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OTTAWA, Canada — New Democratic Party Leader Jagmeet Singh says he’s “ripped up” the deal that has propped up Justin Trudeau’s Liberals in a minority Parliament for the past 2½ years, dealing a blow to the government’s stability.
In other words: The gloves are off.
The move distances Singh’s progressive party from an unpopular government that’s sunk in the polls. Since Canada’s next federal election was not expected until fall 2025, the news sends speculation in Ottawa into overdrive as to whether one will come much sooner.
“Justin Trudeau has proven again and again he will always cave to corporate greed,” Singh said in a video posted on his social media accounts just as Trudeau was about to speak to journalists about a new school food program.
“The Liberals are too weak, too selfish and too beholden to corporate interests to fight for people. They cannot be the change. They cannot restore the hope. They cannot stop the Conservatives, but we can,” Singh said.
The announcement comes just days before Trudeau is scheduled to huddle with his caucus ahead of the fall sitting of Parliament, which begins Sept. 16.
The NDP has been granting support to the Liberal government since the two parties inked a cooperative pact, called a supply and confidence agreement, on March 22, 2022.
The deal has allowed the NDP to pressure Trudeau to produce legislation to create new social programming, such as dental care and pharmacare, and to ban the use of replacement workers in federally regulated workspaces.
But even though the progressive party has made some gains under the deal, they’ve come with major trade-offs — forcing the party to compromise on policy. The NDP has failed to gain any traction in public opinion polls since entering the arrangement.
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre, who is soaring in the polls, has hounded the NDP for propping up the Liberal government, branding Singh a “sellout.”
Tearing up the deal does not mean an election is imminent or that Parliament is about to fall. However, it does mean that in any future confidence vote, the government could fall if it fails to win majority support.
Singh had been sharply critical of the Liberals’ handling of a labor dispute that shut down the country’s largest railroads for days this summer. Labor Minister Steven MacKinnon requested the Canada’s labor board step in with binding arbitration.
The move to nix the pact also comes in advance of two key federal by-elections, one-off races that could prove to be dynamic-shifting events in federal politics. They follow a stunning by-election upset to the Liberals earlier this summer in a riding long considered safe.
Trudeau said at his press conference he’s “not focused on politics” and hopes an election won’t come until next fall, suggesting the two parties can still work together in Parliament.
But it didn’t take long for Trudeau to set his sights on Poilievre’s Conservatives and fire off a few shots, either.
“I certainly hope that the NDP will stay true to its fundamental values, which is making sure Canadians get the support they need and keeping away the austerity, the cuts and the damage that will be done by Conservatives if they get the chance.”
