Tasha Kheiriddin: Get ready for Mark Carney unencumbered

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Prime Minister Mark Carney has secured the first Liberal government since 2019. That's right — in case you hadn't noticed, Canada has been operating under minority governments for seven years. Two were won by Justin Trudeau in 2019 and 2021, one by Carney in 2025. Trudeau's minorities necessitated significant compromise with the NDP; from 2021 until the fall of 2024, he was bound by a supply and confidence agreement with then NDP leader Jagmeet Singh, who extracted a series of concessions on childcare, dental care, and pharmacare.

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Under Carney's minority, that kind of horse trading didn't happen. From the start, Carney governed as though he had a majority, helped in part by the fact that no one on the Opposition benches wanted a snap election. But he also helped himself by coopting opposition policy, specifically Conservative policy. He suspended the increase of the consumer carbon tax, reversed planned increases to the capital gains tax and axed the Digital Services Tax. Carney did make some compromises, such as to Bill C-9, the Combatting Hate Bill, where he agreed to the Bloc Québécois' demand to remove the exception for religious speech. But overall, his tone was that of a majority, even though he was several seats shy of the mark.

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Now, he has the real thing. Thanks to a combination of floor-crossers from both the Conservatives and the NDP, and victory in the byelections in University—Rosedale and Scarborough Southwest, Carney has 173 seats. This ensures that he doesn't have to make deals at budget time, when the government faces a mandatory confidence vote. Carney doesn't have to worry about surviving; he can focus on governing, the renegotiation of CUSMA this summer, a possible Alberta separatism referendum this fall, and any other assorted land mines that crop up.

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It also could mean other changes. A majority will enable Carney to amend Standing Order 104, which currently gives the Opposition parties a majority on House committees. While Opposition parties may filibuster the vote, it won't deter the government from seeing it through. The prize is too great: the ability to speed up legislation and limit the Opposition's ability to use committees as a platform to challenge or embarrass the government (case in point: Conservative immigration critic Michelle Rempel Garner's skewering of hapless minister Lena Diab at immigration committee hearings last December).

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Second, the government will continue governing as Conservative lite. Carney has committed to spending two per cent of GDP on defence, signed an MOU with Alberta on a second bitumen pipeline to the B.C. coast, and pledged to eliminate Ottawa's operating deficit by downsizing government. There is no reason to suspect that he will change his stripes and veer into leftist Trudeau territory. He has three years to achieve his goals before he faces the voters again, and his current coalition of support lies closer to the centre.