Ottawa/CMEDIA: The first of what is reportedly expected to be a series of confidence votes has been survived by the Liberal government during this fall sitting.
In an effort to topple the government and trigger an early election, a non-confidence motion was brought forward this week by Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre.
Following NDP’s backing out of its supply-and-confidence agreement — which said the Liberals could count on the NDP to back them on confidence votes in exchange for movement on certain policy priorities — both NDP and Bloc Québécois had signalled earlier that they wouldn’t support the Conservative motion.
The non-confidence motion was defeated 211-120.
Nearly an hour before the confidence vote Poilievre and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau debated during question period, if Canadians want an election at this time.
Polls having favoured the Conservatives for more than a year, and if they reportedly hold true for the next election, it could result in a Conservative majority government.
Already planning to bring forward a new non-confidence motion on Thursday, with a second vote is expected next week, the Conservatives will be allotted three more opposition days this fall — where opposition motions take priority over government business.
The Bloc and NDP also will be allotted one opposition day each before the House is scheduled to rise for Christmas.
Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet laid out a list of demands Wednesday including hike Old Age Security (OAS) payouts by 10 per cent for seniors between the ages of 65 and 74 adding that government must fulfill it by the end of October if it wants to avoid the risk of an early election.
