OTTAWA –
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre’s latest attempt to topple the minority Liberal government in a non-confidence vote has failed, with the New Democrats and Liberals voting against the motion.
The Conservative motion quoted NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh’s own criticism of the Liberals, and called on the House to agree with Singh and vote non-confidence in the government.
The New Democrat leader said he would not be supporting the motion last week.
Singh was not present in the House of Commons for most of the voting period, and there were jeers from the Conservative benches as NDP MPs cast their votes against the motion.
MPs also voted on an NDP motion, calling on the government to permanently remove GST from what they call essentials.
The NDP and Green members were the only ones to vote in favour of this motion, resulting in its defeat.
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Original copy follows.
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The Liberals are set to face a third Conservative non-confidence vote in the House of Commons on Monday, but the government is likely to survive with the support of the NDP.
Members of Parliament are supposed to vote on a motion that quotes NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh’s criticism of the Liberals and asks the House to agree with Singh and vote to bring down the government.
Singh said last week he is not going to support the Conservatives, so the motion will likely fail.
The House is also set to vote Monday on an NDP motion calling on the government to expand the GST break to include things like internet bills and home heating, and also offer the $250 “working Canadians rebate” to fully retired seniors and people who rely on disability benefits.
Those votes will come after MPs deal with a debate on a point of privilege raised by Conservative deputy leader Melissa Lantsman on Friday.
The Conservatives have two more opposition days scheduled Monday and Tuesday and Leader Pierre Poilievre has 13 more opposition motions on the House of Commons notice paper to choose from.
The party signalled the Monday motion will call for the government to eliminate the GST on new homes sold for under $1 million, and calls on the premiers to enact a similar policy on their portion of the provincial sales tax.
The other motions they could go with on Tuesday include one calling to eliminate the carbon tax, another to take a tougher stance on bail and drugs, and also one calling for the government to release a draft copy of Canada’s public accounts for the last fiscal year.
Two of the motions also call for a vote of non-confidence in the government.
If a majority of MPs vote in favour of a non-confidence vote, it would bring the government down and likely trigger an immediate election.
The Conservative motions introduced Monday and Tuesday will both be up for a vote on Tuesday.
As opposition parties continue to use procedural tactics to stall one another’s motions, the House is also facing a deadline on Tuesday to vote to approve billions of dollars in government spending.
Treasury Board President Anita Anand has asked Parliament for approval of $21.6 billion to fund programs including housing, dental care and the national school food program.
Those measures must be voted on. If they do not pass, some government programs could face a cash shortfall, including veteran benefits and natural disaster assistance. The spending requests are set to go to a debate and vote late Tuesday night.
The votes were scheduled when House Speaker Greg Fergus paused a two-month-long filibuster to make way for the spending debate and opposition motions.
The House has been gridlocked since late September by a filibuster over a Conservative privilege motion related to the Liberals’ refusal to provide unredacted documents about a now-defunct green technology fund to Parliament and to the RCMP.
On Friday, Lantsman raised a point of privilege about an anti-Israeli war protest that temporarily blocked the entrance to a building housing MP offices last week. She said NDP MPs had been supportive of the protesters, who temporarily disrupted members’ ability to get to the House of Commons.
That debate was scheduled to resume Monday morning, but proceedings began with the resumption of debate on the green technology fund documents.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 9, 2024.