A former federal bureaucrat doesn’t think Canadians have an appetite for a federal election any time soon.
Michael Wernick spent 25 years working in various senior public service roles.
For three of those years, through 2016 to 2019, he served as Clerk of the Privy Council.
OMNI Italian reporter Giacomo Buratti, spoke with Wernick about the current political climate, including challenges that emerged from the Emergencies Act, the provincial and federal constitutional challenges, and Alberta’s introduction of the Sovereignty Act.
On the day the House of Commons adjourned for its winter break, NDP leader, Jagmeet Singh criticized Prime Minister Trudeau over health care funding to the province.
Singh suggested the confidence-and-supply agreement with the Liberals could be in jeopardy, should Trudeau fail to deliver. However, it was widely seen as an empty threat in political circles.
“These are uneasy relationships, there’s a sort of tension between them,” Wernick said.
“Each of the parties is worried whether it’s going to work out for them in the long run. So, we can’t know what bargaining is going on behind the scenes, behind closed doors. Some of it will be positional through the media.”
Wernick believes Canadians will determine just how serious the NDP is about the agreement when the federal budget is tabled in February or March.
The former Privy Council Clerk said one of the lessons he’s seen over the invocation of the Emergencies Act involves the flow of information that goes to decision makers.
Regarding the apparent turf war among law enforcement, Wernick maintains that this is not a new phenomenon. From a political viewpoint, he doesn’t believe the final report of the Public Order Commission will make for sharp political fodder in the near term regardless of the ruling.
On Alberta Premier Danielle Smith’s, “get tough on Ottawa” narrative, Wernick said the Sovereignty Act will be tested issue by issue, assuming the United Conservative Party (UCP) gets elected in the spring.
