100 Years Ago
On January 26 1920, Parliament sat for the first time in the rebuilt Centre Block which was destroyed by the great fire of 1916. The Speech from the throne also took place in the House of Commons rather than the Senate, because the Senate chambers were not yet built. The Peace Tower was only dedicated on Dominion Day of 1927 on the 50th Anniversary of the birth of Canada.
What is interesting to note is that since 1921 (not including Justin Trudeau’s 2 minority governments), Canada has had 13 minority governments (15 if Justin Trudeau’s 2 are included).
For over 100 years Canadian citizens seem to have demonstrated a lack of confidence in political leaders so that leaders are elected to office with less than ideal support.
The breakdown of minority governments are:
• 6 Conservatives
• 6 Liberals (Plus JT’s 2)
• 1 left office after the GG refused to call an election
National Politics – A History of Wheeling and Dealing
In 2019 when Justin Trudeau was elected to a minority government, he ruled out a coalition government.
Read the story here: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-50157893:
Traditionally, coalition governments do not work. If you want to know what a coalition government is, read it here:
https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/coalition-government
In a nutshell, different political parties cooperate by forming a temporary alliance large enough to enjoy the confidence of Parliament allowing them to form a government. Members of all parties in the coalition are appointed to Cabinet.
Politicians have become wary of the long-term results of coalitions and are reluctant to introduce them.
https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/minority-government
Historically, the NDP has been the ‘prop-up’ party for most of the minority governments wresting promises from them for issues they wanted to promote. Some of those promises included: anti-tariff policy, social programs, elections expenses, state-ownership of Petro Canada, instituting the Foreign Investment Review Agency, budgetary spending and taxes.
This time around, Justin Trudeau has brokered a deal with the NDP again, to keep him in power until 2025, when the next election is due.
According to the National Observer, this arrangement is dubbed, ‘the confidence and supply agreement’, which will see the NDP support the Liberal government on key votes until 2025.
The Liberals currently hold 159 of the 338 seats in the House of Commons, while the NDP has 25 seats. If most or all NDP MPs support key legislation, then Trudeau will probably be guaranteed 184 votes in the House.
The Conservatives, who are in the midst of a leadership race, hold 119 seats, while the Bloc Québécois have 32 seats. Together, that will only be 151 votes IF they choose to work together.
Unless citizens become more active with letter writing campaigns, I fully expect to see more attacks on Christianity coming from both the Federal and the Provincial governments until 2025.
When you look at history from the perspective of God’s sovereignty, a few questions come to mind…
What spiritual effect did World War 1 have on the nation?
WHY is the system of government not working as well?
Those will be questions ChristianRoots Canada will strive to uncover as we dig deep into our country’s history. We hope to answer some other questions too, such as:
• WHO were the people God used at that time / has been using today to tell HIS – Story, and HOW has He used them to accomplish His purposes?
• WHAT were / are the national / world events affecting the ethos of the country?
• What did /does the spiritual life of the church look like from 1921 to 2021?