OTTAWA -- With the 2019 political year now in the rearview mirror, CTV鈥檚 Question Period convened a series of guests to dive into the year ahead and offer their political forecasts for 2020.
From high-profile partisans to former leaders and those with their finger on the pulse of Canadian public opinion, here鈥檚 CTV Question Period鈥檚 panelists鈥� predictions and advice to the parties and their leaders for the year ahead.
The Liberals
鈥淢r. Trudeau and the government need to stay focused on the agenda that they鈥檝e laid out. Obviously it鈥檚 a minority government鈥� So it鈥檚 going to require I think a lot of listening, a lot of collaboration, building strong relationships, or at least some relationships across the aisle,鈥� said former Liberal deputy prime minister Anne McLellan.
The Conservatives
鈥淐onservatives are going to come together, they鈥檙e going to have a robust leadership race, there鈥檚 going to be a great debate on ideas and then we鈥檙e all going to bind together to defeat the Liberal government,鈥� said Jenni Byrne, former Conservative campaign manager and adviser to Stephen Harper.
The New Democrats
鈥淚 think that Mr. Singh鈥檚 biggest challenge is to make sure that Mr. Trudeau needs him because right now we have three strong opposition parties, any one of which can always give enough support to the government on any motion鈥� So the NDP if it wants to be relevant on key issues like pharmacare, which Mr. Trudeau has said he is going to follow through on, well then the NDP has to get in lockstep with them and show that they can take some credit when that does come through,鈥� said CTV political analyst and former NDP leader Tom Mulcair.
The Green Party
鈥淲atch how powerful three MPs can be because I think the public is, and voters are saying 鈥榦h we should have more of that鈥� and we just have to keep reminding them that between elections that they want more of that. Elizabeth May, obviously when she was there alone punched way above her weight鈥� The other parties know we鈥檙e growing and we鈥檙e taking a bigger attack,鈥� said interim Green Party Leader Jo-Ann Roberts.
What do Canadians want to see?
鈥淔our words: Don鈥檛 mess things up, especially when it comes to the federation. We've got Jason Kenney and alienation in the west, we have the separatists in Quebec, we have Ford in Ontario. Canadians are going to want to make sure that we don't do bickering and that we actually get things done鈥� Canadians want to see action on the economy and jobs, want to make sure that we can kind of get through this next period. We don't know what's going to happen in terms of recession we need USMCA in the bag, and we need some certainty,鈥� said pollster Nik Nanos.
