Is there a wrong way to gain a parliamentary majority?

A few days after Michael Ma decided to cross the floor to the Liberals, Pierre Poilievre was asked whether the loss of another MP was a problem for his leadership of the Conservative Party. 

On the contrary, Poilievre argued, it was a problem for the leadership of Mark Carney. The prime minister was, in Poilievre's words, "trying to manipulate his way through backroom deals" to get a majority in the House of Commons.

"My message to Mark Carney is that if you want a costly majority government … then you have to go to the Canadian people and have them vote for it, not do it by dirty backroom deals," Poilievre told the CBC's Rosemary Barton.

A few days later, Carney was asked whether he would be comfortable gaining a majority as a result of floor-crossing.

"I am comfortable commanding the confidence of the House of Commons," he told Barton.

In conclusion, Canadian parliamentary democracy is a land of contrasts.

These duelling interpretations might be influenced by partisan interests. But they also raise a useful question of civics: Is there a bad way to gain a parliamentary majority?

Poilievre's argument that Canadians did not vote for a Liberal majority might have a ring of truth, but it is also the case that not a single ballot cast this spring included the words "majority government" or "minority government." Voters might be motivated by their preferred party or leader, but they do not elect governments — they elect individual MPs. And it is those MPs who then decide who gets to govern.

The confidence of the House is ultimately what matters. Carney has so far been able to win it on every important vote, but that task will obviously get that much easier if the Liberal caucus — the MPs formally pledged to support the government — grows to 172 (or more) members.

It is also the case that no major party's history is free of "backroom deals."

Poilievre was, for instance, a member of the Conservative caucus when former Liberal MPs David Emerson (2006), Wajid Khan (2007), Joe Comuzzi (2007) and Leona Alleslev (2018) chose to become Conservative MPs, either directly or after parting company with the Liberal Party. Andrew Scheer, Poilievre's House leader, was the leader of the Conservative Party who happily welcomed Alleslev.

If Conservatives were so inclined, they could propose legislation to restrict or ban the practice of floor-crossing. But Poilievre was among those Conservative MPs who voted against an NDP MP's bill in 2012 that would have forced floor-crossers to run in a byelection before switching parties.

As the Liberals have recently pointed out, Stephen Harper defended the ability of MPs to switch parties after Emerson's move in 2006. 

"I believe members of Parliament should have that freedom and be accountable to their constituents for their decisions at the next election," he said.