By Hayley Ferguson

Reason for optimism?

Political scientist weighs in on what minority government means for Alberta

Oct 22, 2019 | 5:20 PM

Medicine Hat, AB – Medicine Hat College political science instructor Jim Groom is hopeful that the Liberal minority government won’t be as bad as many Albertans believe it will be.

“I think it’s going to work out fine to tell you the truth because the Liberals really have a number of people they can co-operate with,” he explained. “Including, if push comes to shove, maybe even the Conservatives when we talk pipelines. They may actually say ‘well that’s in our interest as well so we’ll go with it.’”

Groom admitted though that the NDP could have more power than a party with 25 seats would usually have.

He says that because the NDP and Liberals are more aligned, the Liberals may choose to listen to them on certain issues to get other things done.

Especially with the pipeline, which leader Jagmeet Singh has made clear, he doesn’t believe it should be built.

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“The trouble, of course, is that if the NDP digs their heels in and says ‘we’re not going to accept that but we’ll accept other things in exchange’ then it becomes a problem of ‘ok what quid pro quo is out there that’s going to be exchanged for what?’ And everybody takes a little bit on the chin if that happens.”

When asked about Conservatives leader Andrew Scheer, Groom doesn’t believe he is going anywhere any time soon.

“He’ll be the caretaker leader for at least a couple of years,” Groom said. “Because he only won by one per cent in the Conservative leadership race. And I think he was a bit of a compromise candidate. So I think they’re looking for somebody more that everybody is galvanized by.”

The next Conservative convention happens in 2020 where delegates can vote for a new leadership race.

(CHAT News Today)