OTTAWA – The Federal Liberals and New Democrats have concluded an agreement that, if maintained, will keep Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government in power until the end of the current parliament in exchange for progress on long-standing NDP priorities.
Trudeau announced Tuesday morning that the trust and supply agreement has been brokered, will take effect immediately and will remain in effect until June 2025.
“We are different political parties, we stand for different things. But where we have common goals, we can not let our differences stand in the way of delivering what Canadians deserve. That is why we are taking this step,” Trudeau said.
“It means the government in this uncertain time can function with predictability and stability … and get things done for the Canadians,” the prime minister said, adding that it “was not an easy decision.”
The agreement will prompt the NDP caucus to support the government in future confidence polls and support them on four budgets, in return for progress before the next election on several key policy issues that are shared Liberal-NDP priorities.
NDP leader Jagmeet Singh confirmed the deal on Tuesday, saying his party “uses our power to help people.”
“During this time, everyone I talk to tells me they need help now. And they expect politicians to provide that help. And that’s exactly what we do,” he said.
Called “Deliving for Canaians Now, A Supply and Confidence Agreement”, the two parties have agreed that the government over the next three years will:
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Launches a new low-income Canadian dental care program. Starting with under-12s in 2022, expanding to under-18s, seniors and people living with disabilities in 2023, and then full implementation in 2025, with no deductible for anyone earning less than $ 70,000 annually.
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Continue progress towards a universal national medicines program, adopting a ‘Canada Pharmacare Act’ by the end of 2023, and then instruct the National Medicines Agency to develop a national form of essential medicines and a mass procurement plan by the end of 2025;
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Promote a range of affordability and housing cost measures, including a “Homebuyer’s Bill of Rights” and an “Early Learning and Child Care Act”;
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Continue with policies and programs designed to target climate change;
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Ensure that support for workers is implemented, including support for trade unions and the commencement of a 10-day paid sick leave policy;
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Invest more in indigenous reconciliation, including support for survivors of housing schools;
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Improve fairness in the tax system by addressing profits of large banks during the pandemic; and
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Remove barriers to democratic participation by exploring ways to expand how people can vote, such as improving postal voting and potentially allowing a three-day voting period.
“All of these are things we had on our platform. All of these are things that we have committed to the Canadians that we would work hard on and constructively on, and that’s what this agreement is about. It’s about fulfilling that clear mandate, the Canadians gave Parliament by improving the way we conduct politics, ”Trudeau said.
The agreement, drafted by the party leadership, was presented to Liberals and NDP MPs for approval on Monday night. The news, according to sources, was well received in the liberal caucus. And according to a senior NDP source, while the caucus of this party was not in unanimous support, the majority was.
Prior to his remarks, a senior NDP source told CTV News that the New Democrats were willing to formally support the Liberals now for a number of reasons, including post-pandemic exhaustion and uncertainty about the war in Ukraine, and said they feel that it is important that show parties can work together despite their differences.
WHAT DOES IT MEAN FOR THE PARLIAMENT
According to a liberal source who attended an emergency meeting on the subject Monday night, the deal was billed to lawmakers as “getting parliament to work.”
Trudeau reiterated this sentiment at his news conference, saying Canadians were sending lawmakers back to Ottawa after the 2021 election with a “clear mandate” to work together to deliver results.
The kinds of votes that the NDP must support through this agreement include: budget bills, estimation and delivery legislation, and other proposals that the Liberals consider to be matters of trust. The NDP has also agreed not to move a no-confidence motion or vote for a no-confidence motion tabled by another party during this time.
The NDP has said that they still plan to behave like an opposition party, will continue to push for the government to do more than what is part of this agreement, and should something happen or not, both sides stand free to walk away from the agreement.
“There will be moments where we disagree … But we are hopeful that there will be opportunities outside the agreement where we can actually get more for people, and we will continue to do so,” Singh said.
