While the NDP is down 15 seats in last night’s federal election from 2015, Cariboo-Prince George candidate Heather Sapergia is optimistic about how the Liberal minority government will work.
“I wasn’t surprised as far as coming in third, which is how it mapped out the last time. I was a little disappointed that my percentage of total votes wasn’t higher, but I was reflecting on that this morning and I think that it might have to do with the Conservative wave that has gone across Western Canada.”
She believes a couple of factors were at play last night, including the Bloc Québécois party’s stronghold in Quebec.
“It was predicted, the Bloc was not a factor in the last election but it certainly was a strong factor in this election and that’s part of what took out the NDP vote. We’ve got a new leader too, people are still feeling their way with him,” said Sapergia.
“I’m a fan of minority governments, they take longer to get business done but it means way more cooperation between all parties. In Canada, we got some of our very best legislation for ordinary people in minority governments.”
As for how the Conservatives and Liberals will behave in Parliament…
“I think it’s going to depend on how badly the parties want to get something done, if they’ve got some key pieces of work they want to get done, they’re going to have to swallow it and cooperate.”
She said, for example, if Conservative leader Andrew Scheer wants to get a pipeline built he’s going to have to collaborate with the Liberals, NDP and Bloc Québécois.
“I don’t know off the top of my head how the Bloc feels about pipelines. I think if there is some important legislation that people are going to have to get together. Jagmeet Singh said this morning that he wants Universal Pharmacare, so in order to get that piece in place, everybody is going to have to talk to each other,” she said.
“I think minorities can work really well, I’m optimistic that we are going to get some really good legislation in that’s going to benefit everybody.”
She said for the NDP, the key platform is Universal Pharmacare, but they are going to be working on “head to toe healthcare” as well, which includes things like vision, dental care, and hearing.
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