taxes as its first order of business.
Monday’s election returned
the Liberals to power with a mi-
nority and no MPs from Alberta
or Saskatchewan. Mr. Trudeau
struck a more conciliatory tone
on Wednesday than in his elec-
tion victory speech, which made
little mention of the rebuke vot-
ers had delivered.
In his first public comments
since that speech, Mr. Trudeau
indicated he willgovernissue by
issue rather than negotiating a
formal arrangement with a
smaller party to win confidence
votes in Parliament.
He said he plans to meet with
the other party leaders in the
coming weeks to discuss priori-
ties.
“Canadians sent a clear mess-
age that they expect their leaders
to work together on the big is-
sues that matter to them; two of
them being the fight against cli-
mate change, and affordability,”
Mr. Trudeau said.
Mr. Trudeau said he is also re-
aching out to political leaders in
Alberta and Saskatchewan for
suggestions on how those prov-
inces can be best represented in
Ottawa.
He stopped short of promising
to appoint a cabinet member
from outside his caucus, and said
that all provinces are not always
represented in cabinet. But he
said he will ensure hisgovern-
ment hears from “every corner
of the country.”

Some prime ministers have

appointed senators from unrep-

resented provinces to cabinet.

However, Independent Senators

Group facilitator Yuen Pau Woo

said such an approach would run

counter to Mr. Trudeau’s plan to

appoint only senators who sit as

independents.

“This isn’t your grandfather’s

Senate,” Mr. Woo said.

Michele Cadario, who was

deputy chief of staff to prime

minister Paul Martin, said Mr.

Trudeau can ensure Alberta and

Saskatchewan have a “strong

voice” by recruiting people from

the Prairies to the Prime Minis-

ter’s Office and as staff to cabinet

ministers. And she said Mr. Tru-

deau and his cabinet now have

more of an obligation to visit the

region.

She said that the lack of Liber-

al MPs from the two provinces

doesn’t mean a complete void.

For example, cabinet minister

Chrystia Freeland grew up in Al-

berta.

The Prime Minister indicated

his positions on some of the

most heated issues of the cam-

paign have not changed. He said

his government is prepared to in-

tervene if necessary in a legal

challenge of a Quebec law that

restricts the wearing of religious

symbols for some public ser-

vants. He also said the Trans

Mountain pipeline expansion re-

mains a priority.

“We need to get our resources

to markets, other than the Unit-

ed States, in a safe and secure

way, and that’s what the Trans

Mountain pipeline will do,” he

said.

Alberta Energy Minister Sonya

Savage reacted positively to the

pledge.

“Albertans are angry and

they’re rightfully angry,” Ms. Sav-

age said in Edmonton, saying

that the oil sands were a fre-

quent target of some parties in

the campaign.

The Prime Minister said his

government is “moving forward

to solve some of those challeng-

es.”

“It’s going to take all Cana-

dians sticking together, helping

out folks who are struggling in

places like Alberta and Saskatch-

ewan,” he said.

Mr. Trudeau said he has al-

ready spoken with Premiers Ja-

son Kenney and Scott Moe, and

Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi.

He said such talks will continue,

including with Edmonton Mayor

Don Iveson. In an interview with

The Globe and Mail, Mr. Iveson

said his message to the Prime

Minister is to find ways to work

together.

Mr. Iveson said Canada is not

as divided by the election results

as some say, saying that two

thirds of Canadians voted for im-

proving energy infrastructure

while a “different but overlap-

ping” two thirds of Canadians

backed serious climate action.

The Liberal platform falls at the

centre of those two mandates.

Mr. Trudeau said he will count

on “progressive” parties to sup-

port parts ofthe government

agenda.

“I expect them to be able to

vote with us,” he said of his first

bill, which will reduce taxes.

The Liberals promised to grad-

ually increase the basic personal

exemption so that lower- and

middle-income earners pay no

tax on the first $15,000 they earn.

The current exemption applies

up to $12,069 in 2019, and the

Liberals promised to raise that

over four years, starting in 2020.

The party said this will save

the average family nearly $600 a

year.

However, the Bloc Québécois,

the NDP and the Green Party did

not promise tax cuts. The Con-

servatives proposed a personal

tax cut similar in size to the Lib-

eral plan.

NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh

said in a statement his party will

approach the new government

with “open minds and open

hearts” and evaluate the legisla-

tion when it’s available.

The Prime Minister did not in-

dicate when Parliament will be

recalled. After the 2015 election,

his government released a fall

fiscal update in November that

included tax changes. The House

of Commons sat for seven days

in December to pass those mea-

sures for the 2016 tax year.

In an online video, Conserva-

tive Leader Andrew Scheer re-

mained defiant, even though his

party won 121 seats to the Liber-

als’ 157 despite winning the pop-

ular vote.

