NDP and Liberal Party Deal

Today the NDP announced a deal with the Liberal party that they intend to prop up the minority Liberal government for another three years until 2025. As you probably know since the previous Federal Election the Liberal party once again managed to secure enough seats to form what is called a minority government which requires the other political parties to prop it up and help pass legislation. This news of the NDP propping up the Liberal government is a little concerning to me for a few reasons one of them being the lack of leadership at the top of the liberal party during different times of crisis.

The first crisis that I want to talk about is the Freedom Convoy protests that plagued Ottawa the capital of Canada until recently. The Freedom convoy was a protest from truckers and other people who grew tired of all the Covid 19 restrictions the major one being that all truckers needed to be fully vaccinated in order to enter Canada and deliver goods around the nation. This protest however probably should not have taken place to begin with as most of the truckers coming into Canada were already fully vaccinated or had a shot of the Covid 19 vaccine.

As the protests began to gain momentum especially in the Western half of Canada which the Liberal government continues to alienate as a result of its many unfriendly decisions it seems to have been ignored just like the Wetsuweten first nations protest which brought the nation to a halt. Just like that protest the protesters began to disrupt the Canadian economy putting the jobs of others at risk but unlike that protest blocked the crossing at the Canada US border. This should have been a wake up call for the Liberal government to act and introduce legislation to prevent it but in true Liberal fashion sat on their asses and smoked marijuana. The protests continued to get worse in Ottawa as they began to keep the residents awake at night by honking horns and of course blocking intersections with in the city.

The Liberal party did finally introduce the emergencies measures act which allows the Federal government to take temporary measures when dealing with an emergency situation or where the public is doing a mass protest endangering the lives of every day Canadians who need to work. By the time this act was introduced the damage to the Canadian economy had already been done which was already suffering from the impacts of years of Covid 19 restrictions. I believe that the reason that the Liberal government decided to act was a response from the government of the United States to the federal government of Canada to do something to end the protests which started to effect their economy as well.

CP Rail's protest, which is the result of the union and the company being unable to reach a new contract agreement, is one the Liberal government will react to way too late. Apparently, this has significant ramifications for the Canadian economy, since it prevents Canadian farmers from importing feed for their cattle, which they were forced to import from the US last year due to a drought in the prairie provinces. As a result, farmers will have a harder time obtaining the fertilizer needed to increase the yield of their crops during seeding season. A deal between CP and its workers appears to have been reached after the Liberal government learned something.

This does not instill confidence in me that the current government will act quickly and tackle the issues instead of making it look like Canada is unable to handle social unrest before it becomes unmanageable. While the NDP may benefit from this agreement as support for the Liberal government declines or as people grow tired of them, they should focus on getting rid of this Liberal government and forcing another election. There is a reluctance on the part of the political parties of Canada to do this and possibly lose more seats, however, do we want to have a government in power that is slow to act? In light of the events in Ukraine and President Putin's threat to seize the nation, the majority of people probably don't want that kind of government. As a result, European nations have considered increasing military spending, with Canada only considering it despite the fact that Russia has also claimed parts of the Canadian Arctic. Whether you agree with me or not it is clear that the Liberal government needs to change or be replaced with a better political party.