Guelph’s member of parliament says a book he picked up at the recent giant book sale may help him prepare for what’s to come when he heads back to Ottawa for Canada’s 43rd Parliament.
Lloyd Longfield picked up the memoir of former Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau at the recent Friends of the Guelph Public Library Giant Book Sale.
“I thought it would be interesting, because he had gone through a few minority governments himself, and he went from majority to minority,” said Longfield of the elder Trudeau’s memoir.
Longfield said he has finished the book and noticed a number of parallels to the minority government situation he and his fellow Liberals are returning to when they head back to Parliament Hill.
“Reading the pages from 1980 — it’s very similar to what we have now, where he had to get support form the NDP,” said Longfield.
In the upcoming 43rd Parliament, the Liberals will have to rely on the NDP to pass legislation, said Longfield.
“A minority government will put us and everybody else in a place where we have to attract support for each other — including our base and our voters,” said Longfield. “It’s good to see the NDP had maintained some seats in the house — enough to give us a majority when we need it.”
“The Conservatives — if they are going to need support, they are going to need to change the way they are doing business,” said Longfield. “I hope the divisive nature of politics is going to be a little less divisive in the upcoming parliament, because we all need each other’s support.”
Along with a return to Ottawa for another term as MP, Longfield is also moving to a new constituency office in Guelph, moving from the current Cork Street location to 111 Farquhar Street.
The 120-year-old building on Farquhar is also the home of the Guelph Chamber of Commerce and will now be completely accessible and will also have more space for meetings. The current Cork Street office has a single step at the front door that limits its accessibility, although a temporary ramp can be installed.
It will be a homecoming of sorts, as Longfield was once the president of the local chamber of commerce and had an office in that building from 2012 until he was first elected to parliament in 2015.
Longfield is currently in a sort of limbo as he waits to be sworn in for the next parliament and to be assigned new committee work.
“I am in a funny place right now. I don’t know when parliament is reconvening,” said Longfield.
He expects to be sworn in Thursday or Friday in Ottawa and on Thursday the Liberal caucus will meet in Ottawa. Then Longfield is back in Guelph Sunday, will participate in Remembrance Day ceremonies on Monday before opening his new constituency office on Tuesday.
“And then I don’t know when I am going back to Ottawa,” said Longfield. “That’s really up to the Prime Minister.”
Longfield said he will serve in a cabinet post if asked, but notes that he has enjoyed the committee work he has done so far in the previous parliament, including sitting on the Agriculture Industry and industry committees, among others.
“If you get called, you get called. You serve where you are asked to serve,” he said. “I watch the cabinet ministers fly all over the country and all over the world — I really want to do projects in Guelph. National projects, but really focused on Guelph.”
Longfield said one committee he will ask to remain on is the one that seeks to eliminate boil-water advisories on First Nations.
“I want to get up to more of the remote Indigenous communities — I have been to quite a few of the easier to get to communities,” said Longfield.
He hopes the 43rd Parliament will be around long enough to see the remaining advisories lifted, with a goal date of March 2021.
Longfield said he looks forward to continuing work on the Baker Street redevelopment and the proposed integrated youth mental health hub in Guelph and surrounding area. He expects most of his time will be spent working on climate change, mental health, as well as housing and infrastructure projects — a relocation of what he heard at the 40,000 doors he knocked on during the last election.
Longfield said some announcements are expected in the near future for joint federal-provincial projects that received a green light recently, but were not announced because of the federal election.
He hopes more will get done now that Premier Doug Ford has promised to work more closely with the federal government.
“The reality for him is that he has to get reelected, too. That’s going to be coming up soon,” said Longfield of Ford. “He only has a couple of years to show some results.”
Premiers Ford and Jason Kenny of Alberta have been working together to show unity against the federal Liberals — something Longfield said is similar to what he read in the Pierre Trudeau memoir.
“There are a lot of parallel situations,” said Longfield. “I know Pierre Trudeau dealt with the question of provincial powers versus federal powers. I think we are right back to that discussion again.”
