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Canada conservatives move another no-confidence motion
Pierre Poilievre did not present the motion himself as it was Luc Berthold, the deputy opposition House leader of the party, who took the initiative.
Canada's Conservative Party of Canada leader Pierre Poilievre speaks during Question Period in the House of Commons on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada September 25, 2024. / REUTERS/Blair Gable
In less than 24 hours after the defeat of the no-confidence motion, the Canadian House of Commons is debating again whether the Justin Trudeau-led minority Liberal government should continue in office or not.
Conservatives tabled again a fresh no-confidence motion in the House of Commons on Sept. 26, saying "The House has lost confidence in the government and offers Canadians the option to axe the tax, build the homes, fix the budget and stop the crime," the motion reads, repeating some of Poilievre's preferred slogans.
This second motion follows a fractious day in the House during question hour, when MPs traded pointed barbs and engaged in some name-calling.
Pierre Poilievre did not present the motion himself as it was Luc Berthold, the deputy opposition House leader of the party, who took the initiative.
Interestingly, on Sept. 24, when the House took up the first no-confidence motion, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was not present in the House. And, when the record second no-confidence in three days against the continuation of Justin Trudeau-led minority Liberal government came up, the Leader of Opposition was at the back of the stage.
Echo of the acrimonious exchanges between Justin Trudeau and Pierre Poilievre before the first motion was put to vote yesterday reverberated in the House again today as the Conservatives changed their slogan and wording of the resolution before it was taken up.
"Who could be against this?" Poilievre asked in question an hour after his deputy had presented the motion.
Though Bloc Quebecois has served an ultimatum on the Liberals giving it time until Oct. 29 to end the categorisation of pensioners belonging to the senior citizens category and protect supply-managed farm sectors like dairy, eggs, and poultry from future trade deals.
Bloc Leader Yves-François Blanchet has already said in so many words that if the federal government did not meet his demands, he would push for an early election.
Going by the fate of the first no-confidence motion and no immediate change in the stance of either the NDP or the Bloc Quebecois, the second no-confidence motion is also unlikely to get the majority vote it needs to force an early election.
After ending the supply-and-confidence agreement it had with the Liberals, the NDP has been coy about how long it is willing to support the government; party representatives have said only that they will evaluate these votes on a "case-by-case" basis.
Poilievre's new motion calls on MPs to trigger a federal election because home prices and crime rates are up, among other perceived failures.
The Liberal House Leader Karina Gould, while responding to the motion, said: "Who's opposed to that motion? Canadians."
"If Canadians are against all of those things, if that's the case, why would not she let them decide in a carbon tax election now?" Poilievre said in return.
Gould said that it was "a little sad" that Poilievre is reviving a motion similar to one that was voted down.
"I think it shows his desperation," she said.
Even after the second motion fails given the NDP and Bloc Quebecois opposing it, the Conservatives will still have three more opportunities to table non-confidence motions before Christmas to try to bring down the Liberals and send Canadians to the polls. The Liberals are also vulnerable to being toppled through upcoming votes on spending-related matters, which are usually considered confidence votes.
Since Canada follows the Westminster system of parliamentary democracy, the prime minister and his government need the confidence of a majority of MPs to remain in office.
For its continuation in office by winning those confidence votes, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his cabinet have to win over one of the major opposition parties on its side.
Meanwhile, a crass remark from a Conservative MP in question period about the Prime Minister was condemned as homophobic.
Speaker Greg Fergus asked Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to withdraw his statement that the Liberals are ‘used to casual homophobic comments from the other side’ of the House of Commons. After being asked again by the Speaker, Trudeau said he would withdraw his use of the word ‘crap.’ He had said that the Liberals were forced to deal with a barrage of "crap" from the Conservatives daily.
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