(Canadian Press).
ARMCHAIR MAYOR

ROTHENBURGER: Liberal-NDP deal isn’t the scary socialist monster Tories say it is

Mar 23, 2022 | 4:27 AM

‘GOD HELP US ALL,’ tweeted interim Conservative leader Candice Bergen after yesterday’s news that the governing federal Liberals and the NDP have agreed to a “supply and confidence” arrangement.

The deal means the NDP will support the Liberals on all confidence votes in return for endorsing some key NDP objectives such as dental care and “continuing progress” on pharmacare.

According to the Tories, this amounts to “backdoor socialism,” “government by blackmail” and “vote buying.”

E-gads, that sounds scary. According to Bergen, the deal will even help Putin’s war against Ukraine because NDP leader Jagmeet Singh has been a strong opponent of the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion. That the NDP-Liberal agreement is “a way to prop up Putin” is as ridiculous as it sounds, but it does provide a perfect vehicle for Conservatives to spread fear of the radical left taking over Canada’s political agenda.

It’s tailor made for rhetoric such as “hoodwinked,” “deceived” and “power grab” — all of which Bergen employed yesterday — and claims that the NDP “are now in charge.”

This deal, of course, is nothing of the kind. It doesn’t really give the NDP much more power than they already had, because Justin Trudeau needed the New Democrats anyway. What it does do is create the potential for the Libs to survive for their entire term rather than facing the likelihood of another election by next year.

From that perspective, it accomplishes what Trudeau says it will — stable government in unstable times. There is, of course, no guarantee it will last. We all remember how a similar arrangement between the NDP and Greens in B.C. lasted exactly as long as it was convenient for John Horgan.

And, this “Liberal-NDP majority government,” as Bergen describes it, certainly isn’t going to cut spending and balance the books. But it’s hardly the disaster for the country that the Conservatives would have us believe.

I’m Mel Rothenburger, the Armchair Mayor.

Mel Rothenburger is a former mayor of Kamloops and a retired newspaper editor. He is a regular contributor to CFJC Today, publishes the ArmchairMayor.ca opinion website, and is a director on the Thompson-Nicola Regional District board. He can be reached at mrothenburger@armchairmayor.ca.

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Editor’s Note: This opinion piece reflects the views of its author and does not necessarily represent the views of CFJC Today or Pattison Media.

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