Trudeau, Liberals are "too beholden to corporate interests": NDP leader Jagmeet Singh after withdrawing support from govt

Singh said that the video shared online announcing the end of the NDP's political pact with the Liberal government was recorded "close to a month ago." The NDP had struck the confidence-and-supply agreement with Trudeau in 2022.

In an interview on CBC's Power & Politics, Jagmeet Singh said that Trudeau and the Liberals are "too beholden to corporate interests."

Asked to mention specific occasions when the NDP asked the Trudeau-led government to take action on corporate greed and failed, he said food prices, according to CBC News report.

Singh stated, "The Liberals' action was to tell people, and they said this with a straight face, to look at grocery flyers." He said, "They then said they were going to go and ask the CEOs nicely to stabilise prices. None of that worked."

He also spoke about the Trudeau government's decision to direct a labour dispute that happened last month between the Teamsters union and Canada's two largest railways to binding arbitration, CBC News reported.

Jagmeet Singh said that the social media video that announced the termination of his party's political pact with Liberals was recorded before the government announced the decision to move ahead with binding arbitration.

Singh did not mention precisely when the decision was taken to terminate the agreement. However, he insisted that the decision was taken before Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre issued public calls to kill the pact.

He said, "I can tell you that we've made this decision over lots of reflection and the decision was announced yesterday."

While addressing a news conference in Toronto on September 5, Singh said that NDP has ripped up the agreement with Justin Trudeau.

Asked when his party might vote non-confidence in the Trudeau-led government, Singh responded, "I will look at any vote that comes before us and we will make a decision in the best interest of Canadians, as any minority government normally operates."

Asked more than once whether he still has confidence in the Liberal government, he stated, "I will be clear again, we have absolutely ripped up the agreement with Justin Trudeau."

NDP withdrawing support from Trudeau government does not necessarily mean an election is imminent. However, it does place Trudeau government in a more precarious situation, CBC News reported.

The Liberal government without NDP's guaranteed support could be brought down at any time through a non-confidence vote when Parliament returns later this month.

The government can designate any vote a confidence vote, while any bill related to the budget of the government is usually considered a confidence vote. Any Member of Parliament in Canada can also table a motion of non-confidence at any time to try and topple the government.

The Liberals have 154 of the 338 seats in the Parliament and they have to convince at least one of the major opposition parties to vote their way during high-stake votes, the report said. Notably, the confidence-and-supply agreement was scheduled to run until 2025.

In the agreement, the NDP had committed to back the minority Liberal government on confidence votes in exchange for legislative commitments on NDP priorities, like dental care benefits, one-time rental supplements for low-income tenants and a temporary doubling of the GST rebate. However, Liberal government have not yet fulfilled some of the promises that were made to the NDP. (ANI)