The Current - Can the Liberals and Conservatives find common ground?

Episode Date: April 30, 2025

In their election night speeches, Liberal Leader Mark Carney and Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre both pledged to find ways to work with other parties to protect Canadians against the threats of tariffs and annexation from U.S. President Donald Trump. Matt Galloway discusses what kind of common ground the parties can find, and whether they’ll differ on things like housing and the energy sector, with two newly re-elected MPs: Conservative Chris d'Entremont and Liberal Dominic LeBlanc.

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This is a CBC Podcast. Hello, I'm Matt Galloway and this is The Current Podcast. You know, humility underscores the importance of governing as a team in cabinet and in caucus and working constructively with all parties across parliament. Of working in partnership with the provinces and the territories and with indigenous peoples. The Liberals are in with a minority government in what was a tight race. Some mud was flung along the way. But Prime Minister Mark Carney says it's now time to build bridges.

Pierre Poliev echoed those thoughts in light of the existential threats coming from the United States. We will always put Canada first as we stare down tariffs and other irresponsible threats from President Trump. Conservatives will work with the Prime Minister and all parties with the common goal of defending Canada's interests and getting a new trade deal that puts these tariffs behind us while protecting our sovereignty and the Canadian people. Well, now that the campaign planes, trains and buses are parked, it's time to get governing.

This morning we'll hear from two returning members of parliament in a moment, a conversation with Dominic LeBlanc, Minister of International Trade and Intergovernmental Affairs with the newly re-elected Liberal government. He's also a newly returning Liberal MP in New Brunswick. But we're joined first by Chris Dantormand. He's the newly re-elected Conservative member for Acude Annapolis in Nova Scotia. Chris, good morning. Good morning to you. Congratulations.

Thank you so much. There were a lot of points of agreement between the Liberals and the Conservatives based on platforms. You might not have seen that during the campaign, but I think the platforms, there was a lot of shared territory in some ways, and you seem to have some common ground in the need to stand up to Donald Trump, build more housing, diversify trade, natural resources, et cetera. Do you think the conservatives, I mean, the role of an opposition party is to oppose, but do

you think the conservatives can actually find some ways to support liberal initiatives in this upcoming parliament? Well, I don't think we're going to have much of a choice. You know, Canadians have sent us back to the house of commons in a minority House of Commons in a minority situation, and to make a minority situation looking at the threats that we have coming towards us,

we're going to have to find some common ground on some things. I'm not going to say it's going to happen on everything, but I'm sure when it comes to Donald Trump and trade and trying to make Canada stronger, I think we'll all agree on those things. Where do you think that might be and what would show Canadians that there's, it's, I mean, the last parliament was so disruptive and divisive and dysfunctional, you could use that word as well.

What would show Canadians that that common ground can be found? Well, I mean, I think at some point the leaders have to get together and try to map a few things out. You know, and again, it takes both sides of this to work as well You know, I think in the past there wasn't much of an opening for Conservatives to work with liberals or liberals to work with conservatives, but I think in this particular case I think Prime Minister Carney Prime Minister like Carney will have to open his doors and and and see who comes through those doors and

I know from the speeches that we've heard from Pierre Poliev that, you know, I think he's willing to do those things. And I think speaking to my colleagues across the country at this point, you know, we need to, you know, reset a little bit and, you know, look at what went wrong in our election and what went right. So that's gonna take some time.

So we're gonna have to work together for a bit. The question will be whether Mr. Poliev that walks through that door, if it's opened up. He of course lost his seat, he lost the election as well. Do you think he'll be able to stay on as leader of the Conservative Party? I think he can. I think there's a path for that.

I think we really have to sit down again as caucus and as the newly elected members and find out exactly what the next plan is. I know they're probably already doing the work there this morning trying to figure things out, but they need to bring the rest of us in. If you look at what happened here in Eastern Canada, we gained a little bit in Newfoundland, we lost a little bit in Nova Scotia, we picked up a couple in Quebec and then there was some actual success in

the 905 and going west. So we need to figure out what's going on in the east so that we can better represent all of Canada. I'm going to be a little lonely in the next parliament where I don't have Rick Perkins or Stephen Ellis with me. You have said the caucus, as you said, needs to be brought in to discuss whether he stays on as leader. Just because he wants to stay doesn't mean that he will be able to stay.

