Trudeau survives second parliamentary confidence vote
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has successfully navigated a second non-confidence motion in Parliament within a week.
This motion, introduced by the opposition Conservatives, aimed to dismantle his minority Liberal government and prompt a federal election.
Once again, the motion failed as Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre was unable to secure support from other political parties in Parliament.
Poilievre presented this second non-confidence motion just a day after the first one was rejected.
The motion accused the government of neglecting Canadians regarding affordable housing, the rising cost of living, and crime—key issues that the Conservatives have targeted at the Liberals for several months.
To pass, the motion required a majority of the 338 Members of Parliament (MPs). After counting the votes, 121 supported the motion, while 207 opposed it.
Following the vote, Poilievre criticized the NDP and the Bloc Québécois for the motion’s failure, claiming the former had “sold out working Canadians” and the latter was “letting down Quebecers.”
The Bloc Québécois, which advocates for the interests of Quebec, Canada’s French-speaking province, had issued an ultimatum to the Liberals regarding its ongoing support.
The sovereigntist party gave the government a 29 October deadline to pass two bills, one increasing pensions for seniors and one to bolster protections on Canada’s supply management system, which controls production quotas and imports on dairy and poultry products.
On Tuesday, it tabled its own motion calling on the Trudeau government to support their seniors’ bill.
Meanwhile, the NDP leader Jagmeet Singh said indicated last week that his party would not support the Conservative motion.
Several other non-confidence motions are expected to be tabled in the coming weeks, including a third that has been put forward by the Conservatives.
Trudeau has been Canada’s prime minister for nine years and has been facing growing pressure to resign over concerns he is a drag on his party’s fortunes.
The Conservatives have been leading the Liberals by a wide margin in opinion surveys for months.
His Liberal party lost two consequential by-elections this summer in Toronto and Montreal, both in strongholds previously held by the party for years.
A deal between the Liberal party and the NDP had helped Trudeau stay in power since Canada’s last federal election in 2021.
The deal collapsed last month after Singh pulled out from the deal, saying that the Liberals are “too weak” to govern.
