PM Touts ‘Common Ground’ As Report Warns Partisanship At ‘Unhealthy’ Levels
OTTAWA — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says a sense of camaraderie will guide his government forward when MPs head back to the House of Commons next week.
Trudeau made the comment in Winnipeg where he and his cabinet ministers wrapped a three-day retreat Tuesday. A reporter asked if the deaths of 57 Canadians and 29 permanent residents on Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752 in Tehran or if the aftermath of Newfoundland’s historic blizzard have brought new perspective to the government’s work.
“Canadians at our best, in difficult times, are there for each other. We lean on each other, we support on each other through challenges and that’s very much the approach that Canadians have shown us all over these past weeks,” he said.
“And it is certainly the approach with which we will engage in the House of Commons, looking to find common ground with our colleagues in the House, looking to work together on bringing forward real measures to help Canadians.”
His comments repeat similar remarks made by Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland on Monday, emphasizing Ottawa is dedicated to finding common ground across Canada.
Watch: Freeland talks about finding common ground. Story continues below video.
Trudeau’s response comes on the same day the Samara Centre for Democracy published its latest report reviewing the efficacy and decorum of the last session of Parliament.
Among its key findings, the Toronto-based non-partisan charity found that partisanship has risen to “unhealthy” levels. The problem is fuelled by a “combination of polarization and hostility toward members of other parties, and protective and uncritical uniformity among members of the same party,” the report reads.
In its analysis of voting records in the last session of Parliament, Samara found the average MP voted with their party 99.6 per cent of the time. There were nearly 1,000 votes that took place during the last sitting of Parliament.
It also points to the doctrine of party...
