Canadian Prime Minister (PM) Justin Trudeau’s minority government survived a parliamentary vote of no confidence on Wednesday after the House of Commons voted 211 to 121 to approve the tabled budget proposed in April this year.
As per news reports, the Conservative opposition rallied together to vote against Trudeau’s Liberal Party, who hung on to power due to the support of three other smaller blocs in the lower chamber. The 2021-2022 budget, tabled on April 1, is yet to be approved by the Senate ahead of the summer recess.
The current budget’s major reform is a $30 billion investment over five years that seeks to set up a network of economical, high-quality public daycares. This move is an effort to encourage women’s participation in the labour market and bring gender equality into the Canadian workforce. Another $17.6 billion in this budget is earmarked for green initiatives and in aid for companies to reduce their carbon footprint and to support public transport projects in the larger developing cities.
PM Trudeau, who enjoys a high approval rating, is likely to call for snap elections by the end of summer to regain a parliamentary majority, which his Liberal Party lost after October 2019’s general election. According to a new Ipsos poll conducted on behalf of Global News in April, “If a federal election were held tomorrow, the Liberals would be poised for a majority victory.” The poll results revealed that the incumbent Liberals under Trudeau would receive 40% of the national popular vote, while Erin O’Toole and the Conservatives would receive 30%.
It is not the first time that the Conservative opposition has attempted to oust Trudeau from power. In October 2020, the Liberal Party narrowly escaped a confidence vote in the House of Commons with figures reading 180 to 146. This vote was also related to the government’s budget spending, where a Conservative motion demanding a special committee on Coronavirus aid spending gathered force and threatened to collapse the sitting government.
The latest no-confidence motion vote comes less than two years since Trudeau retained power in a narrow election win. In the past, no-confidence motions have cost Trudeau keystone policies and resulted in an ethics crisis that cost the PM a long-time finance minister in his cabinet.
Justin Trudeau Survives Vote of No-Confidence
The minority government of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau survived a parliamentary vote of no confidence, eliminating the possibility of early elections this summer.
June 24, 2021
SOURCE: TIME