Jagmeet Singh says NDP will back Liberals in non-confidence vote

Days after pulling out of a deal to prop up Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government, NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh said Thursday his MPs will vote to support the Liberal government in next week’s non-confidence motion vote — which, if adopted, would trigger a federal election.

That Conservative motion is headed for all but certain defeat now that both the NDP and Bloc Québécois have said they will stand against Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre’s attempt to force an early election — even though both Singh and Bloc Leader Yves-François Blanchet have said they have misgivings about Trudeau.

WATCH | Singh says he will not support Conservative non-confidence motion

Singh says he will not support Conservative non-confidence motion

NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh confirms he will not vote in favour of a non-confidence motion that the Conservatives are putting forward in the House of Commons next week, saying he won’t play ‘Pierre Poilievre’s political games.’

New Democrats came to Ottawa to get stuff done, to work for people, to fight for people, not to play Pierre Poilievre’s games, Singh said.

We’re not going to let Pierre Poilievre tell us what to do.

Singh said Poilievre and the Conservatives must be stopped because they could cut social programs, pensions and health care if elected.

But Singh also said Tuesday that the Liberals are finished and he told his caucus Wednesday that the Liberals and Trudeau don’t deserve another chance.

When announcing the termination of the supply-and-confidence agreement earlier this month, Singh said Trudeau is beholden to corporate greed and has repeatedly let Canadians down while in office.

Asked why he is supporting a prime minister he has described so unfavourably, Singh said that while Trudeau has been bad, Poilievre would be even worse.

• Bloc Québécois says it won’t back Poilievre’s non-confidence motion, making early election unlikely (new window)

Singh said the NDP is building a movement to win the next election.

I’m here to become the next prime minister, Singh said. In the next election, people have a choice.

Singh said he could bring down the government in the coming weeks, adding he will decide how to vote on non-confidence motions on a case-by-case basis.

A fall election would be tricky for the NDP because its provincial counterparts in B.C. and Saskatchewan will be contesting elections in the coming months.

Concurrent federal and provincial elections would be a drain on the party’s money and resources. Unlike other parties, the provincial and federal NDP wings are fused together as one party.

The federal NDP also has pulled in a lot less money through fundraising than the two major parties.

The Conservatives raised an eye-popping $20 million in the first half of this year, compared to $6.9 million for the Liberals and just $2.6 million for the NDP, according to Elections Canada data.

Poilievre was scathing in his criticism of Singh’s decision to back the government again.

He is a fake, a phoney and a fraud. How can anyone ever believe what this sellout NDP leader says in the future? Poilievre said in question period.

Later, speaking to reporters, Poilievre called Singh a liar.

He accused Singh of ripping up his deal with Trudeau just before this week’s federal byelections to convince people in those ridings that a vote for the NDP was a vote for change.

As soon as those elections were over, Poilievre said, Singh taped back together the carbon tax coalition and sold out voters.

Singh’s claim he was distancing himself from the Liberals was all a lie, Poilievre added.

This article is republished from RCI.