The Liberals and NDP still have reasons to work together — are they good enough?

The chance to make history isn't the best reason the Liberals and NDP have to reach an agreement on pharmacare, but there's something to be said — maybe even a lot — for stability. The agreement between the two parties is hung up on the issue of pharmacare. If the 44th Parliament can hold it together until April 28, it will become the longest-lasting minority Parliament in modern Canadian history.

The confidence-and-supply agreement between the Liberals and New Democrats — the deal that has helped keep this Parliament on track — is unprecedented at the federal level. It can still feel like a live experiment meant to answer the question of whether two Canadian political parties are capable of sustaining at least some level of cooperation for a meaningful period of time.

Whatever happens, what comes of these negotiations will not be a full national program covering all pharmaceuticals. The Liberals do not appear to have the fiscal room to cover that and the NDP has not demanded it. TheBut if the parties do come to an agreement, the NDP would be able to claim with a straight face that it probably wouldn't have happened if New Democrats hadn't been in a position to exploit some leverage.

But the Liberals also would be free to work with the Bloc Quebecois . And while the demise of the Liberal-NDP deal wouldn't immediately precipitate an election, it would significantly increase the odds of an election happening sooner rather than later.As things stand, it's not obvious why either the Liberals or New Democrats should be eager for an election to happen in the near future.

And for the sake of getting things done, the government might be better off maintaining the confidence-and-supply agreement. Obstruction, delay and procedural wrangling are so commonplace in Parliament that having enough support to periodically push things along, or step around roadblocks, is a valuable asset.

Any number of factors can cause a deal between two political parties to fall apart, such as real differences over policy, political calculation or. But even if this agreement collapses at the end of this month, it's still fair to wonder whether the future of Parliament will look more like this kind of cooperation than not.

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