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

If the 44th Parliament can hold it togetheruntil April 28, itwill become the longest-lasting minority Parliament in modern Canadian history.

This Parliament's longevityis already well above average 823 days as of Thursday. The10 minority Parliaments that existed between 1957 and 2021 lasted an average of 526 days.

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 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 experimentmeant 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.

In some countries, that sort of thing is more or less expected. In Ottawa, the end of the Liberal-NDP deal has been anticipated almost fromthe moment it was signed, and a fresh round of questions about its possible demise has popped up every month or so.

The issue of pharmacarehas produced the most speculationto date. And though it's hard to tell exactly how great the differences between the government and the NDP are, or have been, it'sprobablya mistake todismiss the possibility that this could be the end of the Liberal-NDP deal.

"We're working with the NDP and I'm confident we're going to get it," Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told CBC Radio's Mainstreet Cape Breton on Thursday.

What pharmacare is about and what it would mean

There seem to be two broad issues: the wording of legislation that would set out the broad parameters of a national pharmacare program and immediate federal funding for specific classes of treatment. Whileit's not clear how many areas are up for negotiation, the NDP says it's focused on making sure contraception and drugs to treat diabetes are covered.

Whatever happens, what comes of these negotiationswill not be a full national program covering all pharmaceuticals. The Liberals do not appear to have the fiscal roomto cover that and the NDP has not demanded it. The actual deal between the parties only called for "progress" towardsuch a program and the passageof enabling legislation.

But if the parties do come to an agreement, the NDP wouldbe able to claim with a straight face that it probably wouldn't have happened if New Democratshadn't been in a position to exploit some leverage.

WATCH: Singh warns of consequences if government doesn't meet pharmacare deadline

Jagmeet Singh warns of repercussions if Liberals miss another pharmacare deadline

6 months ago

Duration 0:58

NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh says there will be consequences for the Liberals if they miss the new deadline to table pharmacare legislation on March 1.

The Liberals have shown some interest in pharmacare specifically, and reducing drug costs more generally, since 2015. In 2018, the federal government drafted a former Ontario cabinet minister to advise it on a path forward. But it's never been clear how high pharmacare ranked on the Liberal government's list of priorities.

The same can be said of dental care an issue that was entirely absent from the last three Liberal election platforms.

In the Ottawa bubble, where memories are short and attention spans areshorter, such things are often swept aside not long after the official announcement. But dental care and pharmacareare real things the NDP could point to for years to come rare achievements for a smallerparty in the House of Commons. And while NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh's ability to convince Canadians to vote for the NDP remains in question, he could end up with a record of legislative accomplishment to rival any of his predecessors.

The NDP could stillsee plausible reasons to walk away from the confidence-and-supply agreement. Doing so might allow the New Democrats to put more political room between themselves and an unpopular government. And if the government was forced to negotiate the passage of legislation on a case-by-case basis, the NDP might be able to negotiate even greater concessions.

But the Liberals also would be free to work with the Bloc Quebecois (it's safe to assume the Conservatives would rather not be seen agreeing with the Liberals on anything, and perhaps vice-versa). 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.

Reasons for sticking together or splitting apart

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. The latest projection from the Writ's Eric Grenierhas the Liberals falling to 72 seats and the NDP winning 27 seats, just two more than they currently hold. The Conservatives, meanwhile,would win 201 seats.

Both the Liberals and New Democrats might benefit from having as many tangiblelegislative accomplishments as possible to point to in the next election campaign. But if there's a decent chance the next election will result in a majority Conservative government a government that likely would do very different things it might be wise forthe Liberals and NDP to use the time remainingto advance as many of their policy priorities as possible.

Front Burner21:32Is it time for an NDP, Liberal divorce?

On paper, the Liberals deal for the NDPs support is supposed to prop up their minority government until next summer.But in exchange, the Liberals agreed to a bill on pharmacare, and NDP leader Jagmeet Singh is threatening that the deal could be done if they miss an approaching March 1st deadline.So could the coming weeks see the end of the deal? Would the Liberals really risk an election right now? And did the deal deliver wins for the NDP that voters will remember?CBCs chief political correspondent Rosemary Barton returns to unpack it all.

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.

"One of the really important things that we've seen over the past couple of years in Ottawa,and [are] continuing to see,is what happens when progressive parties work together to deliver for Canadians," Trudeau saidThursday while sidestepping a reporter's question about the state of negotiations on pharmacare.

If the prime minister wants to be able to continue boasting about that, he has all the more reason to keep the confidence-and-supply agreement in place.

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

The record for the longest-lasting Parliament since 1960 is currently held by the 39th Parliament, which survived for 888 days between 2008 and 2011. The longevity of that Parliament, presided over by a minority Conservative government, was not attributable to any agreement between parties. Instead, it would be fair to say it survived in large part because of the weakness of the opposition parties and the fact that someone always blinked whenever a confidence vote turned parliamentary democracy into an elaborate game of chicken.

If the Liberals and NDP want to continue demonstrating that there's a better way to do things, they only need to find a way to agree on the broad terms of pharmacare and some immediate steps to expand drug coverage.