Conservatives call on Carney not to 'stack the deck' by using majority to shut opposition out of committees

OTTAWA — The Opposition Conservatives are calling on the Liberals not to overhaul the makeup of parliamentary committees, which Prime Minister Mark Carney signalled would be coming in the wake of securing a majority.

Conservative House Leader Andrew Scheer appeared before reporters on Thursday to underscore how the membership of committees — bodies where MPs can launch studies into issues and where legislation is sent to be dissected and amended — has up until now been decided through negotiations between the parties based on the most recent election results.

“We are in unprecedented territory,” Scheer said, referring to how the Carney government elevated its status to majority from minority on Monday, thanks to three byelection wins but in large part because of five MPs crossing the floor, four of which came from the Conservatives and one from the New Democrats.

He called on the majority Liberals to “uphold the tradition” that the makeup of committees be decided by the outcome of the last election.

In last April’s general election, Carney won a minority with 169 seats in the House of Commons. The Conservatives had 144 seats, with the Bloc Quebecois at 22 and the New Democrats at 7.

The Liberals went into Monday’s three byelections one seat shy of crossing that 172-seat majority threshold, which it did by winning those races, increasing its seat count to 174. With four MPs defecting to the Liberals, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre saw his seat count in the House of Commons drop to 140, while the NDP now have six MPs.

Poilievre has slammed Carney’s majority as being achieved through “backroom deals,” which Scheer repeated on Thursday.

“Never before has the prime minister fundamentally tried to change the nature of the government that he was elected on from the people through these kinds of backroom deals, so we are in unprecedented territory.”

“We are calling on Liberals not to stack the deck.”

Earlier this week, Carney signalled that he has his sights set on changing the makeup of committees to reflect the majority the Liberals now have in Parliament and to reduce what the prime minister characterized as “showboating” he has seen from opposition MPs at some meetings.

Opposition MPs can use committee tactics to force delays or amendments to government legislation.

Since Carney assumed office last year, the Liberals have repeatedly accused the Conservatives of blocking progress on numerous pieces of government legislation.

Poilievre’s Conservatives have pointed the finger back at the Liberals for how the party has handled its own agenda. However, since the start of 2026 the Conservatives have adopted a more collaborative tone, in part to avoid giving the Liberals reason to seek a snap election, saying it was willing to support government bills where it found agreement.

When it comes to forthcoming committee changes, Government House Leader Steven MacKinnon told reporters on Wednesday that he believed it to be “pretty generally accepted” that the makeup of committees reflect the number of seats parties have in the House of Commons.

On Thursday, Scheer said MacKinnon has not reached out to discuss changes to committees.

In a statement, MacKinnon reiterated his position that the makeup of these bodies ought to reflect the number of seats in the House of Commons, calling that a “long-established principle.”

“There will be proposals made in this regard in due course. We’ll have news soon on that.”

Scheer defended the role Conservative MPs have played on committees over the years, saying their members have driven investigations into how the government has handled issues from Indigenous procurement to contracts related to the ArriveCAN app.

“At the very least, they should preserve the power of the opposition to investigate Liberal corruption scandals and to litigate bad Liberal policy,” he said.

National Post

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