Tories to Introduce Non-Confidence Motion Next Week in Bid to Trigger Election

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre rises during Question Period, in Ottawa, June 19, 2024. The Canadian Press/Adrian Wyld

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre plans to table a non-confidence motion next week in a bid to trigger an election and topple the Liberal government.

The motion reads, “The House has no confidence in the Prime Minister and the Government,” and will be up for final vote on Sept. 25.

“The decision will be up to Jagmeet Singh and the NDP. Are they going to vote to keep this costly, carbon tax prime minister in power,” Poilievre said in the House of Commons on Sept. 18.

“Are they going to sell out again, or are they going to vote to trigger a carbon tax election so that Canadians can axe the tax, build the homes, fix the budget, and stop the crime?”

Poilievre said a copy of the non-confidence motion had been emailed to the NDP, and called on Singh to “announce your position on this motion to trigger a carbon tax election.”

A successful non-confidence motion typically leads to the government dissolving Parliament. The move would bring Canada into a fall election, while a failed vote would mean Parliament carries on as usual. Since the Liberals currently hold 154 of the 338 seats in Parliament, they would need either the NDP’s 25 MPs or the Bloc Quebecois’ 33 representatives to vote with them for the non-confidence motion to fail.

The Conservative Party, which has 119 seats and has been ahead of the governing Liberals in the polls for more than a year, have been eager to call for an election. The most recent Nanos poll from Sept. 17 indicates the Liberals have the support of 24.5 percent of Canadians, compared with the Conservatives at 41.6 percent and the NDP at 22.4 percent.

The Liberal Party recently had two surprise byelection losses in the ridings of Toronto-St. Paul’s in June and LaSalle-Émard-Verdun on Sept. 17—two regions that have long been Liberal strongholds. The party also recently lost its national campaign director Jeremy Broadhurst, whose resignation takes effect Sept. 30.

NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh has not been clear about how his party would vote on a non-confidence motion. He has repeatedly said his party would examine each vote that comes before the House individually, but has not committed specifically to voting for a non-confidence motion.

Under the supply and confidence agreement with the Liberals signed in March 2022, the NDP agreed to support the government in confidence matters until June 2025 in exchange for the support of NDP priorities such as pharmacare and dental care. This would have meant the next federal election would not be scheduled until Oct. 20, 2025, had the agreement remained in place.

Singh announced his party had “ripped up” the supply and confidence agreement on Sept. 4, citing the Liberals’ failure to take on “corporate greed” and adequately address affordability issues.

Bloc Quebecois Position

Bloc Quebecois Leader Yves-Francois Blanchet has been more clear about the conditions under which he would support a non-confidence agreement. Blanchet said on Sept. 17 he would not be eager to go into an election until “I get the impression that the Liberals won’t be inclined to give us what we want.”

Blanchet has said his party would try to achieve concessions from the Liberals in exchange for backing the government on confidence votes. Speaking to his caucus on Sept. 18, Blanchet said an early election could compromise progress on Bloc priorities such as medical assistance in dying and support for seniors.

“We will be voting on whether things are good for us or bad for us, and the government may or may not fall, that’s not what we'll be voting on,” Blanchet said. “We mustn’t let our haste to go to the polls divert us from our responsibility to get something done.”

Liberal House leader Karina Gould has said Singh had put the NDP’s progressive priorities at risk by leaving the supply and confidence deal, and encouraged him to vote alongside the Liberals in a confidence motion.

“If he cares about climate change, if he cares about PharmaCare, if he cares about dental care, if he cares about continuing to advance a progressive agenda for Canadians, he’s going to have to demonstrate that to Canadians,” she said while speaking to reporters on Sept. 18.

Natural Resources and Energy Minister Jonathan Wilkinson said the Liberals would need to find ways to work together with opposition parties, and that they are “ready” for a non-confidence vote.

“I think it’s important that we actually get this the first one out of the way,” he said.