Opposition parties have begun to realize the power they possess over the Liberal Party through their vote of confidence.
Bloc Québécois leader Yves-François Blanchet is using this newfound power to pressure the Liberals into prioritizing issues that matter to the Bloc Party at the threat of facilitating a federal election — moving the Prime Minister and his party further away from stability in Parliament.
After Justin Trudeau and the Liberal Party made it out of the first confidence vote of the fall, with the motion showing 211 votes of confidence and 120 of non-confidence, Blanchet made clear that the Bloc’s support for the Liberals will not come without support in return.
Blanchet said that the Liberals must pass the Bloc Party’s two motions into law by Oct. 29, saying they will confer with the other opposition parties to trigger a non-confidence vote in the Prime Minister if the motions are not passed.
The Bloc Party wanted the Liberal government to aid in passing Bill C-319, which implements an increase of 10 per cent to Old Age Security payouts for those aged 65 to 74, and Bill C-282, which implements exemptions for “dairy, egg and poultry farmers” in “future trade negotiations.”
Though Bill C-319 recently passed, it was not entirely because of support from the Liberals. According to a CBC News report, the motion passed because of support from “the Conservatives, NDP, Greens and five Liberal backbenchers.”
Bill C-319 requires a “royal recommendation” from the Liberals to become law, which is how they justified keeping the motion as a free vote. The minister of labour and seniors, Steve MacKinnon, says there are “very, very strict criteria” for issues mandating support from all MPs. He concluded that the Bloc’s motion did not meet the requirements to do so.
Blanchet said that Liberals could have supported the bill but are using government procedure as an excuse to vote against the Bloc’s motion.
Though Liberals cited the potential expenses of the motion — which would cost “$16 billion over the next five years,” according to reports from CBC News — as reasoning for their overall lack of support, on top of the logistical issues with giving a royal recommendation in this case, Blanchet says that he is sticking to his promise.
“They have until a few days from now to go on with the royal recommendation. And if they do not, we will start as rapidly as next week to speak with other opposition [parties] to get ready to go into an election,” said Blanchet.
Blanchet says he wants to use the power he has found in his vote of confidence to make the government consider issues important to the Bloc Party.
Through his vote, Blanchet said that his party “saw an opportunity to pursue issues that were good for Quebecers and also good for Canadians.”
Though a collective intention to call an early election has not yet been announced to the public by the opposition parties, Canadians will continue to see how the parties respond to their newfound political power in the coming weeks.