Article content

When compared to making poverty history or hugging American presidents, the business of voting in the House of Commons must seem mundane to many Liberals.

The party has always tended toward hubris, with grace only restored after the inevitable electoral fall every generation or so.

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or John Ivison: Liberals sent scrambling after opposition ambush tests government's majority in vote Back to video

But the Grits may be slightly less presumptuous after narrowly surviving an ambush in the House on the Air Canada Public Participation Act, which changes the airline’s job requirements in Ontario, Quebec and Manitoba.

The opposition parties had noticed a tendency for the Liberals to take their time to get back to Ottawa after the weekend and decided to test the government’s 14-seat majority.

The Air Canada bill was expected to move to NDP amendments at the report stage Monday, normally the cause for stifled yawns from Liberals who have the numbers to kill any opposition input.

But on this occasion, the NDP MP who put forward the amendment, Alexandre Boulerice, was not in the House — a victim of parliamentary flu.