I mean, Aaron O'Toole and Andrew Scheer might have a word to speak about that as well. The process is such that the expectation would be that an MP would step aside and give Pierre Pauli the opportunity to run, but you've said that's not fair. What did you mean by that? Well, ultimately, everybody just spent the last 36 days knocking on doors and getting

themselves out there to get elected. And ultimately, probably some of them have been at it for the last three, four years after they've lost. I mean, there's a number of MPs that lost their last elections and, you know, been working really hard to get reelected. So you know, that that person in that association You know has invested a fair amount of money a fair amount of time knocked on thousands and thousands of doors And to ask someone to step aside automatically is not I don't think fair to that person yet for the party

For the country. It's probably the right thing to do too your premier Tim Houston praised Mark Carney's handling of Donald Trump early in April. What does that tell you? Yeah, that one's always a challenge, you know, because we sort of run into this line of which party do you belong to? I mean, I was a longtime member of the Progressive Conservative Party of Nova Scotia, a longtime MLA in the legislature. I've worked with many of those those ministers that are in Tim Houston's government. I worked with Tim Houston directly and I got a nice congratulations from Tim after the the ballots were all counted. You know, but there's we're not necessarily the

same party and we need to figure out a way to respond to Nova Scotia issues. You know, the politics of Nova Scotia, I think, is far different than, you know, let's say Alberta. So we really need to have a better feeling and a better connection with our provincial cousins on many of the issues that are important to us. And, you know, knowing full well, there was a lot of our volunteers on our campaigns that I know are provincial members. We know there was a lot of people out of the Premier's office that were working for different campaigns across the province.

So there is a connection, it's just not quite as established as maybe in other provinces where the conservatives are conservatives. Here, progressive conservatives are not necessarily conservatives and we try to find common ground on many of where we're all the same same You know the same shade of blue as a as a progressive conservative. Do you feel comfortable in the current conservative party? It's not a it's not a progressive conservative party. I mean well it includes progress by name though. It's not sir Yeah, by name

It's not but it includes a lot of people that look like me, that have the same kind of progressive views on social programs. There's a lot of other views on different things, and I think that's the beauty of the Conservative Party is that we can actually all sit down, disagree on a certain number of things, but agree on a lot of things on how to move our country forward. So I see a lot of me in the Conservative Party of Canada. What do you think Canadians want coming out of this election? There were a number of different narratives. One was change.

One was, and we can talk about how that played out, but also in a moment of crisis, it seemed like that obviously changed the math, not just for the Conservatives, but changed more broadly. What do you think Canadians want coming into this election? Well, yeah. And I think the messaging that they got from the parties was so similar that people didn't know which change they were voting for. If I look at even my numbers in Acadianapolis, where I pulled off somewhere as like 22,000,

23,000 votes, which is the same number of votes that I had last time, but there was another 22,000 votes that went to my liberal opponent, Ronnie LeBlanc. So very much split on who can offer a better chance for our constituency. So people have asked us to go back and try to figure it out as politicians, as a house of commons. And I think it's, it's, it's equal on, on, on what they're pushing us forward to. That's the way minorities in the past should work, and I think we should be working closer together

to try to figure things out before pulling the plug once again in 18 or 24 months or whatever that might be. I'll let you go, but do you think that's possible to actually work together? You're optimistic about that. I'm a politician, and I've been aologist for quite a long time. So I am probably more optimist than most people. Chris, it's good to speak with you. Thank you very much for your time this morning.

Have a wonderful morning. Thank you. Chris Dantrimont is the newly reelected conservative member for Acateanapolis in Nova Scotia. A VP at HBO said no one would ever watch Yellowstone. Stephen King was rejected by 30 publishers. Charles Schultz was told he'd never make a living scribbling, and Missy Elliott was dropped by her label. The stories of famous names, their lesser-known rejections, and the insights those rejections

provide. We regret to inform you the rejection podcast. Listen to season six wherever you get your podcasts. Dominic LeBlanc is Minister of International Trade and Intergovernmental Affairs, newly re-elected Liberal MP in the New Brunswick riding of Beau Sojour. He is in our Moncton studio this morning. Dominic LeBlanc, good morning to you. Hi, good morning. Congratulations. Thank you good morning. Congratulations.

