Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre said Wednesday his party will put forward a non-confidence motion “at the earliest possible opportunity” when Parliament resumes this fall in an effort to trigger a federal election.
Poilievre said NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh must join his effort to bring down the Trudeau government or see his move to tear up the NDP’s deal with the Liberals dismissed as a meaningless “stunt.”
“It’s put up or shut up time for the NDP,” Poilievre told reporters outside Parliament Hill’s West Block.
Speaking in Ottawa on Wednesday, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre said it’s up to Jagmeet Singh and the NDP to ‘put their actions where their words are’ and vote non-confidence in Justin Trudeau at the ‘earliest possible’ time.
Last week, Singh announced he was ending the supply-and-confidence agreement, or SACA as it’s known in parliamentary circles, that had ensured the Liberal minority government’s survival for the last two-plus years in exchange for policy action.
“Jagmeet Singh claims that he’s torn up the supply-and-confidence agreement,” Poilievre said. “That means he has to vote non-confidence. Or will Jagmeet Singh sell out Canadians again?”
Poilievre claimed Singh’s timing was politically motivated as his decision to leave the SACA came just before two federal byelections on Monday.
The NDP is trying to pull off an upset in LaSalle-Emard-Verdun, a long-time Liberal seat, and hold the Winnipeg-area riding of Elmwood-Transcona they’ve carried for most of the last three decades.
Poilievre said the NDP leader is just trying to “trick” voters into thinking the NDP isn’t closely aligned with the governing party.
“The byelections will be held Monday, after which [Singh] can just change his mind and go back to voting to keep [Prime Minister Justin] Trudeau in power,” Poilievre said.
Singh said he had to tear up the SACA now because the Liberals haven’t done enough to rein in “corporate greed,” and accused Trudeau of letting Canadians down.
But he has so far dodged reporters’ questions about whether his party will back the Liberals on confidence votes moving forward.
Singh has said only that his party will evaluate each vote on a case-by-case basis.
The NDP may have lost its leverage over the Liberals now that the Bloc Quebecois has signalled a willingness to cut deals with Trudeau in exchange for its support.
Under Canada’s Westminster system of parliamentary democracy, the prime minister and his government must enjoy the confidence of a majority of MPs to remain in office and stave off an election.
The Liberals hold 154 of the 338 seats in Parliament. To get to a majority of 169 MPs, the Liberals need either the NDP (24 MPs) or the Bloc (32 MPs) to stand with them.
Poilievre also criticized Trudeau’s decision to name former Bank of Canada governor of Mark Carney to an economic advisory role.
He said Carney, who helped steer Canada through the financial crisis of 2008-09 as head of the central bank, supports carbon taxes and must be stopped or else his “agenda will dominate” and he will supplant Chrystia Freeland as finance minister.
“We need to bring them down,” Poilievre said.
Carney has said the Liberal government’s carbon pricing has served as purpose “until now” but he’s open to other regimes that lower emissions.