“We have a strong mandate,”

Mr. Scheer said.

Mr. Trudeau “needs to explain

to Canadians how he’s going to

change course to address his fail-

ures on supporting the energy

sector, on making life more affor-

dable and bringing this country

together,” Mr. Scheer said.

Green Party Leader Elizabeth

May, now part of a caucus of

three, said she told Mr. Trudeau

her party won’t support his gov-

ernment in a confidence vote un-

less it introduces more stringent

greenhouse gas emissions tar-

gets and stops all pipeline expan-

sion.

She said it’s unlikely she will

still be leader in 2023, but there’s

no reason for an “imminent deci-

sion.”

With a report from

James Keller in Calgary

Pipelinecompletiona priority: Trudeau

PMsaysTransMountain

projectiscrucial

forgettingresources

toothermarketsina

safeandsecuremanner

BILLCURRY
MARIEKEWALSHOTTAWA

JustinTrudeauleavesthestageafterspeakingtothemediaattheNationalPressTheatreinOttawaon

Wednesday.Mr.TrudeausaysanewcabinetwillbesworninNov.20.STEPHANE MAHE/REUTERS

The Conservative Party debate over
Leader Andrew Scheer’s future is being
aired publicly, with deputy leader Lisa
Raitt saying Wednesday that he “de-
serves another shot” at fighting an elec-
tion.
She emphasized that a Liberal minor-
ity government, which requires opposi-
tion support to stay in office, is not the
time for Conservatives to start “focusing
inwardly.”
Asked what she would say to Conser-
vative supporters who want party heavy-
weights such as Peter MacKay or Rona
Ambrose to take the helm, Ms. Raitt re-
plied: “I would say that neither of them
are sitting in the House of Commons and
right now our focus should be holding
this Liberalgovernment to account.”
Ms. Raitt, who lost her Toronto-area
seat of Milton in Monday’s election, said
the party should instead overhaul its
platform to improve its appeal to vote-
rich provinces such as Ontario, where the
Conservatives barely raised their seat
count. She conceded that the Conserva-
tives also failed to achieve what it had
hoped for in Nova Scotia.
“Maybe it’s more of taking a look at the
issues that matter to Ontarians and try-
ing to create a platform that speaks to
them. Clearly there wasn’t enough in our
platform that caused them to want to
cast a ballot for us,” Ms. Raitt said.
“I think it’s an urbanization issue.
We’ve got to do better in terms of speak-
ing to urban areas.”
Conservative Marilyn Gladu, who was
re-elected in the Southern Ontario riding
of Sarnia-Lambton, and was an early
backer of Mr. Scheer’s leadership, said
she continues to support him.
But she said his fate will be up to the
party’s grassroots. The Conservative Par-
ty has a national convention scheduled
for April, 2020, and a secret ballot will de-
cide whether members wish to trigger a
leadership selection process.
Ms. Gladu said she expects other lead-
ership contenders will be waiting in the
wings.
“I’m sure that there would be conten-
ders, but really it’s for the grassroots
members to say, ‘Yes, we see that you’ve
made gains, we see that you won the pop-
ular vote, we see that you’ve increased
the number of seats, yes, we think you’re
the leader to take us to a majority.’ And

that’s really what they’ll decide in April,”

she said.

Many Conservatives believed that a

majority was in reach, Ms. Gladu said, cit-

ing Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s eth-

ical scandals and the blackface contro-

versy that erupted during the campaign.

“If you can’t beat Justin Trudeau with

those things so up front, I think that’s not

great. I think we need to ask ourselves,

‘What happened in Ontario? Why did we

not win the number of seats we wanted to

win in the Atlantic provinces?’ ” she said.

Peter Kent, who was re-elected in the

north Toronto riding of Thornhill, said

the party presented a strong platform but

needs a more robust environmental pol-

icy. He blamed the “Doug Ford” factor

and a media “smear” against Mr. Scheer

for the loss. “Ontarians weren’t con-

vinced that the Ford government was

back on track and had corrected some of

the early mistakes. And I think they

have,” he said.

He said he will vote to support Mr.

Scheer’s leadership.

Mr. Scheer on Wednesday promised a

“thorough review” of the campaign and

said meetings with top campaign offi-

cials have already started.

“Obviously, we’re disappointed in the

results and we were expecting and hope-

ful for a lot more Canadians supporting

our party, especially in some key areas,”

he said during an online presentation.

Mr. Scheer called this election “the

first step” in replacing Mr. Trudeau’s gov-

ernment, and said work has begun im-

mediately.

“There’s no time to lose preparing for

another election campaign, because

with a minority Parliament it could be

much sooner rather than later.”

Ms. Raitt said a leadership campaign

would detract from keeping pressure on

the minority Liberalgovernment, which

will have to seek support for budget and

confidence votes or suffer defeat.

“We went through a very comprehen-

sive leadership race two years ago. I took

part in that as well,” she said.

“We came to a decision, we built our

plan of execution around it and we re-

duced those guys to a minority, which

two years ago nobody was betting was

possible.”

Ms. Gladu criticized Mr. Scheer’s com-

munications team and said his handling

of questions on abortion, a target the Lib-

erals exploited during the campaign,

should have been dealt with earlier in the

campaign.

RaittsaysTories’currentfocus

isholdingLiberalstoaccount

STEVENCHASEOTTAWA
LAURASTONETORONTO

I

n the spirit of co-operation, Justin

Trudeau invited all parties to work

on his Liberal agenda.

The re-elected Prime Minister’s

first postelection news conference set a

clear tone about how he intends to ap-

proach minority government. There will

be consultation and efforts to empha-

size things that others have in common

with hisgovernment. But it will be Mr.

Trudeau’s agenda.

His large minority, and the weak po-

sition of the opposition, at least for

now, give him an upper hand, even if he

is a little shy of votes in Parliament. It is

clear Mr. Trudeau intends to govern that

way.

There was one note of recognition –

that he needs to bring in regional voices

to deal with the frustrations of many in

Alberta and Saskatchewan, where the

energy sector is still struggling. But it

was about bringing voices into his Lib-

eral government. And minority or not,

it will be a completely Liberalgovern-

ment.

Unsurprisingly, Mr. Trudeau ruled

out a formal coalition with any other

party.

But he also dismissed informal coali-

tions. He will stay in power by looking

for support from one party or another

on a vote-by-vote basis. He’d work with

the Bloc Québécois, for example, on is-

sues such as fighting climate change.

The immediate plans he outlined

were the big chunks of the Liberal agen-

da. The first thing to be done when the

House of Commons convenes – date

TBA – is to pass the broad tax cut prom-

ised in the Liberal platform.

He promised the Trans Mountain

pipeline expansion would go ahead.

What message did he get from voters

who cut his Liberals down to a minority

from the majority won in 2015? That

Canadians expect their leader to work

together on big issues, and notably

should focus on “affordability and fight-

ing climate change.”

“Fortunately,” he said, without a hint

of irony, “those are big parts of our plat-

form.”

He added he’d work with other par-

ties “to ensure we are making the right

decisions for all Canadians.”

In case anyone didn’t catch the sec-

ond-term priorities, he repeated them:

affordability and fighting climate

change.

Certainly, there was outreach. After

Monday’s election, there were clear re-

gional tensions. By Wednesday after-

noon, Mr. Trudeau had spoken to every

premier of a province or territory, ex-

cept the Northwest Territories, where

the premier is in the process of being

chosen. He had a mend-the-fences call

with Ontario Premier Doug Ford, his fa-

vourite Tory target during the election

campaign. But in Wednesday’s news

conference, he emphasized co-oper-

ation in areas where the premiers share

common ground with him.

There are 32 Bloc Québécois MPs in

the Commons, claiming to speak for the

agenda of Quebec Premier François Le-

gault, who had laid out four demands,

including more powers over immigra-

tion and an assurance that Ottawa will

not contest Quebec’s Bill 21, which bars

many public-sector workers from wear-

ing religious symbols.

But Mr. Trudeau said he had spoken

to Mr. Legault about areas where they

can work together such as infrastruc-

ture and housing.

There is clearly one area, however,

where Mr. Trudeau acknowledged the

Liberals need something more, even if

he couldn’t say what: addressing frus-

trations felt in the oil patch of Alberta

and Saskatchewan.

That’s why he was also on the phone

to the mayors of Calgary, Edmonton

and Saskatoon. Mr. Trudeau’s team ex-

pect opposition, not advice, from Alber-

ta Premier Jason Kenney and Saskatche-

wan Premier Scott Moe, so they turned

to the mayors.

The quick reassurance that the pipe-

line expansion will go ahead might ease

some tensions, but there was also a tacit

acknowledgement that won’t be

enough.

Mr. Trudeau declared climate change

a second-term priority, but he must also

search for some way to soothe the frus-

trations of ordinary workers in the en-

ergy sector, too, and bring in someone

who will somehow serve as a regional

representative.

That’s all an effort to right the ship,

though, not to share the helm. Mr. Tru-

deau the minority PM signalled he had

recommitted the listening and wants

co-operation – but the governing agen-

da is his.

Trudeauwillworkwithanyparty,

aslongasit’sonhisterms

CAMPBELL

CLARK

OPINION

OTTAWA

| NEWS