Liberals confident deal with NDP to keep them in power will hold until June

Government House Leader Karina Gould said Tuesday she's confident the NDP supply-and-confidence agreement that keeps the Liberal government in power will hold until its expected end date in June 2025.

That agreement, first signed in March 2022, allows the government to carry on without fear of falling on a confidence vote. If the two parties abide by the deal, there would be no federal election until next summer at the earliest.

Canada's fixed-date election law dictates that a vote will happen in October of next year — but the prime minister could call one earlier than that if he wanted.

«I'm fairly confident that agreement is a good agreement, it's a strong agreement and we'll get to the end of June,» Gould told reporters at the cabinet retreat in Halifax, where ministers have gathered to craft their strategy for the year ahead.

«We signed the agreement until the end of June — that's something that has been signed and agreed to, so I'm going to be working on that premise,» she said.

An NDP spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Gould's confidence comes even as NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh has expressed his frustration with how the government handled the railway workers' dispute last week.

After a day-long work stoppage, the Liberal government stepped in to force the Teamsters union and CN and CPKC to resolve their issues through binding arbitration with the help of a mediator.

Singh laments 'anti-worker precedent'

The union — with NDP backing — wanted to work out its differences with those railways at the bargaining table, saying the government was infringing on their Charter-protected right to collective bargaining. The Canadian Industrial Relations Board (CIRB) sided with the Liberals.

Labour Minister