NDP Leader pulls out of supply and confidence deal with Liberals

CITYnews halifax / By John Marchesan, Cormac MacSweeney, Glen McGregor

The New Democratic Party is ending its supply and confidence deal with the Liberal Party, substantially increasing the chances of a federal election.

Federal NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh says he notified Prime Minister Justin Trudeau today that he is no longer propping up his government.

The deal is done.

The Liberals are too weak, too selfish and too beholden to corporate interests to stop the Conservatives and their plans to cut. But the NDP can.

Big corporations and CEOs have had their governments. It’s the people’s time. pic.twitter.com/BsE9zT0CwF

— Jagmeet Singh (@theJagmeetSingh) September 4, 2024

“Canadians are fighting a battle.  A battle for the future of the middle class.  Justin Trudeau has proven again and again he will always cave to corporate greed,” Singh said in the video directly addressing Canadians.

“The Liberals have let people down. They don’t deserve another chance from Canadians.”

The two parties entered into a deal in 2022, with the NDP agreeing to keep the minority government in power until June 2025 in exchange for movement on key priorities.

New Democrats have used the agreement to push forward initiatives such as dental care and pharmacare.

The NDP caucus is set to meet in Montreal next week. Singh has been under pressure from caucus MPs over the deal as some believe it has outlived its usefulness given they have gotten most of what they wanted.

Trudeau said Wednesday he’s focused on affordability, housing and the impacts of climate change, not politics.

“I really hope the NDP stays focused on how we can deliver for Canadians, as we have over the past years, rather than focusing on politics,” Trudeau said at a press conference in Newfoundland and Labrador.

Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre recently called on the NDP to pull out of the agreement and that they and the Bloc Québécois vote non-confidence in the minority government when Parliament resumes this month.

Poilievre called Singh’s decision a “media stunt” in a statement on social media Wednesday.

“Well it depends now on whether ‘Sellout Singh’ is going to do what he says, and vote to trigger a ‘carbon tax election,’ at the earliest opportunity,” Poilievre said when asked about the chances of an early election while speaking to reporters in Nanaimo.

“So Canadians can decide between a costly coalition of NDP-Liberals who tax your food punish your work, double your housing costs, and unleash crime chaos in your community. Or common sense Conservatives who will axe the tax, build the homes, fix the budget and stop the crime.”

The end of the agreement does not necessarily mean Canadians will be heading to the polls right away, however, it does put the Liberals back into a normal minority government situation with the NDP instead voting on Liberal legislation piece by piece.

The first big test could come this fall if the government tables an economic update in Parliament. If the Liberals survive, another decisive moment will be the vote on the next federal budget implementation bill, likely next spring.

The move by the NDP comes ahead of two key federal byelections on September 16 in Elmwood — Transcona in Manitoba and the Montreal-area riding of LaSalle—Émard—Verdun.

The Manitoba riding was held by the NDP until MP Daniel Blaikie resigned in March to go work for the office of the province’s Premier, Wab Kinew. Blaikie had held the federal seat since the 2015 election.

The Quebec riding was held by former Liberal justice minister David Lametti, who resigned in January after being excluded from Trudeau’s cabinet during a shuffle the previous summer.

The byelections will mark the first test for Trudeau’s Liberals since losing a June byelection in Toronto-St. Paul, a riding the Liberals had previously held for decades.

National opinion polls suggest Poilievre’s Conservatives continue to hold a substantial lead in polls ahead of the Liberals and New Democrats.