NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh is terminating the supply-and-confidence agreement his party made with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberal government.
The party is making the announcement in a video being posted on social media Wednesday afternoon. The deal was scheduled to run until June 2025.
“Justin Trudeau has proven again and again he will always cave to corporate greed. The Liberals have let people down. They don’t deserve another chance from Canadians,” Singh said in the video, a transcript of which was obtained by CBC News.
“There is another, even bigger battle ahead. The threat of Pierre Poilievre and Conservative cuts. From workers, from retirees, from young people, from patients, from families — he will cut in order to give more to big corporations and wealthy CEOs.”
Singh said the Liberals will not stand up to corporate interests and he will be running in the next election to “stop Conservative cuts.”
A spokesperson for the NDP told CBC News the plan to end the agreement has been in the works for the past two weeks — and the party would not inform the Liberal government until an hour before the video was scheduled to go live online at 1 p.m. Wednesday.
The confidence-and-supply agreement struck between the two parties in March 2022 committed the NDP to supporting the Liberal government on confidence votes in exchange for legislative commitments on NDP priorities.
The deal, which ensured the survival of the minority Liberal government, was the first such formal agreement between two parties at the federal level.
Last week, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre called on Singh to pull out of the agreement. In response to Poilievre, Peter Julian, the NDP’s House leader, said that “leaving the deal is always on the table for Jagmeet Singh.”
Singh and Trudeau reached the confidence-and-supply agreement more than two years ago. The New Democrats agreed to keep the minority Liberal government in power in exchange for movement on key priorities such as dental care benefits, one-time rental supplements for low-income tenants and a temporary doubling of the GST rebate.
Under Canada’s fixed election law, the next federal election must be held no later than Oct. 20, 2025.
More to come.