Asked whether this move weakens the new Democrats electively, giving the Liberals the opportunity to potentially call for the implementation of health program expansions, Singh said he does not care because people will eventually be able to get their teeth fixed and afford medicine.
Trudeau said Tuesday that the agreement is not about compromising any of the parties’ core beliefs and that there will continue to be “healthy debate” between the parties. Likewise, the Liberals will continue to look to other caucuses in the House of Commons for support for issues that the NDP may not support, such as increased defense spending in response to the ongoing Russia-Ukraine crisis.
“Every piece of legislation will continue to have the control it deserves, committees will continue to carry out their essential work, and members of parliament will continue to represent their constituents and hold the government to account,” the prime minister said.
As part of the agreement, the parties have agreed on a system of “no surprises” and will often speak in favor of staying on the same page. This will include the adoption of quarterly management meetings, regular meetings between their home managers and whips, and monthly “inventory meetings” from a supervisory group of staff and politicians.
They have also stated that the NDP supports “a limited number” of so-called programming proposals, such as time allocation or closure, to help quickly adopt legislation that both parties support.
The agreement will also mean that the NDP will deliver briefings from ministers and top bureaucrats on political issues included in the agreement, including on the budget and legislation.
CONSERVATIVES AWAY “COALITION”
As the Liberals are in a minority position as long as this agreement is maintained, it will add several years of federal stability, allowing Trudeau’s cabinet to continue to advance their priorities without worrying about falling on a vote of confidence.
As the last federal election was in 2021, the next scheduled vote would take place in October 2025. This agreement is set to remain in force until Parliament rises in June 2025, allowing for an early election that summer.
Since the Liberals were first reduced to a minority in 2019, the NDP has often been the government’s main ally, voting to support their initiatives, but that support had never been formalized. Of the 338 seats, the Liberals currently have 159, the Conservatives have 119, the Quebecois bloc has 32, the NDP has 25, the Greens have two, and there is an independent MP.
Federal conservatives are reacting strongly in opposition to the news, with interim Conservative leader Candice Bergen telling reporters after the deal was sealed Tuesday morning that the “coalition” or “NDP-Liberal majority government” will be costly for Canadians.
“That was not what the Canadians voted for, just a few months ago. They did not vote for an NDP liberal government that would spend billions of dollars,” she said.
There are differences between the agreement that the Liberals and the NDP have entered into and Bergen’s proposal that Canada now has a majority government governed by a formal coalition.
The latter is when parties come together to hold a larger share of seats than any other party, and where the cabinet includes members from both parties. Extremely rarely in Canada has a coalition government not been formed federally in modern political times. There have been examples in the past of trust and supply agreements both federally and provincially in Canada.
“There are many liberals who come to me and say that they are very concerned about the economic direction under a Justin Trudeau government. I can not imagine this morning how they feel,” said Bergen, claiming that Singh now “basically” is deputy prime minister under this agreement, promising to hold both parties to account.
Chrystia Freeland remains Canada’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance. No members of the NDP join the federal cabinet.
The Conservative Party is due to elect its next leader in September, and if this major dynamic shift in the domestic political landscape continues, victory will face their first few years in the job as leader of the official opposition.
In response to the Bergen coalition’s claims and proposals, the NDP is now “responsible,” Singh said: “I want to make sure it’s really clear: this is not a coalition. We never intended it to be a coalition. “and it has never been something we have put forward either. Honestly, it was not offered and I would not have accepted it either.”
Commenting on the deal, Bloc Quebecois leader Yves-Francois Blanchet told reporters he was not urged by the Liberals to join the pact, but had a “cordial” conversation with Trudeau before the deal was announced.
“I explained to him that he has nothing more to fear from the block now than before … We will try to improve things and if they do things that we agree on, we will continue to agree, but we will never surrender what we are, our responsibilities or the mandate given to us, ”Blanchet said.
“I remind everyone that all citizens who voted for the NDP did not vote for the Liberals,” he added.
Featuring files from CTV News’ Mike Le Couteur