Skip to content

Serious or stunt? Poilievre challenges Singh to force federal election

Conservative leader reacts to end of Liberal-NDP confidence-and-supply agreement from B.C. campaign trail
poilievre-img_9745
Conservative Party of Canada leader Pierre Poilievre holds a press conference Wednesday, Sept. 4, at Maffeo Sutton Park.

The leader of the federal Conservatives, campaigning in Nanaimo today, suggested it isn't up to him whether the end of the NDP-Liberal governance agreement will lead to an early election.

Pierre Poilievre held a press conference Wednesday, Sept. 4, at the Vancouver Island city's Maffeo Sutton Park, where he criticized the confidence-and-supply agreement between the Liberals and the NDP that helped keep Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's Liberal Party in power with a minority government, and characterized NDP leader Jagmeet Singh's decision to end the agreement as a stunt.

Earlier in the day, Singh announced via social media that he had torn up the agreement, saying that the Liberals have let people down and that Trudeau always "caves" to corporate interests.

At the press conference in Nanaimo, Poilievre said next steps will depend partly on this fall's parliamentary schedule.

"Right now we don't have a calendar to indicate when we can put forward a motion, but the NDP will have to choose…" he said. "[Singh] is going to have to vote on whether he keeps Justin Trudeau's costly government in power, or whether he triggers a carbon tax election so Canadians can elect a common-sense government that axes the tax, builds the homes, fixes the budget and stops the crime."

Poilievre said the end of the confidence-and-supply agreement does give his party new pathways to an early election, but he added that it will still depend if Singh "is serious or a stuntman."

"Will he vote for a carbon tax election at the earliest opportunity, or will he vote again to keep the costly coalition with Trudeau in power?"

Breaking News You Need To Know

Sign up for free account today and start receiving our exclusive newsletters.

Sign Up with google Sign Up with facebook

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Reset your password

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

A link has been emailed to you - check your inbox.



Don't have an account? Click here to sign up


About the Author: Greg Sakaki

I have been in the community newspaper business for two decades, all of those years with Black Press Media.
Read more



Pop-up banner image