Bloc Quebecois Leader Yves-François Blanchet is upping the ante for the Liberals, threatening to move toward an election as soon as next week if the government doesn’t back a plan to increase old-age security payments.
A majority of Liberals voted on Wednesday against a Bloc motion calling on the government to give a royal recommendation to a bill that would increase pensions for seniors under 75 by 10 per cent. The measure will cost more than $3 billion a year.
A private member’s bill that costs money requires government support.
The Bloc, the NDP and the Conservatives voted in favor of the motion, but it only has symbolic weight because it is not binding.
Five Liberal MPs from the Atlantic provinces also voted in favor of the motion, according to the vote result published on the House of Commons website: René Arseneault, Serge Cormier, Mike Kelloway, Ken McDonald and Wayne Long. The Atlantic provinces have the highest proportion of residents over 65 years of age.
Blanchet initially told the Liberals they had until October 29 to support the bill, or he would begin talks with other parties to overthrow the government. After Wednesday’s vote, he said he doesn’t think the Liberals will change course before the end of the month.
“So you have until a few days to follow through with the royal recommendation, and if you don’t, we will start as soon as next week talking to other opposition (parties) about going to elections,” he said.
As Liberal MPs showed up in the House to vote against the motion, MPs from the Conservative and NDP benches booed them.
Liberal House leader Karina Gould said earlier in the day the measure was “not appropriate for an opposition day motion”.
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh said his party would vote with the Bloc because it “has long supported the idea of increasing pensions for seniors.”
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The Liberals increased the pension by 10 percent for seniors over 75 in 2022 and the other opposition parties have backed the Bloc’s push to extend it to younger seniors as well.
Gould said the government sets budget policies and wants to ensure it can continue to support seniors.
Health Minister Mark Holland said on Wednesday morning that supporting the Bloc’s motion would set a “terrible precedent” for how private members’ bills are used.
“I don’t think Canadians want to receive $16 billion in private member bills without any contextualization,” he said.
“I think the Bloc would understand that too.”
Efforts to overthrow the government began as soon as the fall session began in mid-September.
The Conservatives have already used two of their opposition days to table no-confidence motions in the House in the past two weeks. The Liberals survived on both Bloc and NDP votes.
The three opposition parties would likely have to come together to pass a motion of no confidence, but if passed it would bring down the minority government and likely trigger an immediate election.
The Bloc will not have another day of opposition in this session and will not have the opportunity to present its own motion of no confidence. The NDP will get one and the Conservatives another three before the House of Commons takes its Christmas break in mid-December.
The number of opposition days allocated to each session is decided at the beginning of each session, but the government decides when they are scheduled.
Singh did not say whether his party plans to table a no-confidence motion this session, nor whether he would support the Bloc in an attempt to overthrow the government, and said Wednesday that the NDP will take each vote on a case-by-case basis. -base of the case.
There is another vote of confidence on the horizon, on a government ways and means motion to implement changes to the capital gains tax system, which is supported by the NDP and the Bloc, but not the Conservatives. That vote was supposed to take place on Wednesday, but was delayed by some privilege issues in the House of Commons.
The debate over privilege issues does not have a specific timeline, so it was unclear Wednesday night when the ways and means of voting would be rescheduled.
The parliamentary dysfunction that has become characteristic of this fall session was still largely present Wednesday, and House Speaker Greg Fergus continued to urge parliamentarians to tone down their rhetoric during the term. questions.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, responding to a question from Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre about the carbon tax, nearly used an insult by prolonging the “Shh” sound in the word “shameless.” That prompted a warning from Fergus.
Later during question period, Poilievre kissed his bicep repeatedly as Trudeau said his government would keep fighting for Canadians.
© 2024 The Canadian Press
