Carney says he’s ‘absolutely not’ considering proroguing Parliament – National

Prime Minister Mark Carney has said he is “absolutely not” considering proroguing Parliament if he were to secure a majority government.

“Absolutely not. It has never even entered my thinking, the possibility of that, so I couldn’t have been more surprised to see [the] suggestion that … was under consideration,” he said at an announcement in Wakefield, Que., surrounding the protection of land and waters on Tuesday.

“We are absolutely focused on working with Parliament, getting legislation through Parliament, adjusting legislation where it needs to be, where it’s better informed by discussions in Parliament, where we have to make compromise in order to do it. And we’ve shown that. We’ve shown that consistently.”

The Globe and Mail had reported earlier Tuesday morning, citing sources, that Carney was considering proroguing Parliament if the results of three byelections on April 13 push him into a sought-after majority government.

While a majority would give the Liberals enough votes to control the passing of legislation in the House of Commons, the membership of House of Commons committees doesn’t automatically reset and adjust to reflect a byelection.

That means even with a majority, the Liberals could still face challenges with being outvoted or stalled by opposition members on some committees that study proposed legislation.

Prorogation ends a session of Parliament, kills any legislation currently in progress, and would require a new speech from the throne to restart a parliamentary session, including the re-establishment and re-appointing of MPs to committees.

Last month, MP Matt Jeneroux crossed the floor to the Liberals from the Conservatives, which was followed by Lori Idlout leaving the NDP on March 10. Two other former Conservatives, Michael Me and Chris D’Entremont, crossed the floor late last year.

Carney currently needs three more seats to officially achieve a majority government.

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