Canada’s governing Liberals, led by Justin Trudeau, hold a minority in Parliament, requiring support from at least one other party to pass any legislation. Canada’s ostensible social democrats, the New Democratic Party (NDP), claim to hold the balance of power.

Without backing from the Conservatives or the Bloc Québécois, the NDP are the most likely allies for Trudeau to proceed with a progressive agenda — but do they even have a plan to propose?

This isn’t the first time this has happened. In the fall of 1972, Trudeau senior, Pierre Elliott, led a Liberal minority government, backed by the NDP’s David Lewis. Lewis and his party had campaigned on ending corporate welfare, naming and shaming Canadian branches of companies — like Shell and General Electric — that took advantage of state subsidies and tax loopholes. Lewis argued that the public’s generosity to capital in this arrangement was an awful deal for working people: they suffered from higher unemployment and personal taxes while companies enjoyed every perk.