Thank you very much. You're kind. This was a very tight race. Eight million Canadians voted for conservative candidates, just half a million less or so that voted for the Liberals. You come in with a very strong minority government, but just a few seats shy of a majority government. We heard the prime minister on Monday night talk about humility.

What will show Canadians that humility, do you think? So, I was very pleased that the Prime Minister took that tone so deliberately and so clearly on Monday. I think humility starts by, exactly as your previous guest, my neighbour from Nova Scotia, Chris Dantremont, saying, starts by working with the Parliament that Canadians elected. In our system, there's somebody who's asked to form a government, in this case it'll be Prime Minister Carney, but that government has to work with the Parliament that Canadians elected. It starts by ensuring that we're working collaboratively with provinces and territories. The Prime Minister also talked about that on election night. I'm his intergovernmental affairs minister.

He talks to me often about how we work with provinces and territories, recognizing their jurisdiction. I think our government hasn't perhaps been as disciplined as we might have been in terms of those principles. I think Prime Minister Carney is very conscious that at a time when our federation will be under some pressure in the Canada-US challenge, we need to be collaborative, engaged, working with provinces. I was very encouraged by the text messages and calls I got from some conservative premiers on Monday night and yesterday. So I'm quite optimistic that that tone of humility, collaboration, Canadians would be, I think, understandably frustrated

if the government didn't work deliberately and meticulously with those that are elected to do what Canadians expect us to do. So where is the opportunity, do you think, for your government to work with your federal conservative colleagues? Again I was reassured by Mr. Poliev's comments on election night where he talked about ensuring that Canada works collaboratively. I forget the exact phrase you can imagine it was late and I perhaps wasn't as alert as I should have been at that hour.

But Mr. Poliev's message was that the Conservative Party will work to ensure that the Canadian economy and Canadian workers are protected from the threat of tariffs. That's exactly what Mr. Carney and our government has been saying. So if that's the basic principle, surely there's some common ground in Parliament. But the way our system works, and Mr. Carney, I was glad he spoke with President Trump yesterday, they've agreed to meet in person at some point in the near future, the way our system works is the elected government sits down, negotiates agreements with foreign governments with, and then ultimately, if there's legislation that has to follow to implement those agreements, that legislation

is put before parliament. That is the parliamentary process whereby which the House of Commons will be able to pronounce itself on what we hope is a security and economic agreement that Mr. Carney and our government can put put together with the United States. Let's talk about those relations here in this country. Daniel Smith, the premier of Alberta, said that many voters in her province were frustrated to see the Liberals back in government. She promised to protect her province against what she calls future hostile acts from Ottawa. Scott Moe, Premier of Saskatchewan, also called on your

government to heal divisions for, in his words, example, by getting rid of the oil and gas emissions gap, loosening restrictions on energy development, easing clean energy regulations. Outside of the specifics, how are you going to go about making sure that people, particularly in the West, feel that they are part of this larger conversation? So I think that's a very good question. It starts, I think, by understanding

that Prime Minister Carney was born in Canada's north and grew up in Edmonton. Went to high school in Edmonton. He lived in Edmonton. My conversations with him. Edmonton and Alberta is very much home for him. You're right, those two conservative premiers have been vocal around a number of specific policies with which they may have disagreed. That's fine, that's the way a federation works. Everybody doesn't agree on everything. The national government makes decisions that are in the national interest,

and the provincial government, surprise, surprise, don't always agree with all those decisions. That doesn't traumatize me. I think, however, if you look at Mr. Carney's campaign for the liberal leadership and the time he's been prime minister in the recent election campaign. Um, he talks about renewable energy resources and conventional energy resources. He talks about building, uh, energy infrastructure. Um, he has been very deliberate, um, in ensuring that natural resource sectors, and it's not just oil or oil and gas, for example, from some provinces, but it can be mineral development projects.

