Close X
Saturday, November 2, 2024
ADVT 
National

Liberals survive budget confidence vote

Darpan News Desk The Canadian Press, 27 Apr, 2021 12:49 AM
  • Liberals survive budget confidence vote

With the help of the NDP, Justin Trudeau's minority Liberal government has survived the last of three confidence votes on its massive budget.

The House of Commons approved Monday the government's general budgetary policy by a vote of 178-157.

Liberals were joined by New Democrat MPs in voting for the budget, in accordance with NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh's vow not to trigger an election in the midst of a deadly third wave of COVID-19.

Conservative, Bloc Quebecois and Green MPs voted against the budget.

Votes on the budget are considered confidence matters; had all opposition parties voted against it, the government would have fallen, plunging the country into an election.

The government survived two other confidence votes on the budget last week, on Conservative and Bloc Quebecois amendments to the budget motion.

The budget, introduced last week, commits just over $100 billion in new spending to stimulate the economic recovery, on top of an unprecedented, pandemic-induced deficit of $354 billion in the 2020-21 fiscal year.

The government must eventually introduce a budget implementation bill, which will also be a matter of confidence.

Prime Minister Trudeau last week insisted the big-spending budget is not a launching pad for an election. He would not rule out an election this year, noting that he leads a minority government and saying it will be "up to Parliament to decide when the election is."

While that sounded like Trudeau doesn't intend to pull the plug himself on his government, it didn't preclude the possibility that the Liberals could try to orchestrate their defeat at the hands of opposition parties. Nor did it preclude the possibility that Trudeau could at some point claim that a dysfunctional minority Parliament requires him to seek a majority mandate.

Some Liberal insiders believe Trudeau may pull the plug this summer, provided that the pandemic is relatively under control and vaccines are rolling out smoothly.

 

MORE National ARTICLES

Health Canada to add warning on AstraZeneca

Health Canada to add warning on AstraZeneca
The department's chief medical adviser Dr. Supriya Sharma says the warning comes on the heels of a similar warning in Europe last week but doesn't change Health Canada's analysis that the vaccine's benefits outweigh its risks.

Health Canada to add warning on AstraZeneca

E-scooters get green light in B.C. pilot study

E-scooters get green light in B.C. pilot study
The six participating municipalities where e-scooters will soon be legal are Kelowna, Vernon, Vancouver, West Vancouver and North Vancouver city and district.

E-scooters get green light in B.C. pilot study

Urgent need for waste management in North: report

Urgent need for waste management in North: report
The marine conservation group says northern communities produce a similar level of waste to cities in the south, but have fewer ways to deal with it.

Urgent need for waste management in North: report

Advocates fear jails filling again during pandemic

Advocates fear jails filling again during pandemic
About a year after the first COVID-19 cases emerged in Ontario jails, the update by the Prison Pandemic Partnership says the risk to inmates increases when there is less space.

Advocates fear jails filling again during pandemic

O'Toole brushes off grassroots vote on climate

O'Toole brushes off grassroots vote on climate
Over the weekend, delegates to the Conservatives' policy convention voted down a resolution that would have included the line "climate change is real" in the party's official policy document.

O'Toole brushes off grassroots vote on climate

Canadians still edgy about U.S. visitors: poll

Canadians still edgy about U.S. visitors: poll
It found 70 per cent of 2,200 Canadian respondents were either very or somewhat worried about allowing cross-border travel.

Canadians still edgy about U.S. visitors: poll