However, as Cullen told the Straight, Trudeau could still find himself under pressure to join a coalition if it’s the only way to replace the Harper government without another election.
Advertisement
Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau says marijuana storefronts, like the one selling medical pot on Main Street in Winnipeg, should be allowed to operate.
The “coalition” issue jumped back into the summer campaign this week after a Vancouver weekly reported that NDP Deputy Leader Nathan Cullen was open to a coalition to topple a minority Conservative government.
He said there are big differences between NDP and Liberal policies on everything from child care to income-tax reform to the rules for possible Quebec separatism.
It comes as the NDP once again floats the idea ahead of the federal election in October. But that effort was thwarted when the Governor General, at the prime minister’s request, prorogued Parliament, effectively putting it on pause until the new year, by which time there had been a change in Liberal leadership.
This is a move to ensure that the Harper Conservatives are not in power.
“I think the Liberals lost their nerve last time and made a huge mistake”, said Cullen.
While rare in Canada, coalitions are common place in democracy’s in Europe. “They walked away from it. And, seven years later, we’ve still got Stephen Harper’s Conservatives”.
Advertisement
By By Steve Lambert and Geordon Omand, The Canadian Press on July 23, 2015.
