Cabinet on Wednesday said it welcomed any opposition MP from any party who wants to vote with the Liberal minority government in the 45th parliament. NDP leader Don Davies earlier expressed outrage over floor crossing and sponsored a private bill to ban the practice, according to Blacklock’s Reporter.“Collaboration is possible. Collaboration is desired,” Government House Leader Steven MacKinnon told reporters. “I obviously extend an outstretched hand of course to all parties, to all parliamentarians.”Collaboration applied “with respect to working with Mr. Davies or any of his colleagues,” he said.“Have you tried to convince opposition representatives to cross the floor?” asked a reporter. “I’ve been in office for 24 hours,” replied MacKinnon..Liberals with election of a Speaker will be two votes short of a working majority in the Commons. New Democrats elected seven MPs and hold the balance of power.Prime Minister Mark Carney on Tuesday said he was “always interested” in working with New Democrats. He did not elaborate.“What efforts are you making to find those extra votes from other caucuses?” asked a reporter.“We have a strong mandate,” replied Carney.“Are you trying to poach New Democrat MPs to join the Liberals?” asked a reporter.“We’re always interested in working with any of the opposition parties,.”“Obviously those discussions will intensify as Parliament returns in the course of the next two weeks.”.Davies, a former lawyer from BC, launched his parliamentary career in 2008 in protest against floor-crossing after local MP David Emerson won election as a Liberal and then defected to the Conservatives in 2006 for appointment as international trade minister.“It was the straw that broke my electoral camel’s back,” Davies said in a 2008 interview with the Vancouver Sun.“I felt someone had to de-elect this guy and I decided I would give it a try.”Davies called floor crossing “a brazen and stunning betrayal of the voters.”.In 2022, he introduced Bill C-254 An Act To Amend The Parliament Of Canada Act that stated any floor-crosser “is deemed to have vacated the seat and ceases to be a member of the House.”“Elections are an essential opportunity for voters to express their democratic preferences but when parliamentarians cross the floor they unilaterally negate the will of their electors,” Davies told the Commons.“This is a betrayal of trust of the first order.”“The only people who have the right to determine which party represents them in the House of Commons are the voters themselves,” said Davies.It reflected “the fundamental democratic rights of Canadian voters to choose how they wish to be represented,” he said. Bill C-254 lapsed in the last Parliament.
