Trudeau, Mulcair reject any suggestion of backing a Harper minority government
It looks more and more like Harper’s only hope of forming next government is to win a majority, which latest polls suggest is unlikely.

thestar.com
Oct. 12, 2015
By Ben Spurr

Stephen Harper’s only hope of forming a government after next Monday’s election is if his Conservative party wins enough votes to form a majority.

That was the message his opponents tried to send loud and clear on Sunday, when Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau and NDP Leader Thomas Mulcair both declared they wouldn’t prop up a minority government with Harper at the helm.

Both Trudeau and Mulcair had said earlier they wouldn’t back a Conservative minority. But with the election exactly one week away and opinion polls suggesting it could be difficult for any party to secure a majority of seats in the House of Commons, it appears likely that whoever comes first in the Oct. 19 vote will need the support of a rival to govern.

In an interview on CTV’s Question Period, Trudeau said one of the reasons he entered politics was because his concern over the direction in which Harper was taking the country.

“Over the past years we’ve seen that Mr. Harper has consistently put politics ahead of people, put division ahead of bringing people together, played the politics of fear when a prime minister should be reassuring Canadians,” he said.

“No, I will not be supporting Mr. Harper as prime minister.”

Mulcair was even harsher during his own interview on Question Period, accusing Harper of playing “very dangerous race politics” by attempting to ban Muslim women from wearing a face veil at citizenship ceremonies and musing about banning it from the federal public service. Mulcair said Harper’s position on the niqab was “beneath contempt from a sitting prime minister.”

“I would never have been able to support Mr. Harper on issues like the environment, on social issues, even the economy. But frankly, after seeing what I’ve seen here, I want nothing to do with that Stephen Harper...I don’t think he deserves to be Canadian prime minister.”

A Conservative spokesman did not respond directly to the Star’s questions about possible minority government scenarios but issued a statement warning of the consequences should the Liberals win the election.

“A Liberal government will have lasting consequences for our economy - resulting in job losses, tax hikes on families and permanent deficits,” Stephen Lecce wrote in an email. “In an era of economic uncertainty, only a vote for the Conservative party can protect your wallet and your job.”

A Forum poll released this weekend had the Liberals with 37 per cent support, compared to the Conservatives’ 31 and the NDP’s 23. Forum predicted that if support remains unchanged the Liberals would win a minority.

If so, the NDP and Liberals could co-operate to sideline the Conservatives, but what form that collaboration could take is unclear. In the first month of the campaign, Trudeau ruled out entering a formal coalition with the New Democrats, but Mulcair said Sunday he considered the door to that option still open.

If they did work together, the two parties would have to bury the hatchet after an election campaign that has seen both at pains to paint the other as the most Harper-esque.

The NDP has run attack ads accusing Trudeau of failing to “stand up” to Harper by supporting Conservative positions on surveillance legislation and the proposed Keystone pipeline. The Liberals, meanwhile, have charged that Mulcair has adopted Harper’s fiscal policies by promising not to run deficits if elected, a pledge that the Conservatives have also made.

A Liberal spokesman didn’t answer the question when asked by the Star if the two parties have had discussions about post-election co-operation. The NDP declined to comment.

But in a statement, Liberal spokesman Jean-Luc Ferland said some form of co-operation was possible.

“Though we are not entering into any formal agreements, Liberals have always said we would work with other parties to pass legislation that’s in the best interest of Canadians.”