Tories to Table New Non-Confidence Motion That Quotes NDP’s Criticism of Liberal Government

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre rises during question period in the House of Commons on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Dec. 13, 2023. The Canadian Press/Sean Kilpatrick

The Conservatives plan to table a new non-confidence motion to oust the government, this time based on critical statements NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh has made about the Liberals.

“I agree with Jagmeet Singh that the Trudeau government is ‘greedy’ and ‘anti-worker.’ Now, Jagmeet Singh will have a chance to vote for a non-confidence motion made up entirely of his own words,” Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre said on social media platform X on Nov. 29.

The statement quotes Singh’s previous comments that the Liberals are “too weak, too selfish, and too beholden to corporate interests to fight for people,” and that they will “always cave to corporate greed and always step in to make sure unions have no power.”

The statement notes Singh made the remarks in cancelling the NDP’s supply and confidence agreement with the Liberals in September, which would have propped up the government until June 2025 in exchange for action on certain NDP priorities.

“Therefore, the House agrees with the NDP leader and the House proclaims it has lost confidence in the prime minister and the government,” the motion concludes.

The minority Liberals have counted on the NDP in recent days to break the House of Commons gridlock and pass a bill to give Canadians a two-month holiday on the federal sales tax.

Since Parliament resumed from summer break, the Conservatives have introduced two unsuccessful non-confidence motions. The first, which simply read, “The House has no confidence in the Prime Minister and the Government,” was defeated on Sept. 25 by the Liberals, NDP, Bloc Québécois, and the Greens.

A second Tory motion criticized the Liberal government saying its policies increased the cost of housing and food and called it the most “centralized government in Canadian history.” That motion was defeated on Oct. 1

For a non-confidence motion to be successful, the 119 Conservative MPs would need 33 Bloc MPs and 25 NDP MPs to support them. The Liberals’ 153 MPs, combined with either the Bloc or NDP, would give them the number of votes needed to defeat the motion.

Back in September, Bloc Leader Yves-Francois Blanchet announced that the Liberals would need to support two Bloc private members’ bills before Oct. 29 or the party would begin talks with other parties to bring down the government. The deadline passed without either bill being passed, leading Blanchet to say the Liberal government was “seriously in danger to fall.”