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[https://torontosun.com/opinion/columnists/furey-anti-scheer-coalition-isnt-against-rules-heres-why-its-still-wrong
Anti-Scheer coalition isn't against rules – here's why it's still wrong
Anthony Furey
Published: October 19, 2019
Last Thanksgiving weekend, a few of us sat down to play a couple rounds of Monopoly.
A relaxing, care-free affair, right? It depends.
Such gatherings can end in drama if you’re bringing together extended family who all grew up playing the game slightly differently. Like how there are those who play it that if you land on Free Parking, you collect a pot of money from the centre. That’s not how I learned it, though.
Whatever your preference, it’s best to sort these things out in advance. We did not, and it wasn’t until closer to the end of one game that we realized different people thought we were playing by different rules.
It seems we’ve come to a similar point in the Canadian federal election.
Last weekend, NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh floated the idea of being part of a coalition, where he’d prop up another party that seeks to form power. Now when we typically think of the NDP propping up a party, we’re accustomed to it meaning that they would go to the party that won the most seats – a minority government – and tell them they’ll vote alongside them if there’s something in it for them in terms of NDP-friendly policies.
Former NDP Leader Jack Layton used to argue that his party, even though they’d never formed power, had accomplished a great deal for Canadians over the decades by this very method.
That’s not what Singh meant though. He was saying – in words that he’s now partially walked back – that if the Conservatives under Andrew Scheer win the most seats but not a majority – what we’ve come to think of as winning a minority government – he would join with Trudeau to block Scheer from forming government.
Is this a thing? Can it even be done? The short answer is yes.
Guy Giorno, a former chief of staff to Stephen Harper and partner at Fasken, breaks down possible outcomes at his firm’s website, explaining that “contrary to popular belief, an incumbent prime minister does not need to resign just because another party obtains a plurality of seats in the House. A prime minister whose party is reduced to second place retains the right to meet the House and present an agenda.”
So the first offer to form government doesn’t automatically go to the party that gets the most seats. Rather, if Trudeau comes second, he still has the option to find a way to stay in power if he so chooses.
Does this then mean that Trudeau is automatically justified in forging a coalition with Singh to stay in power and keep Scheer out? Nope. Not so fast.
As kids, most of us were told just because you can do something, it doesn’t mean you should. Trudeau may be in such a situation.
Yan Campagnolo, Assistant Professor of Law at the University of Ottawa, notes in an interview with the Sun that the Governor-General, who oversees changes of government, would likely be advised that “the incumbent Prime Minister has the right to meet the House of Commons in order to determine if he can obtain its confidence and remain in power.”
But what has happened in the past? What does tradition tell us? And what does the electorate think?
“Usually, when an election does not produce a majority government and when the incumbent Prime Minister fails to win the most seats, the incumbent Prime Minister resigns. This is precisely what happened, for example, following the federal elections of 1957, 1963, 1979 and 2006,” explains Campagnolo, an expert in the rules governing Canadian politics.
Trudeau can decide to try to remain in power. But it’s not how it’s usually done and it’s not what Canadians have come to expect. (It’s also not what his father did in 1979.)
Tradition and popular expectations matter almost as much as what the rules spell out, and in this respect, Trudeau would be very much off-side.
It’s telling that Giorno writes “contrary to popular belief” in explaining what the rules actually dictate. He’s indirectly pointing out that the popular belief is that Trudeau isn’t even allowed to stay in power if he comes in second.
If Trudeau does something that many people perceive to be wrong, that in itself is a major problem and should make Trudeau think twice about taking the country through the turmoil that will ensue if he goes down that path. His coalition government could be seen as illegitimate in the eyes of many Canadians.
If you want to cash in when you land on Free Parking, I’m open to the idea but you’ve got to let me know before we start playing because that’s not how I roll. And I’m sure I’m not the only one who feels this way.
The Liberals of course know all of this.
A video surfaced of Trudeau telling Peter Mansbridge just before the 2015 election that he believes the party that wins the most seats gets to form power. Because that’s how we’ve all come to believe the game is played, Trudeau included. And yet we may soon find he becomes “that guy,” the one who runs to the corner to dust off the rule book right at the time he stands to benefit.
Trudeau and Singh certainly can try to form a coalition to block Scheer from becoming Prime Minister.
But it would be an underhanded thing to do that violates our sense of fairness and how we all thought the game should be played.
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