(Bloomberg) — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s main political opponent tried to force a snap election on Wednesday, but the effort failed due to a lack of support from the other opposition parties in Parliament.
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It’s a scenario that may play out many times in the coming months, as Pierre Poilievre’s Conservative Party is keen to trigger an election but the smaller parties are more interested in negotiating deals with Trudeau’s Liberal Party to achieve policy objectives.
The next election is currently scheduled for October 2025, but because the Liberals don’t control a majority of seats in Parliament, the opposition parties can force an early election if they defeat the government on a key vote.
In this case, Poilievre said he was seeking an election focused on the Trudeau government’s national carbon tax, which has been in place since 2019. Poilievre argues the policy has helped create a cost-of-living crisis for Canadians by driving up the price of transport fuel and home heating. Liberals point out most residents receive more money back in rebates than they pay in the tax.
“This will be a carbon tax referendum and a carbon tax election,” Poilievre said in a speech to Parliament when he introduced his motion to bring down the government.
Poilievre’s Conservatives are far ahead in the polls, suggesting he would win a large majority government if an election were held soon. But he has no other allies willing to send voters to the polls now.
“Why the rush to trigger an election? Is this not the perfect opportunity to negotiate and make progress?” said Simon-Pierre Savard-Tremblay, a lawmaker for the Bloc Quebecois, a party that advocates for the French-speaking province of Quebec, in responding to Poilievre’s speech.
Bloc Leader Yves-Francois Blanchet set a deadline of Oct. 29 for the Liberal government to push through measures that are priorities for his party — improvements to pension benefits and protection for some agricultural sectors from trade negotiations. Should Trudeau fail to meet that deadline, Blanchet said he’d begin talks with the Conservatives and other opposition parties on toppling the government.
New Democratic Party lawmakers, meanwhile, accused Poilievre of wanting an election in order to cut health-care programs. The NDP had been in a formal power-sharing deal with Trudeau’s Liberals until earlier this month, and as a condition of that deal the Liberals had brought in new programs to help cover dental care and some drug costs.
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