Canada: New Democratic party withdraws support for Trudeau’s Liberals

Canada’s New Democratic party says it has “ripped up” a key agreement with prime minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberal government, sowing uncertainty into the country’s politics as party leaders brace for a possible election.

NDP leader Jagmeet Singh made the surprise announcement on social media on Wednesday afternoon, accusing Trudeau of “caving” to corporate greed. “The Liberals have let people down. They don’t deserve another chance from Canadians,” he said.

After Trudeau’s Liberals won a minority of seats in parliament in 2021, the NDP agreed to support the party in order to shield them from confidence votes that could bring down the government. The deal, called a confidence and supply agreement, was scheduled to run until June 2025.

In exchange for supporting the Liberals, the NDP was able to push through a new dental care program for low-income Canadians, plans for a national pharmacare programme and legislation to ban the use of replacement workers during a lockout or strike.

But the Liberals have experienced a dramatic collapse in support in recent months while the Conservatives have surged in the polls and are widely seen as the clear frontrunners in a looming federal election. At the same time, a string of policies championed by the NDP and passed into law has made it difficult for the NDP to untangle itself from the Liberal brand.

Singh defended the decision, citing an “even bigger battle ahead” in the form of “Conservative cuts” to the government programmes.

“From workers, from retirees, from young people, from patients, from families – [Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre] will cut in order to give more to big corporations and wealthy CEOs,” said Singh. “The fact is, the Liberals are too weak, too selfish and too beholden to corporate interests to fight for people. They cannot be change, they cannot restore the hope, they cannot stop the Conservatives. But we can.”

Conservatives had previously attacked Singh as a “sellout” for his role in the deal and Poilievre last week called on Singh and the NDP to cancel their deal with the Liberals and trigger a fall election campaign.

The NDP decision does not trigger an election, but the party said it was “ready for an election, and voting non-confidence will be on the table with each and every confidence measure”.