On Dec. 11, Conservative member of parliament Michael Ma crossed the floor to join the Liberal government. This second floor crossing in just over a month brings the Liberals to 171 seats—just one short of a majority.
And, according to government House leader Steven MacKinnon, “You have seen two to date. There are others, for sure.”
Ruling class needs stability
Commenting on Michael Ma crossing the floor, Conservative-supporting managing editor for the National Post Carson Jerema writes that “there doesn’t appear to be any reason at all, least of all a defensible one, for why the rookie MP, having just been elected less than eight months ago, needed to change parties.”
But from the standpoint of the interests of the ruling class, this floor crossing makes perfect sense.
The bourgeoisie was jubilant when Mark Carney won the election in April. Faced with declining productivity and the trade war with America, Carney was a savior. A corporate banker with decorated credentials, Carney was truly one of theirs—someone they could trust to captain the ship through troubled waters.
But the result of the election was not ideal. With just 169 seats, Carney was three short of a majority. The result is that the parliament has been virtually paralyzed this fall. Carney even had to rely on a vote from Green MP Elizabeth May and two NDP abstentions in order to pass his first budget.
And because of this situation, the budget fell short of what corporate Canada wanted. The Business Council of Canada stated that it lacked “sufficient new measures to reduce taxes or increase incentives on private sector investment.” They also were not happy about the historically high deficit, claiming that the budget lacked “strong fiscal anchors.”
But more incentives and tax reductions means a larger deficit. And “strong fiscal anchors” could only mean massive cuts to social services such as healthcare and education. That would have created a situation in which NDP MPs would not have been able to justify abstaining and even Elizabeth May probably would have voted against.
This was a warning to the ruling class. Faced with the rupture in relations with America, the implications for Canadian capitalism are grave. The last thing they want is a situation like that in France, where one government after another has fallen, while trying and failing to pass the cuts to social services demanded by the capitalists.
Explaining the conundrum that the government finds itself in, former Liberal campaign co-chair David Herle explained that “a government that is trying to do the kind of ambitious things that this government is—many of them which, will not be popular at the time they are done—would be much better off with a majority than with a minority.” (Our emphasis)
So there you have it. Carney is asked to do the dirty work for the ruling class. They need to slash social services, attack unions, layoff public sector workers and thoroughly gut regulations and corporate taxes. But these things are unpopular. A poll done back in September showed that a majority (51 per cent) opposed the public sector layoffs then announced by Carney. And if the government were to cut funding for healthcare, over 80 per cent would be opposed.
This is a tenuous situation for the ruling class. They need to cut funding for things like healthcare and education, but cannot risk the government being brought down. Therefore, the ruling class in Canada now is exerting massive pressure to give Carney his majority so that he can do what needs to be done.
Pragmatic capitalists unite
While Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre claims that Ma “chose to endorse the very policies he was elected to oppose,” the fact is that Ma has not fundamentally betrayed anything.
As Poilievre has already noted, Carney has “stolen” his ideas. Most notably, Carney has cut the carbon tax, cut the capital gains tax, increased military spending, laid off public sector workers, and now he is pledging to build a pipeline. He has also cut immigration levels, increased funding to the RCMP, and passed a reactionary border bill. He has even proposed a conservative tough-on-crime bill.
Minister for Energy and Natural Resources Tim Hodgeson, who is credited with flipping Ma to the Liberals, explained the rationale this way: “Our Prime Minister is a former businessman and a pragmatist. I’m a former businessman and a pragmatist. Michael Ma is a former businessman and a pragmatist. We all share a view that it is time to unite, not to divide.”
MacKinnon explained that “There are many, many Conservatives in that caucus who have to go home and talk to their chambers of commerce and talk to some of their supporters and talk to people who like what this government is doing, who like our focus on the economy, who like our ability and our desire to get big things done.” (Our emphasis)
This sums up what is happening. The capitalist class is exerting immense pressure on Conservative MPs to jump ship and help Carney get a majority without going through another election—the result of which would be unpredictable—so that they can reliably carry out their agenda. While they definitely agree with Poilievre’s political program, there are likely other Michael Mas who know their loyalty goes to the ruling class first. Plus, the Liberals are implementing Poilievre’s program anyway!
Therefore, in all likelihood there will be more Conservative MPs crossing the floor to join the Liberals to give Carney a majority.
This shows how cynical bourgeois politics is. Under capitalism, it doesn’t matter who or what you voted for, the ruling class always gets its way.
Left failure
With Carney implementing the most pro-corporate, pro-war and pro-austerity budget in generations, you would think that this would be a golden opportunity for the left to go on the attack.
Unfortunately, interim leader of the New Democratic Party, Don Davies, has been more concerned with helping Carney than opposing him. First they made sure that just enough of their MPs abstained from the budget vote to allow it to pass. And now, in the midst of this latest floor crossing, Davies has come out suggesting that the NDP would be open to taking over the role of house speaker.
By relieving Francis Scarpaleggia of his duties as speaker, allowing him to vote freely on all legislation instead of only voting in the case of a tie, the NDP would thereby give the Liberals a majority. Justifying the proposal, Davies quoted Jack Layton, saying that it is their job to “make parliament work.”
But it is precisely this parliamentary cretinist approach that has made the NDP so irrelevant. It is propping up the Liberals that led to them being nearly wiped out in the last election. It is this mentality that is a complete dead end for the left.
We need a real socialist party that fights the capitalists. That opposes their militarism and austerity. That doesn’t horse trade with the capitalists for a few crumbs, but mobilizes the working class to fight for a new society. A society not controlled by “pragmatic businessmen”—but by regular working class people. Only then will we truly be able to tackle the immense problems we face.
