The Liberals have no intention of using procedural tactics to delay the Conservatives’ promised non-confidence motion, and they have no plans to prorogue Parliament to hold onto power, according to Government House Leader Karina Gould.
“I’m looking forward to being there on Monday and working with the opposition parties, in whatever configuration that looks like, to deliver on important pieces of legislation for Canadians,” Gould told CTV’s Question Period host Vassy Kapelos, in an interview airing Sunday, when asked whether the Liberals are considering proroguing Parliament, or whether they plan on following through with the entire fall sitting.
The supply-and-confidence agreement has kept the Liberals in power — propped up by the NDP in exchange for progress on certain progressive policies — since 2022.
With just 10 months before the deal was set to expire, NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh announced Sept. 4 he’d “ripped up” the pact, leaving a greater possibility of an earlier election, as Parliament resumes Monday and MPs return to the House of Commons under a traditional minority government structure.
Singh told reporters during his party’s caucus retreat this week the end of the deal means “all bets are off.”
Meanwhile, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre, has promised his party will table a non-confidence motion as soon as possible, hoping to trigger an election and topple the Liberals.
“Jagmeet Singh claims that he has torn up the supply-and-confidence agreement,” Poilievre told reporters this week. “That means he has to vote non-confidence to trigger a carbon tax election.
“It’s put up or shut up time for the NDP,” he also said.
Gould — whose job it is to schedule the opposition days the Conservatives need to table a non-confidence motion — said she has no plans to cause delays.
“There are 11 and a half sitting weeks in the fall session. There are seven opposition days,” Gould said. “Of course, the Conservatives are going to get their opposition days.”
“It’s not usual practice that we do it in the first week back in any session, but I can say with confidence that they will be getting an (opposition) day fairly soon,” she added.
Asked specifically whether Gould might use procedural tactics, such as saving all the opposition days until December, the Government house leader said “no.”
“I intend to use them regularly, as we have been for the past number of years,” she added.
It was a tumultuous summer for the Liberals, starting with a stunning byelection loss to the Conservatives in Toronto—St. Paul’s in June, and wrapping up with the end of the supply-and-confidence agreement, followed shortly by the resignation of the party’s national campaign director, Jeremy Broadhurst.
Gould, however, insisted the Liberals are ready for the fall sitting.
“Absolutely, this was a summer of listening, this was a summer of reflection,” she said. “And now it’s up to us to demonstrate that this fall.”
Also, in an interview airing on CTV’s Question Period on Sunday, Kapelos asked Conservative House Leader Andrew Scheer about Gould’s comments, and why his party is intent on triggering a snap election, despite recent surveys by polling firms Ipsos and Léger showing the majority of Canadians don’t want one.
“It’s in the interests of Canadians that we put an end to the Liberal government that has caused rents and mortgages to double, caused crime and drug crises in our communities, has caused the inflation crisis that took such a big bite out of workers’ paycheques,” he said. “That’s what’s at stake here.”
Scheer added that while polling may show the majority of Canadians do not want an election right now, other polling shows the deep unpopularity of the Liberals’ federal carbon pricing program, and the Conservatives hope to form government so they can “axe” the policy.
“We’re saying, ‘okay, well, if you’re not going to listen to Canadians on that side of things, then let’s at least have an election,’” Scheer said. “Let’s have a carbon tax election.”
NDP House Leader Peter Julian, meanwhile, wouldn’t say how his party squares the circle of ending the supply-and-confidence agreement with a looming non-confidence vote, and where the NDP will land.
Also in an interview airing Sunday, Julian accused the Liberals of being “beholden to corporate interests,” as well as “not building new housing and not providing the supports for healthcare that need to happen.”
“So all of those things are why we reached a wall in working with the Liberals,” he said.