As the Conservatives prepare a motion to try to declare non-confidence in Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government, Liberal MPs say they are ready to face a vote as early as next week.
The first opposition day has been tentatively scheduled for Sept. 24, a spokesperson for Liberal House leader Karina Gould’s office told Global News Tuesday.
Conservatives will be allowed to set the agenda for the House of Commons and say they plan to introduce a motion that will state: “The House has no confidence in the Prime Minister and the Government.”
The Liberal minority government will need the support of at least one other party to survive the vote on that motion, which will happen on Wednesday.
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre said it’s “time to put forward a motion for a carbon tax election.”
“We need a carbon tax election so Canadians can vote to axe the tax, build their homes, fix the budget and stop the crime with a commonsense conservative government,” he added.
Liberal MPs were asked about the upcoming vote on their way to a caucus meeting on Wednesday.
Energy and Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson said the Liberals will need the support of other parties, but he said he was “quite confident that Canadians want the Parliament to work.”
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“Obviously, we have to find ways to work together with some of the other opposition parties. I think we’re ready for a confidence vote. I think it’s important that we actually get the first one out of the way,” he said.
Justice Minister Arif Virani said he was “not concerned” about the vote and that his only concern was to get through the legislative agenda set for Parliament, such as seeing the online harms bill get passed.
Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne said “the last thing Canadians want is instability” in Ottawa.
“Canadians want to hear nothing of that. They already face a lot of uncertainty in their lives.”
Questions are swirling around Trudeau’s political future as the Liberals have suffered two major byelection blows this summer and no longer have the promise of NDP support from the supply-and-confidence agreement that was agreed upon in 2022.
On Tuesday, Liberals lost their stronghold of LaSalle—Émard—Verdun to the Bloc Québécois. That came nearly three months after the Conservatives snatched the seat in Toronto-St. Paul’s – another Liberal stronghold.
Meanwhile, support for Trudeau and his Liberal government has hit a “new low,” polling shows.
Just over one-third of Canadians (33 per cent) approve of the Trudeau government, according to an Ipsos poll conducted exclusively for Global News and released on Monday. That approval rating is down by four points since the last time Ipsos did a similar poll in June.
At the same time, polling by Ipsos for Global News earlier this month also showed that a small majority of Canadians say they do not want an early election.
There is growing pressure from the Conservatives for an early election.
Speaking at question period in the House of Commons on Tuesday, Poilievre repeated his calls for a snap election.
Gould said it will be up to NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh to decide.
“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 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.”
If a motion of non-confidence is introduced, it will be debated on Tuesday and voted on the following day, Sept. 25, according to Gould’s office and a Conservative source who spoke to Global News on background.
Singh, speaking to his party caucus on Wednesday, said that “the Liberals don’t deserve another chance,” in government.
“We’ve seen the Liberals and Justin Trudeau have let people down, people are fed up, they feel like situations, things in their lives have gotten worse,” he said.
— with files from Global News’ Sean Boynton and The Canadian Press
