OTTAWA — The Liberals are shifting to take management of Home of Commons committees now that they’ve secured a majority authorities.
Home chief Steven MacKinnon mentioned in a social media submit Tuesday that the Liberals will search to alter the standing orders, the principles that govern the Commons, to make sure they’ve probably the most votes on committees.
“Prime Minister Mark Carney and his authorities are decided to work constructively each within the Home and in parliamentary committees,” he mentioned.
Majority governments historically maintain a majority of seats on Home committees.
As a result of the Liberals received a minority in final April’s election, MPs agreed to kind committees with 4 Liberals, 4 Conservatives and one member from the Bloc Québécois.
MacKinnon is proposing that the majority committees will now have seven Liberals, 4 Conservatives and one Bloc member.
The standing orders are usually agreed upon unanimously, however MacKinnon’s proposed change would require a vote within the Home. He mentioned he intends to provide discover of a movement within the coming days.
Committees are a key step in analyzing laws and holding the federal government to account via research.
Carney’s Liberal authorities was granted a majority earlier this month via a set of byelection wins.
The governing social gathering swept three byelections within the Toronto space and the Montreal suburb Terrebonne, giving them 174 seats within the Home of Commons. Carney’s federal authorities is the primary in Canada’s historical past to change from a minority to a majority between elections.
The byelection outcomes, mixed with 5 opposition MPs who crossed the ground to the Liberals in current months, have pushed Carney’s social gathering over a threshold it couldn’t attain in final 12 months’s election.
The Liberals received 169 seats final April, shy of the 172 wanted for a bare-bones majority.
Conservatives despatched supporters a fundraising electronic mail Tuesday night arguing that Carney is “going to make use of his majority powers to make life simpler for his authorities.”
The e-mail requested for donations to assist Conservatives “cease Carney from stacking the deck and persevering with his cynical energy seize.”
“He’s going to stack the deck on committees to close down investigations into his scandals, conflicts, and waste, as a result of he thinks nobody can cease him,” mentioned the e-mail. “Since 1867, the founding of our nation, committees have mirrored the outcomes of the poll field, not a manufactured majority. However now, Carney is attempting to reset the steadiness of energy on committees to restrict his opposition.”
“We is not going to stand by quietly whereas Liberals and their insiders rig the system.”
Canada hadn’t had a majority authorities since 2019, when former prime minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberals have been decreased to a minority in an election.
This report by The Canadian Press was first printed April 21, 2026.
Sarah Ritchie and Catherine Morrison, The Canadian Press