麻豆传媒AV

YORKTON-MELVILLE— When Cathay Wagantall was asked about her reaction to the news of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau stepping down as leader, the Yorkton-Melville MP pointed out the tight timeline the outgoing leader has created for a leadership race. 

“The prorogation, I think, is to give them time to set up a leadership race, get it all in place because as much as they may want to do it quickly, that’s not easy to do,” she said. “Can they get a leader in place, ready to run in a campaign by March 24, because that’s when we will be voting? We’ll be back in the House and voting on the funding that’s needed to keep the government running.

Wagantall says she has had constituents asking her about what happens next on the day of the announcement.

“I am glad to see he’s made the decision,” she said. “I have people contacting me that say, ‘what does he mean when he says what his intention is?’ They just still question what’s behind the scenes, I guess, to some degree with the planning, but at this point in time, we know we’re prorogued, and they need a leadership race of some kind. The Constitution says it’s supposed to be a 90-day campaign for a leadership race. By the time they get the fundraising chair and campaign leadership team in place—because they have to come up with all the rules and all that kind of thing, too—it’s a very tight timeline to have that done.”

As for the NDP, Wagantall assumes they will take the same approach as the Conservatives once MPs return to the House.

“He’s made that clear that the first opportunity he will vote non-confidence,” she said of NDP leader Jagmeet Singh. “Well, the first opportunity would be when they bring that funding to guarantee the government can still run—that will be a confidence vote.”

Members of Parliament aren’t the only ones ready for a vote, as Wagantall pointed to a looming federal election.

“Canadians have been devastated for a long time,” she said. “They’ve been really looking forward to the opportunity to vote and now that he is finally leaving, I can understand a sense of relief, but again, the questions come to me, ‘okay, well, what does this really mean’?”

One concern is the continuation of capital gains tax changes with the Canada Revenue Agency without proper debate in Parliament. Despite prorogation that sees proceedings grind to a halt, this item will go ahead untouched.

“That is a nightmare that people are also contacting me about because they’re concerned about decisions that get made and get announced and implemented before we even have proper debate in the House,” Wagantall said. “But we’re prepared, we’re ready to run an election as soon as possible. Canadians want a carbon tax election and they want it now.”