The announcement of an agreement between the Liberal Party of Canada (PLC) and the New Democratic Party (NDP) had the effect of a bomb last year. Thanks to this agreement, the minority Liberals will be able to remain in power until 2025. A year later, it is still holding up, even if the NDP leader, Jagmeet Singh, remains unsatisfied.
“I’m proud, but not satisfied,” he said in an interview. We got three big victories for the people. We implemented a dental program for children under 12, we doubled the GST tax credit, we helped people pay their rent. So these are things that the Liberals would never have done without being forced into it by us. »
Dissatisfied, the NDP leader is calling for more government assistance for affordable housing, more improvements to the health care system and reform of employment insurance, which does not appear in the agreement. The increase in the GST tax credit is also not included.
“It gave us a bigger bargaining tool to do things outside of the deal,” he notes confidently. It gives us more access to the government, more opportunities to convince them, and we used it. »
Jagmeet Singh and Justin Trudeau are to meet at least quarterly, and then the Liberal and NDP house leaders are to meet regularly, as are the whips. A monitoring group should also meet monthly.
The Conservatives have repeatedly mocked the “Liberal-NDP government” since the deal was struck. And in the ranks of the Bloc, we recall the centralizing tendency of the NDP which, added to that of the Liberals, threatens the autonomy of Quebec.
“What’s the point of having more than 30 Bloc MPs if they can’t change people’s lives when you have only one MP and you’ve had the chance to help thousands of people in Quebec with the changes that we did,” he adds.
Only a few of the 24 priorities listed in the agreement, however, have been implemented by the Liberal government in one year. In addition to the dental program, which will be expanded this year to teens, seniors and people with disabilities, and the change in the definition of affordable housing to the rental housing finance program, there are the ten days of paid sick leave. for federally regulated workers. A Liberal election promise…
Jagmeet Singh denies breaking down doors that are already open. “We managed to get some fossil fuel subsidies cancelled,” retorts the New Democrat leader.
“These are not things that we rushed, these are things that the government said no to and we forced them to say yes,” he argues, citing as an example the government’s votes against the idea of introduced a dental care program and a drug insurance program in previous legislative sessions.
The first real test of the deal, however, could come next week when MPs are called to vote on a Conservative motion to call Katie Telford, chief of staff to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, to testify in the case of the foreign electoral interference.
Mr. Trudeau avoided saying on Friday whether he would make it a vote of confidence. If they have pledged to support the Liberals on votes on the budget and on matters of confidence, such as a motion to grant supply, the NDP is not required to do so for other votes declared as votes. trusted by the government.
“We have not yet decided how we will vote for this motion,” said Jagmeet Singh, deploring in passing the partisan game between the Conservatives and the Liberals.
Under their agreement, the government must inform the NDP as soon as possible if it chooses to make it a matter of confidence. New Democrats must in turn tell the government how they will vote before declaring it publicly.