Justin Trudeau is the Canadian Liberal Prime Minster. He has reached an agreement with New Democratic Party, the left-leaning opposition party to keep power until 2025, despite widespread criticism of his government.
The leader announced a “supply-and-confidence” pact with the NDP on Tuesday, telling reporters the coalition government would bring “Stability” to Canadian politics.
The agreement means Trudeau’s Liberal Party will not only remain in power for the full four-year term but that the NDP will back its positions on budgets and confidence votes. Together, the two parties have 184 votes in the 338-seat House of Commons – 14 more than the majority they need – and will permit the coalition to remain in power for the full term.
The table also included issues such as a program to provide dental care for families with low incomes, fighting climate change and ending the public funding of fossil fuel industries.
NDP leader Jagmeet Singh insisted his party was “We are not going to allow the Liberal government to get away with it.”
However, the opposition Conservative Party found the coalition agreement to be a “Trudeau makes a shaming attempt to retain power,” with interim leader Candice Bergen saying “Canadians didn’t vote for the NDP government” and calling the result “Nothing more than backdoor Socialism.” Yves-Francois Blanchet of the Bloc Quebecois had a similar opinion, calling the agreement a “False majority”
A poll conducted last month during the Freedom Convoy trucker protests against vaccination mandates for drivers who cross the border for work found just 29% of residents believed the PM had behaved “As a prime Minister should” during the protest, with less than half determining he was “You can be the prime minister.” Just 16% said they would vote for him based on his actions in the preceding two weeks.
Trudeau’s heavy-handed response to the demonstration – freezing the bank accounts and seizing other assets of protesters – was seen as government overreach even by some who had not supported the truckers’ protest itself.
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The PM has also been widely criticized for his government’s response to the pandemic, with ultra-strict border controls keeping some families apart for over two years. Last month’s survey showed that over half of Canadians favor an immediate halt to any pandemic restrictions. Meanwhile, truckers were camped out in Ottawa, for weeks. The provincial governments started quietly reducing the controls.
Trudeau held a snap vote last September to secure a parliamentary majority. He failed to win a majority, but he said that the election was a mandate for his party moving forward.
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