How the filibuster that nobody cares about proves that it’s the right time to have an election

Open this photo in gallery:

The Liberal government’s decision to offer a targeted break to Canadians on the GST, starting in December, along with a lump-sum payment next spring, may or may not bring a pause to a two-month-long filibuster by the Conservatives in the House of Commons.

But the truly amazing thing about that filibuster is that nobody seems to care about it. You could not find a more compelling reason to call an election right now, today, this hour, than the fact that Parliament has been doing nothing for two months and most people haven’t even noticed.

The filibuster results from a green investment fund that the Liberal government established, then shut down, after evidence emerged of improper funding and conflicts of interest.

When the government refused a demand by the House to hand over all related documents, the Conservatives launched the filibuster. Two months later, it’s still going strong, with the support of the other opposition parties.

Speaker warns standoff over documents risks conflict with Parliament’s role to approve spending

NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh says his party will support the tax relief package announced Thursday by voting to temporarily pause the filibuster in order to get the tax break passed, then allow the filibuster to resume.

Maybe that will happen, maybe it won’t. We’ll see.

But what really matters is that this endless filibuster is garnering so little attention. Why is that?

One reason is that the government’s third term agenda is largely complete. Whatever you might think of that agenda – on dental care, pharmacare, childcare – it’s mostly done and dusted

There is a bill that seeks to regulate and punish harmful content online still waiting to be passed. And the increase to the capital gains tax hasn’t been approved by Parliament. Otherwise, MPs are pretty much twiddling their thumbs.

A second reason for the inattention: “It speaks to the cynicism about democracy these days,” says Kathy Brock, a professor at the School of Policy Studies at Queen’s University.

The Liberal government has learned that it can achieve most of its goals without having to seek the approval of the House. The template, Prof. Brock believes, was the COVID-19 pandemic “when we sidelined Parliament, and people saw that government could be done without it.”

Here’s how much things have changed over the years. Back in 1982, the nation was consumed when Progressive Conservative Leader Joe Clark kept the House tied up for 15 days in order to force Pierre Trudeau’s Liberal government to break up an omnibus energy bill. (It worked. The government caved.)

The difference between public fascination with the bell-ringing incident of 1982 and public indifference to the mega-filibuster of 2024 says everything about how our democracy has evolved – or devolved.

In any case, if Mr. Singh truly had the interests of Canadians at heart, he would join with the Conservatives and the Bloc Québécois to vote non-confidence in the government, triggering an election. Ideally, Justin Trudeau would call the election himself.

When Donald Trump becomes president on Jan. 20, he should face a Canadian prime minister and government with a new and clear mandate to negotiate on issues of tariffs, border security and defence. That prime minister might be Mr. Trudeau; it might be Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre.

The worst situation would be for Mr. Trump to face a lame-duck Liberal government. That would make Canada appear weak, and as Prof. Brock notes, there is nothing Mr. Trump likes better than to exploit the weakness of an opponent.

That is why John Manley, who served in senior roles in Jean Chrétien’s cabinet, is urging an early election.

“It would be in the country’s interest if we were to have our federal election and put a government in place, whether the current one or a different one, in time to deal with what’s coming out of Washington after Jan. 20,” he told Global News.

Agreed. If Mr. Trudeau believes he can defeat Mr. Poilievre, then now is the time to prove it. The Trump administration will present Canada’s federal government with enormous challenges. The prime minister must have a mandate to meet those challenges.

Nothing’s getting done anyway, as the filibuster proves.

Country over party, Mr. Trudeau. It’s time to visit the Governor-General.