The fractured Canadian Parliament united in the wee hours of March 25th to pass Bill C-13, the COVID-19 Emergency Response Act. Agreement was reached following a marathon all night session, during which opposition members successfully prevented the Liberals from including provisions to grant broad spending and taxing powers to Cabinet without parliamentary oversight; described by opposition members as “a Liberal power-grab”. Conservatives blamed the Liberals for the delay in passing legislation, stating that the bill could have passed in the House Tuesday if the Liberals had not attempted to push through sweeping new powers.
The Bill was then passed quickly by the Senate in a “Committee of the Whole”, and granted royal assent by the Governor General that afternoon.
On the whole, it appeared as though a remarkable non-partisan feat of cross-party cooperation had occurred in the face of national emergency. House Leader Liberal Pablo Rodriguez said that partisanship was being put aside “There is great cooperation among all parties who are working together to respond to this very serious challenge.”
The bill however passed on division, which means that the Speaker's opinion was challenged by three or more Members. On division, the Assembly divides so that the exact balance of opinion may be determined. This is also known as a standing vote, and means that there is opposition.
The modified Bill C-13 may have squeaked through by cross-party effort in an all-night stamina session; however, a March 6th Angus Reid poll highlights predictable partisan differences across Canada. According to the poll, 78% of Liberals think that the government is handling the health crisis well, while only 23% of Conservatives agree. Regional differences also played true. 49% of Canadians think that the government has been handling it well, while only 38% of Albertans agree.
It appears as though, even in a crisis, Canadians find it difficult to set aside the partisan interests which divide the nation from east to west and north to south. The last Federal election results map, looking more like a cancerous MRI scan blotted by colourful tumours; shows divided results aligning with a global trend toward an increasing number of political parties, with declining influence.
This partitioning of societies behind walls of self-interest (socio-economic, racial, geographical, philosophical, etc.) means that more narrow political representation is required in order to further the specialized outcomes sought by each group. According to a 2018 Wilson Centre paper “Are Political Parties in Trouble?” voters are increasingly turning to niche parties like the Greens and populist parties. It goes on to say “Since at least the 1990s, observers... have noted a declining role for political parties in long-standing democracies. Global data show countries in many regions of the world have experienced decreases in political party influence in terms of declining membership, voter turnout, and party system stability, with implications for democratic accountability, the institutionalization of political competition, and the quality of democracy itself.” Partisan politics and niche parties create an ecosystem in which extremism flourishes. As Harvard Law Professor Lawrence Lessig has noted “The power is in the extremes, not in the middle.”
Elections Canada lists false promises and dishonesty as causal factors in the declining participation of voters (79.4% in 1958 to 68.3% in 2015), particularly amongst young voters. A decline in confidence and disillusionment with traditional parties leads to the pursuit of alternate solutions. If the Liberal Party, for example, is going to renege on campaign promises and represent its own interests instead of voter interests, awash in ethics violations and questionable campaign contributions, why not risk your vote on a niche party candidate? The perception that traditional parties are not representing voter interests opens the door for alternative ideologies. Most Canadians would probably be surprised to learn that Elections Canada currently lists twenty registered Federal political parties (not including the recent application by western separatist hopefuls Wexit Alberta). The list includes non-parliamentary niche parties such as the Stop Climate Change Party, the lunatic Animal Protection Party of Canada, the Veterans Coalition Party of Canada, the Parti pour l'independence du Quebec, and the festive-sounding (but now redundant) Marijuana Party. It also includes however, more serious parliamentary niche parties including the Bloc Quebecoise (with 32 seats, now the third most powerful party in the House of Commons) whose raison d'être is the secession of Quebec, and the Quixotesque Green Party (with 3 seats).
In keeping with this global trend, the growth in niche party support has meant a decline in support for traditional mainstream parties in Canada. The NDP (the Official Opposition in 2011 with 103 seats) plummeted to fourth place in the October election with only 24 seats, in the wake of mass defections in the Maritimes and huge gains by the Bloc Quebecoise. The Conservative Party now looks almost like a regional niche party; the western provinces blanketed in blue, with small patches in Southern Ontario and Quebec. Comparing the 2019 election results map with that of 2011, only the geography is recognizable.
What is the impact of this new political landscape? According to the Wilson Centre “Declining political party influence risks broader economic costs by creating greater policy uncertainty and lowering countries' respect for democratic principles. Countries with less influential parties and greater party system volatility tend to have less policy continuity from election to election because of increased party turnover, and this policy uncertainty can discourage foreign investment. Economic costs can be higher in countries in which the decline in influence in traditional political parties leads to the rise of new parties with authoritarian tendencies. Foreign businesses often look at countries' respect for democratic principles, such as rule of law, as indicators for how safe their investments will be from government expropriation... The decline in party influence has continued and potentially accelerated. This decline is central to numerous contemporary issues of democratic governance worldwide, including reduced democratic accountability and greater unrest, and it risks economically costly subversions of the rule of law, ranging from grand corruption to reversion to autocracy.”
The 2019 Gallup Global Emotions Report highlights an angry world. Global levels of anger, stress and worry are at record high levels. Anger is often channeled into action. McMaster University professor Robert O'Brien comments that the world is at a high level of protest at the moment, attributing it to "a dissatisfaction of both political and economic arrangements governing people and in different parts of the world." Canadians are drawing lines, reflected clearly in the election results. This threatens democracy.
Hopefully, the bi-partisan spirit which fostered the birth of Bill C-13 will inspire future cooperative Government.