The Bloc Québécois says it will vote against a Conservative party non-confidence motion next week, meaning the minority Liberal government will survive its first test since the demise of its parliamentary co-operation deal with the NDP.
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre released the wording of a motion Wednesday morning that his party will put to a vote next week and he strongly urged the Bloc and the NDP to side with him and trigger a fall election campaign.
Under the House of Commons rules, opposition parties are given a handful of days in which they can set the agenda for the day and force a vote on a motion of their choosing.
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The government has said it has tentatively scheduled an opposition day for the Conservative Party on Tuesday, which would trigger a debate and then a vote on the Wednesday.
One week in advance of that vote, the Conservatives released the planned wording for the opposition day. It states: “The House has no confidence in the Prime Minister and the Government.”
Should the motion pass, parliamentary convention would suggest that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau would be required to request a federal election campaign.
Both the NDP and the Bloc have enough MPs to defeat the Conservative motion on their own should either party vote with the Liberals.
“Will the Bloc Québécois vote in favour of the Conservative motion next week? The answer is no,” Yves-François Blanchet told reporters at a news conference on Parliament Hill. “The motion doesn’t contain anything. It essentially says ‘Do you want to replace Justin Trudeau with Pierre Poilievre?’ The answer is no.”
Mr. Blanchet said the Bloc will focus on securing policy gains from the Liberals, including increased benefits for seniors.
“I know Conservative values. They are not Quebec values,” he said.
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Prior to Mr. Blanchet’s comments, Mr. Poilievre said the motion is very direct and very simple.
“It’s time to put forward a motion for a carbon tax election,” he said on his way in to a caucus meeting.
Speaking in French, he called on Mr. Blanchet to support the motion, while in English, he focused his comments on NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh.
“I also call on the NDP: Don’t wait for the Bloc to bail you out. Announce your position on this motion to trigger a carbon tax election now. You have the motion. It’s in your inbox. We’re e-mailing it to him now,” he said.
Members of Parliament met Wednesday morning for their respective closed-door caucus meetings. The meetings are the first opportunity for MPs to discuss party strategy following Monday’s by-election results, which saw the NDP hold a Winnipeg-area riding, while the Liberals lost a Montreal riding long-held by the party to the Bloc.
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Uncertainty over the future of the minority Liberal government increased after Mr. Singh recently announced that his party has withdrawn from a supply-and-confidence agreement with the Liberals that saw NDP MPs vote to keep the Liberals in power in exchange for action on specific issues. Mr. Singh said his party will now make decisions on a vote-by-vote basis.
Speaking before the Bloc’s announcement, Karina Gould, the Government House Leader, said she is required to schedule seven opposition days over the coming 11 weeks of sittings.
“There are consequences to the actions that people take. This is real. This is not a game. The fact of the matter is that what we do in this place matters and it has real and tangible consequences on the lives of Canadians,” she said, before singling out Mr. Singh’s decision to withdraw from the Parliamentary cooperation deal with the government.
“It’s up to the opposition parties now to determine what they want to do with Canadians. But I think for Mr. Singh in particular, it’s now going to be on his shoulders as to whether, yet again, in another week, he does exactly what Mr. Poilievre asks or if he’s actually going to stand up for the things that Canadians care about.”