Prime Minister Mark Carney said he intends to govern based on the “strong and clear mandate that came out of the election” when asked whether his newly appointed cabinet intended to operate as if the Liberals had secured a majority.
The Liberals won last month’s election but fell short of forming a majority government. Although several judicial recounts have narrowed the gap, they remain two seats shy of the 172 required for a majority.
Following the swearing-in ceremony of his new cabinet, Carney was pressed on whether he would govern as if he had a majority government, despite not earning one from Canadian voters.
“I’ll remind those watching that we received more votes than anyone else in any election,” said Carney. “We are in a position where we have cabinet members from all the provinces. I’m very proud of that, and a full cabinet member from the territories.”
“So we’re governing for all Canadians from all regions with a strong and clear mandate that came out of the election, and that is how we will govern.”
He otherwise remained relatively coy throughout the rest of the press conference, saying that his government’s priorities would be made clear during King Charles’ forthcoming Speech from the Throne, which will open the 45th Parliament.
Speculation has mounted over whether the Carney government will attempt to persuade MPs from other parties to cross the floor in order to secure a majority.
Asked whether he would seek help from any of the NDP Parliamentarians to form a majority, Carney responded by saying his government “was always interested in working with Parliamentarians from any of the opposition parties to support that mandate.”
“Obviously those discussions will intensify as Parliament returns,” said Carney. “So clear mandate, focus on those, speech from the throne will be quite clear in terms of our priorities.”
The NDP lost its official party status after failing to meet the requirement of getting 12 Members of Parliament.
Former party leader Jagmeet Singh also lost his seat and has since been replaced with NDP Interim Leader Don Davies, who has asked Carney to skirt Parliament rules and grant the NDP official party status.
A majority government requires a party to win 172 seats and the Liberals secured 170 while the Conservatives won 143 and the Bloc Quebecois won 22.
Both the NDP and the Green Party failed to retain party status by not meeting the 12 seat threshold at 7 and 1, respectively.