AWARD WINNING
NOV - 16 - 2019 | VOL 28
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www.voiceonline.com
NUMBER 46
Trudeau has to build a relationship with NDP if he wants a long-term minority government: Herb Dhaliwal BY RATTAN MALL HERB Dhaliwal, the first-ever South Asian federal minister, told The VOICE this week that if Prime Minister Justin Trudeau wants a stable minority government, he’s got to choose the NDP and work with them on a day-to-day basis. Dhlaiwal, who served in Jean Chretien’s Cabinet from 1997-2003, added: “I think that would be the best strategy to stay in power for the next two to three years.” He warned: “If his view is that I am going to work with whichever party, I don’t think that’s going to work. I think he’s got to start establishing that we’re going to be working with the NDP, start agreeing on some things that they are going to support and that way he’ll be able to I think survive in a longer term. “If he starts working on an issue-by-issue basis, which some are saying, I think that could be problematic because you don’t know what issues they are going to support; they can change their mind as well.” Dhaliwal pointed out: “Joe Clark didn’t think he’d lose his government but he did, and Paul Martin didn’t think he was going to have to go into an election, but he did as well.” Both Clark and Martin headed minority governments.
that gap? So that will be interesting - how he deals with that. … During his father’s time, we had very few people in the West. In fact, we had no members in B.C. at one time. So what they did was they put in senators Ray Perrault and Jack Austin.”
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau met with federal NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh on Thursday. Photo: Justin Trudeau’s Facebook Dhaliwal pointed out: “Managing a minority government requires different skills than a majority government. Remember Joe Clark got himself into trouble because he said well, we are going to run government as if we have a majority. And of course, after nine months, he lost the vote on the budget and then he lost the government.” (Clark’s Progressive Conservative Party came to power in the 1979 election, defeating the Liberal government of Pierre Trudeau. But he only won a minority government
that was defeated on a motion of non-confidence. He lost the 1980 election in which Pierre Trudeau came back into power.) (Martin, who forced Chretien out, could only win a minority Liberal government in 2004. He lost a confidence vote and had to call the 2006 general election, which he lost.) Dhaliwal said: “So I think Justin Trudeau has to build a relationship with I think the closest ally, which is the NDP, if he wants a stable minority government, and hire people that can work with both the NDP and the
Liberals to make sure that they can stay in power and if they have some good people that can … work as a bridge to keep the parties together, they could govern for two to three years. … This is his best way he can continue to govern.”
THE other challenge that Trudeau faces is how to get Saskatchewan and Alberta represented in cabinet, Dhaliwal pointed out. He said: “He’s got no elected members in Alberta and Saskatchewan – how is he going to fill
Herb Dhaliwal (right) with Justin Trudeau. Photo submitted (Perrault was appointed to the Senate by Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau in October 1973 and a year later, he joined the cabinet as Leader of the Government in the Senate. Austin, who was appointed chief of staff to Pierre Trudeau in 1974, was appointed to the Senate in 1975.)
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