Singh won’t help Tories, Bloc topple the Liberals

OTTAWA — New Democrats will not cave to demands from the Bloc Québécois and Conservative leaders to help them bring down the Liberal government, NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh said Wednesday.

His party is now all that stands between Justin Trudeau’s Liberals and an early election, with the other two opposition parties pledging to try to topple the minority government at the next opportunity.

On Tuesday, Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet said he will make good on his threat to work with the other opposition parties to bring the Liberals down with a non-confidence vote.

The Conservatives and Bloc together do not have enough MPs to do that if the Liberals and NDP vote together.

Singh said he’s not going to “play their games.”

“I will not let Pierre Poilievre, the ‘king cut,’ or the Bloc call the shots,” said Singh, who appeared to debut a new nickname for the Conservative leader on Wednesday.

Singh said he doesn’t support the Liberals and insisted his party is ready for an election campaign whenever the time comes, but he’s not going to make that happen unless he feels it will help Canadians.

“We’ll look at any bill that comes forward, any motion that comes forward, and if it’s going to help people with these difficult times, we’ll look at that,” he said.

The Conservatives have already made two attempts to bring down the minority government this fall with a pair of non-confidence motions. Both motions failed, and did not get support from the NDP or the Bloc.

Blanchet last month gave the Liberals a deadline to pass two pieces of legislation, one aimed at old age security and the other at protecting supply management, in order to avoid an election before Christmas.

When the Liberals did not meet that deadline on Tuesday, Blanchet said the House is now in serious danger of falling in the next non-confidence vote.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 30, 2024.

Laura Osman, The Canadian Press