Sep 16, 2024 - 09:26
By cbc.ca

MPs return to Parliament under a shaky minority government — and expected plays for power

Parliamentarians return for the fall sitting today after a heated summer drastically altered the dynamics in the House of Commons.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will be leading an unstable minority government in the wake of last week's announcement by NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh to end the supply-and-confidence agreement that had ensured the Liberal government's survival for more than two years.

This leaves the Liberal government on shakier ground heading into the fall sitting, since it can't rely on the NDP's support to prop it up on confidence votes.

Here's what you can expect as MPs return to a minority-led government under a new political landscape:

Poilievre says he will trigger non-confidence vote

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre says his party will put forward a non-confidence motion «at the earliest possible opportunity» in an effort to trigger a federal election.

And he's demanding the NDP support the motion to prove that the move to tear up the deal with Liberals was not just a meaningless «stunt.»

«Canadians cannot wait. They need to vote now for common sense Conservatives, and Jagmeet Singh needs to vote with us to trigger a carbon tax election now,» Poilievre said in an address to his caucus on Sunday.

A party can only continue governing as long as it has the confidence of the House — that is, the support of a majority of MPs.

Though the NDP has pulled out of its deal with the Liberals, that doesn't necessarily mean it will vote non-confidence and trigger an election anytime soon. So far, the NDP has given no sign it wants to send Canadians to polls right now.