The federal New Democrats have pulled their support from the supply-and-confidence agreement with the Liberal government.
The move puts Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s minority at risk of falling at any time in the coming weeks or months if it loses any confidence votes, which could trigger a snap election as soon as this fall.
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh said in a video released by the NDP on Wednesday that the Liberals “have let people down” and failed to take on “corporate greed.”
He also pitched the NDP as the only party that can stop a surging Conservative Party from winning the next election, arguing the Liberals are “too weak, too selfish and too beholden to corporate interests to fight for people.”
“Today, I have notified the prime minister that I have ripped up the supply-and-confidence agreement,” Singh said.
“Big corporations and wealthy CEOs have had their government. It’s the people’s time.”
The House of Commons is set to reconvene from the summer break on Sept. 16, after which the NDP will be voting on government bills on a “case-by-case basis,” a party official told Global News.
The NDP official told Global News on background that the video was shot some time ago, and that the decision to pull out of the deal has been in the works for months.
The official added a key reason for pulling the trigger now was a “fundamental difference in values on corporate greed” between the two parties.
The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss private conversations about the decision. No one from the NDP was made available to speak to media Wednesday.
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre, who has urged Singh to pull out of the deal, called Wednesday’s announcement a “media stunt” and criticized the NDP leader for not committing to a non-confidence vote.
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Multiple bills are still outstanding in the House that would need support from the NDP or another party to pass. They include the Online Harms Act and legislation addressing rail and port safety, airport standards, advance voting expansions and changes to the military justice system and how it handles sexual misconduct cases.
A likely candidate for a potential confidence vote would be the fall economic statement that’s typically delivered in October or November. Confidence votes can also be put forward by the opposition by declaring a lack of confidence in the government or at the prerogative of the government, which can designate any matter it chooses as a matter of confidence.
Trudeau: ‘I am not focused on politics’
At an announcement in Newfoundland and Labrador Wednesday, Trudeau wouldn’t say if an election was imminent, telling reporters a vote “will come in the coming year, hopefully not until next fall.”
“I am not focused on politics,” he said, highlighting actions the government has taken to try and bring costs down for Canadians.
“I’ll let others focus on politics, but I will point out that 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 wouldn’t say what conversations he had with Singh leading up to Wednesday’s announcement, but said he hopes to continue working with the NDP on legislation.
The NDP entered into the supply-and-confidence deal with the Liberals in 2022, months after voters returned the Liberals to government with another minority in late 2021.
Supply and confidence deals are different than coalition governments, which are when members from more than one party serve in cabinet together, governing jointly.
Under the terms of the agreement, the NDP would ensure the Liberals stay in power until the next mandated election in 2025, in exchange for the government backing key NDP priorities.
The deal has allowed the NDP to achieve legislative wins on pharmacare and dental care, two of the party’s biggest platform pillars.
But Singh and his caucus have railed against the Liberals for not doing more to tackle rising profits among corporations and executives amid the cost-of-living crisis. Calls to tax those excess profits and raise corporate taxes higher have not yielded action from the government.
The NDP sharply criticized the government’s intervention in the labour dispute that caused last month’s rail shutdown, accusing the Liberals of undermining union bargaining.
At the time, Singh declined to answer if he would pull out of the supply-and-confidence agreement over the labour dispute, but accused Trudeau of standing on the side of corporations against working Canadians.
The NDP has also criticized the government’s approach to the Israel-Hamas conflict, though the Liberals supported a motion that froze additional arms sales to Israel earlier this year.
NDP support stagnant as Liberals slide
Singh has been under increasing pressure to pull out of the deal — particularly from the opposition Conservatives, who have been itching for a snap election as they lead Trudeau’s Liberals in the polls by double digits.
An Angus Reid survey released Wednesday found the Conservatives leading the Liberals 43 to 21 per cent, a gap that is three times what it was in 2022. Support for the NDP, meanwhile, has remained relatively stagnant during that same period, standing at 19 per cent in Wednesday’s poll.
In June, close to 70 per cent of Canadians polled by Ipsos for Global News said Trudeau should resign as prime minister.
Ipsos also found 70 per cent of Canadians believe that “Canada is broken,” a charge regularly made by Poilievre. The sentiment was felt most strongly by younger Canadians who have gravitated toward the Conservatives in opinion polls.
The Conservatives have sought to tie the NDP to the unpopular Liberals by referring to the supply-and-confidence agreement as the “Liberal-NDP coalition.”
Poilievre last week held a press conference and sent a letter to Singh demanding he pull out of the deal and trigger a “carbon tax election.” He reiterated accusations that Singh was only staying in the deal to qualify for a government pension which require six years in office.
Poilievre and Trudeau have both already qualified. Singh became an MP on Feb. 25, 2019, meaning he would hit that six-year benchmark in early 2025.
—With additional files from Global’s Touria Izri
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