Nearly three weeks after being swept into power by a Canadian electorate hungry for change, the Liberal party is still basking in the glow of its victory.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was greeted with cheers and requests for pictures when he showed up to greet public servants late last week, and so far, the news surrounding the new government has been overwhelmingly positive.
“It was remarkable being at Rideau Hall on the day of the swearing in, seeing thousands of people lining up, wanting to touch the new prime minister, wanting to have photographs taken with him, wanting to have him sign their books,” the Ottawa Citizen‘s Mark Kennedy told Tom Clark on this week’s edition of The West Block.
“We can’t minimize the importance of this. There is something happening here. There is an undercurrent of good faith in this country towards that man.”
The question is, how long can it last?
When the honeymoon does end, said the Toronto Star‘s Susan Delacourt, it probably won’t be as a result of something the opposition parties say or do.
“Well, it’s an old saying in politics, as we all know, that you’re really not done in by your enemies, you’re done in by your friends,” Delacourt said.
“Usually political parties run into trouble because of their own people. So it will be interesting to see how they react when one of their new ministers stumbles, or Justin himself, as he’s been known to do, says something that he shouldn’t say. I’m really encouraged at the moment by the fact that they’re letting people speak.”
The Liberals did run into a spot of trouble on Thursday when it was revealed that five of the female cabinet members they had styled “ministers” were technically ministers of state. The party has since clarified that the five are full members of cabinet and will be afforded the same pay as their colleagues.
READ MORE: Liberals say they’ll retroactively fix gendered pay inequity in cabinet
As for the other two main parties in the House of Commons, the panel agreed that new Conservative interim leader Rona Ambrose may bring a more conciliatory tone to the proceedings than her predecessor, Stephen Harper. As for Tom Mulcair and the NDP, Kennedy said they will need to mourn their loss on Oct. 19, but then quickly get back in the saddle.
“Tom Mulcair, I still think, is probably scratching his head. He’s probably wounded. He’s probably angry at himself. He’s probably angry at the party. He’s angry at the world. He just has to walk into the House of Commons on December 4 and do his job.”
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