New Democratic Party of Canada withdraws support for Trudeau’s Liberals

Canada’s left-wing New Democratic Party (NDP) has scrapped a two-and-a-half-year deal with Justin Trudeau’s Liberals that helped keep his minority government in power.

In a video posted on social media Wednesday, New Democratic Party leader Jagmeet Singh said he had informed the prime minister of his decision, saying the Liberals were “too weak, too selfish” to fight for Canadians.

The deal – known as the “supply and confidence” agreement – ​​saw the New Democratic Party support the Liberals in confidence votes.

The announcement does not automatically mean that a federal election is imminent, but it does mean that Canadians can head to the polls ahead of the October 2025 election.

In a statement on Wednesday, Mr Singh said the no-confidence vote “will be taken into consideration” for any confidence motion.

The loss of a vote of confidence in Parliament may result in general elections.

“The NDP is ready for an election,” Mr Singh said.

Mr Trudeau and Mr Singh reached an agreement in March 2022, with the Liberals pledging to support the NDP on several of the party’s key priorities in Parliament.

The deal differed from a coalition in which the parties shared power.

Instead, the Liberals, who failed to win a majority in the last two elections, governed as a minority but received assurances that the NDP would support them in confidence votes.

In return, Mr Singh’s party secured progress on key priorities, including dental benefits for lower-income families and a national pharmaceutical programme covering contraceptives and insulin.

It was the first formal agreement of its kind between the two parties at the federal level.

Until this spring, Mr Singh and senior members of his party had publicly supported the deal.

However, the NDP leadership reportedly began reassessing the contract last month after Mr. Trudeau’s cabinet ordered the Industrial Relations Board to impose binding arbitration after Canada’s two largest railways went on a work stoppage.

In announcing his intention to scrap the deal, Mr Singh said the Liberals had “let their people down” and “do not deserve another chance from Canadians”.

Speaking at an event in Newfoundland, Mr Trudeau told reporters he was confident he could improve the workings of Parliament and intended to focus on “doing what’s best for Canadians”.

“I will let others focus on politics,” he said, adding that he hoped the next elections would be held “no earlier than autumn” so that his government would have time to implement its programme.

In recent years, Canadian voters have become increasingly frustrated with issues like rising inflation and the housing affordability crisis.

This has been reflected in polls, with the Liberals having been in freefall for months, and national opinion polls showing the party lagging behind the opposition Conservatives by about 18 percentage points.

On Wednesday, Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre criticised Singh for failing to commit to a no-confidence vote, describing the announcement as a “trick”.

Last week he wrote an open letter calling on Mr Singh to withdraw from the deal with the Liberals.

“Nobody voted for you to keep Trudeau in power. You have no mandate to drag him out another year,” Mr. Poilievre wrote.

Mr Trudeau has been in power since 2015, and in 2019 and 2021 the Liberals won elections – albeit from a minority.