Canadians woke up Tuesday morning with the prospect of a Liberal minority government in front of them.
Now that the dust has settled and the votes are counted, many are asking what a minority government means or could mean for Canada and Saskatchewan.
Political Science Professor at the University of Saskatchewan Greg Poelzer said there is now the potential for more western separation talks, while the Liberals will need to rely on other parties to pass legislation and avoid a no confidence vote.
“What that’s going to mean for Canadians is there’s going to be some horse trading, looks most likely between the NDP and the Liberals, in order to keep the Liberals in power,” Poelzer said.
With the potential for western separation talks to heat up, Poelzer believes one way to tame that is by building the Trans-Mountain pipeline.
“Of course there’s been a couple of court actions and junctions and so on put in they’d have to deal with, but if Trudeau is able to move that project forward I think that’s going to help tamper down some of the alienation western voters are feeling, especially in Alberta and Saskatchewan,” said Poelzer.
Poelzer also called Ralph Goodale’s loss to Conservative Michael Kram in Regina-Wascana is a loss for everyone.
“He is a politician and statesman bigger than any party,” Poelzer said of Goodale. “So having somebody of his stature not coming out of Saskatchewan is certainly going to not help the province there’s no question about that,” Poelzer said.
Goodale was the M.P for Regina-Wascana for the past 26 years.
Poelzer also said in Saskatchewan the NDP are on life-support and very injured across Canada after a rather disappointing showing Monday night.
He said with the NDP a hard no on pipelines they are giving themselves virtually no chance in Saskatchewan, where 25 percent of Canada’s conventional oil is produced.
“They’re on life-support in Saskatchewan for sure, I actually think the future of the NDP is even questionable nationally, but it’s hard to imagine how the NDP are going to be successful in this province with a hard no on pipelines and Saskatchewan produces 25 percent of Canada’s conventional oil, that just isn’t going to work here,” Poelzer said.
More with Greg Poelzer can be heard below:
