NDP leader Jagmeet Singh says he is not eager for a spring election despite his reservations about the budget presented by the Liberals earlier this month.
While Mr. Singh said his party is more focused on making sure Canadians are looked after in the 2024 budget, six New Democrat MPs opting not to seek another term could also be a factor in the leader’s hesitancy to force an election.
Longtime Ontario MPs Charlie Angus and Carol Hughes have decided not to run again as have British Columbia MPs Rachel Blaney, Richard Cannings, and Randall Garrison, and Manitoba MP Daniel Blaikie.
The NDP promised to keep the Liberal cabinet in power until June 30, 2025 as part of the 2022 supply-and-confidence agreement between the two parties. The government failed to honour the terms of the agreement last December, however, when it neglected to pass the NDP’s pharmacare bill.
Mr. Singh is now saying he can’t commit to voting for the Liberal’s newly-presented budget, a vast departure from the stamp of approval he gave to the 2023 budget just minutes after it was presented. If the 2024 budget were to be defeated in parliament, an election would be called.
One of the chief concerns, Mr. Singh has said, is the Liberals’ treatment of the national disability benefit.
The budget has earmarked $6.1 billion over six years toward the new disability benefit to supplement provincial support, with payments set to roll out next July. The budget also allocated $1.4 billion annually toward the federal disability benefit after the six-year period elapses. The maximum benefit for disabled, low-income Canadians would be $200 per month.
Mr. Singh called the funding “insufficient” and said he wants to hear more from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on the issue before deciding if his party will support the budget.
“I want to hear from the prime minister why the amount is so low, why it’s so hard to access … and also the fact that there’s no clarity around whether provinces can claw back that amount,” Mr. Singh said. “These are outstanding questions I want to see answers to.”
Disability Promises
Mr. Trudeau first promised a national disability benefit in 2020, but it never passed the idea stage as parliament was dissolved when the prime minister called an election in 2021. The disability benefit was reintroduced in 2022 and passed with unanimous support in Parliament in 2023.Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland defended the program at a press conference in Toronto last week, saying the Liberals have done more than any other federal government in history to help people living with disabilities.
“It would be great to be able to do more and we aspire to that,” she said.
Ms. Freeland also said her government will be working with provinces and territories to ensure the federal money does not result in other benefits being clawed back.
