NDP won't back Conservative non-confidence motion that borrows Singh's own words
Non-confidence vote could take place as early as Monday after Speaker intervenes to pause House gridlock
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh says he won't back the Conservatives' latest non-confidence motion, even though it quotes his own criticisms of the Liberal government.
"It will probably come as no surprise that I'm not going to play [Conservative Leader] Pierre Poilievre's games," Singh said when asked Tuesday about the motion.
The motion cited criticisms Singh has levied at the Liberal government, including his words in the video announcing the termination of the NDP's governing agreement with the Liberals back in September.
"The Liberals are too weak, too selfish and too beholden to corporate interests to fight for people," Singh said at the time.
The motion calls on the House to declare that it "agrees with the NDP leader" and has lost confidence in the government. If passed, the motion would trigger an election.
Speaking to NDP staff members on Tuesday morning, Singh promised to run a "gutsy" and "unapologetic" campaign in the next election.
But when asked about the Conservative motion on Tuesday afternoon, Singh didn't seem eager to rush into that campaign.
"I want to actually have dental care expanded. I want to see more people actually start to benefit from the pharmacare we passed," he said, pointing to programs that were introduced under his party's former governing agreement with the Liberals.
The dental program is expected to expand to millions of Canadians in 2025 and the government says it expects to sign pharmacare agreements — which would cover diabetes medication and contraceptives — with the provinces in the spring.
Under House of Commons rules, Opposition parties are allotted a certain amount of "opposition days" or "supply days," when their motions take priority over government business.
Speaker temporarily halts gridlock
But no opposition days have been held since early October due to an ongoing privilege debate jamming up the House.
The debate stems from the Conservatives' demand that the Liberals provide unredacted documents to the RCMP about allegations of misspending at a now-defunct green technology fund. Because the debate is considered a question of privilege, the House has been unable to move forward with most of its usual business, including opposition days.
Speaker Greg Fergus intervened on Monday to temporarily break the gridlock to schedule the four remaining opposition days — which must take place by Dec. 10, according to the House rules.
Fergus told the House he had scheduled two opposition days for Thursday and Friday, meaning the government could face a non-confidence vote as early as Monday.
Two Conservative opposition motions declaring non-confidence in the government were defeated in September, with the Bloc Québécois and the NDP voting against them.
The Bloc has since pledged to work with other opposition parties to defeat the government after the Liberals refused to adopt a Bloc bill to raise old age security payments for seniors under age 75.
Bloc Leader Yves-François Blanchet said his party would only vote in favour of non-confidence motions if the party deems them to be in the best interests of Quebec.
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With files from The Canadian Press