The Liberals are moving to take control of House of Commons committees now that they’ve secured a majority government.
House leader Steven MacKinnon said in a social media post Tuesday that the Liberals will seek to change the standing orders, the rules that govern the Commons, to ensure they have the most votes on committees.
“Prime Minister Mark Carney and his government are determined to work constructively both in the House and in parliamentary committees,” he said.
Majority governments traditionally hold a majority of seats on House committees.
Because the Liberals won a minority in last April’s election, MPs agreed to form committees with four Liberals, four Conservatives and one member from the Bloc Québécois.
MacKinnon is proposing that most committees will now have seven Liberals, four Conservatives and one Bloc member.
The standing orders are typically agreed upon unanimously, but MacKinnon’s proposed change will require a vote in the House. He said he intends to give notice of a motion in the coming days.
Committees are a key step in examining legislation and holding the government to account through studies.
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Carney’s Liberal government was granted a majority earlier this month through a set of byelection wins.
The governing party swept three byelections in the Toronto area and the Montreal suburb Terrebonne, giving them 174 seats in the House of Commons. Carney’s federal government is the first in Canada’s history to switch from a minority to a majority between elections.
The byelection results, combined with five opposition MPs who crossed the floor to the Liberals in recent months, have pushed Carney’s party over a threshold it could not reach in last year’s election.
The Liberals won 169 seats last April, shy of the 172 needed for a bare-bones majority.
Conservatives sent supporters a fundraising email Tuesday evening arguing that Carney is “going to use his majority powers to make life easier for his government.”
The email asked for donations to help Conservatives “stop Carney from stacking the deck and continuing his cynical power grab.”
“He’s going to stack the deck on committees to shut down investigations into his scandals, conflicts, and waste, because he thinks no one can stop him,” said the email. “Since 1867, the founding of our country, committees have reflected the results of the ballot box, not a manufactured majority. But now, Carney is trying to reset the balance of power on committees to limit his opposition.”
“We will not stand by quietly while Liberals and their insiders rig the system.”
Canada hadn’t had a majority government since 2019, when former prime minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberals were reduced to a minority in an election.
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