It can be clean electricity grids. Um, I'm, I'm very excited by the tone and the posture that Mr. Carney has set in terms of making Canada, um, very much an energy superpower. I just wonder, I just wonder. In the broadest sense of the term. So that should be reassuring to those two premiers.

I apologize for interrupting, but I just wonder whether that's felt by people there. When we were in central Alberta in Red Deer, for example, we heard from a lot of voters who, I mean, they don't know whether to believe Mark Carney or not, but they also just feel cut out. And that idea of Western alienation, and it's not politicians talking about it,

it's people on the ground who feel that they are cut out of Canada in some ways. How do you address that? Well, first of all, you have to acknowledge that some partisan politicians, and not from our party, have sought to exploit and fuel that division for their own benefit. So that is never constructive. Whether it was Mr. Manning, for example, who's been out of politics for decades, that he decides to give an interview and create a circumstance, in my view,

grossly exaggerated, that's not particularly constructive. But I'm not responsible for what some former Reform Party politician might say. I think what you say to those people is exactly what Mr. Carney said on election night, that once a government is elected, it governs for the whole country. We don't expect everybody in every constituency,

343 constituencies, to vote the same way. That would be a rather unusual election outcome that doesn't often happen in a robust democracy. So we shouldn't be traumatized by that, but we should govern, recognizing that the economic interest of Canada depends on the success of Alberta. I've said to Premier Smith, I have a very collaborative relationship with Premier Smith. Premier Mo and I chat on the phone, text back and forth often. These are people that I'm happy to work with, have been happy to work with.

But every time I get on a plane in Moncton, New Brunswick and go to Montreal or Toronto, there are dozens of people going to Western Canada to earn their living, often in the oil and gas industry. And they come back, I see them on the planes at Montreal Airport on Friday night coming home. So the economic interest of the whole country depends on the success of the economy in provinces

like Alberta and Saskatchewan. And I think that we should, I shouldn't, I cannot say that enough, that the whole country benefits when the economy of key, key provinces and sectors, like the oil and gas industry, are developed in a sustainable, enduring way. We're just about out of time. Let me just ask you very briefly about another province, and that's Quebec.

The leader of the Bloc yesterday said that he'd be willing to work with the Liberals, but one of those red lines is oil and gas. People are talking about a pipeline, national energy corridors, what have you. How big of an obstacle do you think the Bloc is going to be? So, again, these are the opening postures that people take. The election results are not even 48 hours old. The Bloc have been consistent with respect to that position. It's not necessarily expressed in the same way

by the Premier of Quebec, who frankly has a different mandate than the Bloc Québécois that lost a bunch of seats in Quebec. Premier Legault isn't as categorical when he talks about that sort of thing. So it's very early for people to put red lines and sort of no-go zones. Canadians elected a government, they want the government and parliament to work. But Mr. Carney's also been clear that there's no actual project that has been submitted to a regulator for approval. So the question is hypothetical almost in three different ways. Mr. Blanchet can write a hypothetical line in some hypothetical sand about a hypothetical project, that's

fine. He's doing that after he lost a bunch of seats in Quebec. Again, I'm not surprised by that. That may not be everybody's tone in six months or in three years. People have to get to work and focus on the jobs they have. And I think the melodrama from some of the opposition parties can be turned down because Canadians won't, I think, be forgiving if we're not making best efforts to find common ground. Well, and that's it. I have to let you go, but just in a word or two, you're confident that common ground can

be found? Canadians do want action. You're confident that that can be found? Totally. Canadians are concerned, they're worried, they expect all of us that we're lucky enough to be elected to work together, and I'm actually excited to. I've got friends in the Conservative Party, in the Bloc Québécois, in the NDP. I'm actually looking forward to seeing my colleagues and not just from my party,

but across the House of Commons who were elected. And maybe that'll happen in June. I'll look forward to it. It's been a long few days and nights for you. I appreciate you taking some time to talk to us. Thank you very much. I'm always happy to be on your program. Thank you for the invitation.

Dominic LeBlanc is the Federal Minister of International Trade and Intergovernmental Affairs, re-elected for a ninth term at New Brunswick in the writing of Beau Sojour.