Liberal and Conservative MPs have defeated an NDP attempt to change the rules that govern the House of Commons in a series of ways that sought to instill democratic controls on the prime minister's powers.
It's a move the motion's sponsor, NDP MP Daniel Blaikie, says will maintain the potential for future Canadian leaders to "abuse" their power and "put the House of Commons under their thumb."
On Wednesday afternoon, Blaikie's proposal to change the rules known as "Standing Orders" to clarify what can be declared a confidence vote, and empower MPs to have authority as to whether the government of the day has the confidence of the House,
While the Bloc Quebecois and Green caucuses sided with the New Democrats, both Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre and their caucuses
Had it passed, it would have made it harder for prime ministers to misuse prorogation and dissolution as political tools to reset or swerve accountability.
Prorogation is a procedural move prime ministers of different political stripes have used numerous times over the years, for a range of reasons.
The last instance happened in August 2020, when Trudeau prorogued Parliament amid heat over the WE Charity controversy. At the time, the prime minister attributed the decision to a desire for a COVID-19 pandemic reset of the Liberal agenda.
"The point of the motion was to say, you can't pull the cord on the House of Commons and then come back like nothing happened. You can either test confidence before you have a prorogation. Or you know that when you come back, that's the first item of business," Blaikie told reporters on Thursday morning.
The NDP MP said Poilievre standing with Trudeau in rejecting of his proposal to "maintain his gatekeeping power of Parliament" was particularly "odd and quite frustrating."
"I think that says a lot about who Pierre Poilievre is, and the sincerity with which he's talking about busting up gatekeeping powers鈥� he's interested in in becoming Canada's foremost gatekeeper," Blaikie said. "That's an important difference for Canadians to keep in mind."
With it appearing that minority governments are becoming more of a norm than majority governments鈥擟anada is on its fifth minority of the 21st Century鈥擝laikie said he thinks MPs should have taken the opportunity to clarify what the rules of engagement are.
Asked what indications he received from his Liberal and Conservative colleagues since his proposal was presented to the House in May around why they weren't going to be backing it, Blaikie said their desire for more study before making sweeping changes to the way the House works was a recurring theme.
"I think it's a bad message to send to future prime ministers that Liberals and Conservatives support the idea that prime ministers can continue to use this power with impunity to protect their political interests over the interests of the country," Blaikie said.
