On Sept. 4, Jagmeet Singh announced via X that the New Democratic Party (NDP) is prematurely withdrawing from their supply-and-confidence agreement with the Liberal government.
The supply-and-confidence (SACA) agreement between the NDP and the Liberal government was instated in March 2022 and planned to last until June 2025. The agreement meant support from the NDP on the Liberal’s decisions on issues of budgeting, specifically “on budgetary policy, budget implementation bills, estimates and supply” and votes of confidence, according to a news release from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
The agreement would not allow the NDP to move, nor vote for, any type of non-confidence motion against the Liberal government.
In exchange for committing to the SACA, the Liberal government promised to prioritize tackling issues valued by the NDP.
Although the NDP managed to pass several important laws through the leverage this deal gave them, like replacement worker legislation, 10 annual sick days for employees of federally regulated workplaces and the Sustainable Jobs Act, the cost of strategically supporting the Liberal government was not worth it to Singh.
In his announcement, Singh said Justin Trudeau will “always cave to corporate greed,” calling the Liberal party “too weak, too selfish and too beholden to corporate interests to fight for people.”
Singh finished his announcement by encouraging Canadians to choose “hope” in the next election and to support the NDP’s goals of restoring financial relief and improving healthcare for Canadians.
The NDP’s withdrawal from supporting the Liberal government comes only a few days before Montreal’s byelection to replace the resigned Liberal MP David Lametti. With a record 91 candidates, there was a clear need for the NDP to establish themselves and make their issues with the Liberal party evident to voters.
Several NDP priorities that were supposed to be fulfilled under the SACA are now up in the air with the rescinding of the agreement. These priorities include the national dental care program, which currently only covers 2.4 million Canadians but was intended to cover approximately nine million according to CBC News reports, and the creation of a national pharmacare program.
Looking forward, the NDP’s lack of support for the Liberals places the government on unsteady footing. Since the Liberals hold a minority of seats in Parliament, 154 of 338, without the NDP’s vote of confidence they are more vulnerable to being subjected to an early election if they are faced with a non-confidence vote.
Conservative party leader Pierre Poilievre is already planning to conduct a non-confidence motion against the Liberals as soon as possible, according to CBC News reports. His first chance to do so will be Wednesday, Sept. 25, when a vote on a Conservative motion is planned to occur.
To maintain a vote of confidence, the Liberals would need MPs from opposing parties to vote in their support, thus an early election is not certain but now possible.