Liberals narrowly avoid snap federal election on budget vote
OTTAWA — The Liberals just barely managed to avoid a snap election during the holiday season, thanks to Green Party Leader Elizabeth May, two abstentions from the Conservatives and two more from the NDP.
Prime Minister Mark Carney’s government was facing its third and final confidence vote on the main motion of the budget tabled on November 4. The fiscal document has drawn criticism from all sides because of its higher deficit but also because of billions in cuts.
In the hours preceding the vote on Monday, speculation was rampant as to which opposition parties or MPs would ultimately side with the government or simply abstain from voting — thus giving the minority Liberals enough votes to win the vote.
As he entered the House of Commons for the vote, Carney seemed confident his government would not fall that evening. “Looking good,” he said.
In the end, the confidence vote was narrowly passed by 170 to 168 votes, ensuring that the government survives another day.
The entire Liberal caucus of 169 MPs voted in favour of the motion, as did May with her single vote — sparking applause from the Liberals and some groans from the Tory benches.
As expected, the 22 Bloc Québécois MPs all stood against the motion, while 141 out of 143 Conservative MPs and five out of seven NDP MPs voted against.
NDP MPs Lori Idlout and Gord Johns abstained during the vote, while Conservative MPs Matt Jeneroux and Shannon Stubbs were not in the House and did not vote.
Jeneroux, who announced he would be resigning as an MP next spring, was nowhere to be found on Monday. As for Stubbs, her office said she was on approved medical leave after a surgery.
“Her surgical team ordered several weeks of strict bedrest, no speaking, and limited movement to ensure a safe recovery,” according to an unsigned statement from her office.
After the vote was done and that the motion was sure to pass, Conservative House leader Andrew Scheer and Conservative MP Scott Reid ran back into the House, looking frazzled, to tell the Speaker that they had an issue with the voting application and wanted to vote “no.”
Facing reporters after the vote, interim NDP Leader Don Davies said that while the budget fails to deliver on the party’s key priorities, he said it was an irresponsible move to plunge the country into an election only a few months after the last one and at a time when the country faces economic challenges with the Trump administration.
“When the next election comes, whatever that may be, Canadians will hold Mark Carney responsible and to account for his record and for the choices that he made in this budget. But today, New Democrats are choosing stability over political gain,” he said.
Davies said that while his party had discussions with the government, it did not receive anything in return for those two abstentions.
Monday’s close vote brought an end to a day filled with speculation and surprises.
May announced that she will be voting for the budget Monday afternoon after hearing a clear commitment from Carney, after questioning him in the House during question period, that his government will respect Canada’s climate targets.
“Without what I heard from the prime minister today, I would have voted ‘no,’” she said.
May had previously said she would be voting against the budget as it was written, but that she was open to negotiating with the Liberal government to find a path forward. She also said she heard constituents that they do not want an election to happen by “accident.”
“Maybe I’m a fool. I’ll leave that for history to decide. But I did what I thought was right,” she told reporters.
Throughout the day, Liberal MPs expressed cautious optimism that their government would garner enough support to pass the confidence motion and avoid an election — even though they were not exactly sure which parties or MPs would vote in favour or abstain.
“I’m confident it’ll pass. These things have a way of working themselves out, I believe,” said Ontario MP James Maloney, who is also chair of the Liberal caucus.
“Anyways, fingers crossed but I don’t think we need to cross our fingers.”
Alberta MP Corey Hogan said he thought the vote would be “narrowly passed” and hoped that his government would be able to take the win and move on to the next steps.
“Hopefully, for the sake of all Canadians who don’t want a Christmas election, we’ll be able to move on and start delivering on this budget,” he said.
Liberals had already managed to survive two confidence votes related to the budget earlier this month — a Bloc Québécois amendment and a Conservative sub-amendment.
After Monday’s melodrama, there will be a fourth one.
Yet another confidence vote is scheduled on Tuesday for a ways and means motion which needs to pass in order for a budget implementation act to be introduced.
— With files from Stephanie Taylor and Christopher Nardi.
National Post
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