Poilievre to attempt to trigger early election next week

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OTTAWA — Canadians will learn as early as next week whether they are headed to the polls, as the Conservatives will be introducing a motion to trigger an election.

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre confirmed he will table a motion of non-confidence next Tuesday. It will be up for debate that day, with a vote is set to happen on Wednesday. If it passes, the government will fall. If not, the Liberals will continue to govern.

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The motion simply reads: “The House has no confidence in the Prime Minister and the Government.”

Poilievre is now asking NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh to support his party’s initiative. The NDP recently ripped up its supply-and-confidence agreement with the Liberals, which means they no longer have to support the minority government during confidence votes.

“The decision will be up to Jagmeet Singh and the NDP,” said Poilievre on Wednesday.

“Are they going to vote to keep this costly Carbon Tax Prime Minister in power? Are they going to sell out again or are they going to vote to trigger a carbon tax election so that Canadians can choose to axe the tax, build the homes, fix the budget and stop the crime?”

Singh said earlier this week that his party will take a close look at each vote that comes before them in the House of Commons, reflect on it and make a decision.

“Everything is on the table,” he said. “We’re not ruling out anything.”

Liberals know that the stakes are high for the NDP now that the Pharmacare Act is in the final stages in the Senate. The legislation, which sets the table for national universal pharmacare in Canada and was a condition of the NDP’s support for the Liberals, could be adopted as soon as Thanksgiving weekend.

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Government House leader Karina Gould said there are consequences from the NDP pulling out of the deal.

“This is real. This is not a game,” she said. “The fact of the matter is, is that what we do in this place matters and it has real and tangible consequences on the lives of Canadians.

“What Mr. Singh did when he backed away from the supply and confidence agreement, which was his decision, is it demonstrated that, again, he didn’t understand what the consequences were,” she added.

The Bloc Québécois could also vote to keep the Liberals in power but made it clear that it would only do so if the Liberals raised the Old Age Security pension for all seniors above 65 years of age — something that the government previously signalled it was not prepared to do.

Health Minister Mark Holland said his party will be ready for an election if one is called, but he believes the opposition parties are misreading the mood of the Canadian electorate.

“I think that all parties are going to be in for a wake-up call,” he said. “If they’re charging the hill, demanding an election and demanding politics, I think they’re going to find that hill is empty.”

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Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne said he was confident the Bloc and the NDP will understand that Canadians “want to hear nothing of that.”

“Canadians already face a lot of uncertainty in their lives. The last thing they want is instability here in Ottawa. They want the people who have been sent here to do the work for them to fight for them every single day, and I think Canadians will judge.”

Liberal MP Yasir Naqvi said people he speaks to at the doors in his own riding in Ottawa want political parties to work together to put forward progressive policies.

“My folks are very disappointed at Jagmeet Singh right now in my community, I can tell you, because we are willing to continue working and putting forward progressive, liberal policies, and he’s backing away just for political reasons.”

Holland, who previously served as the Liberal’ house leader, said negotiations have been part of what happens in a minority parliament from the beginning. He said that, with minority governments likely to happen more often, politicians will need to adapt.

“Do we want them to be a festival of partisanship where it’s a non-stop circus of ego and interest, or do we want them to be substantive about sitting down and working through the problems of the country, not just jumping to an election every time something gets hard.”

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Liberal MP Adam van Koeverden said he doesn’t believe Canadians want a campaign, but he is ready for it should it happen.

“I’m ready for an election anytime. I like campaigning. I like knocking on doors. I did a little bit of it in the summer just to make sure that my running shoes are still pumped up, inflated and ready to go, but that’s not what I’m focused on,” he said.

National Post
calevesque@postmedia.com

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