For the 23rd time, Jagmeet Singh refuses to say whether he has confidence in the Trudeau government

Photo: Christinne Muschi The Canadian Press NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh spoke to the media on the sidelines of his party's caucus in Montreal.

Boris Proulx

Published at 14:14 Updated at 16:37

• Canada

New Democratic Party (NDP) Leader Jagmeet Singh concluded his first series of meetings with his caucus in Montreal on Thursday since breaking away from his deal with the Liberals, but without revealing whether his party still has confidence in the government.

A compilation from Devoir shows that Mr. Singh had the opportunity on at least 23 occasions to specify his intentions regarding a vote expected at the start of the parliamentary session that could withdraw Parliament’s confidence in the Trudeau government, and thus trigger new federal elections.

“For each vote, we said that we will think about it, and we will decide what is in the interest of Canadians,” Mr. Singh tirelessly repeated on Thursday.

Reporters have been scrambling to extract clues about his appetite for new elections since he decided last Wednesday to break the deal he had struck with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, now labeled “too weak” to stand up to the wealthy bosses. The deal was originally intended to avoid an election until next year.

“I'm not going to say where we stand now,” Singh replied, for example, on the grounds that he had not yet “looked at” the motion of no confidence that the Conservatives intend to table at the first opportunity.

Already, the day after his social media post announcing the end of his cooperation with the Liberals, Singh had to answer 11 versions of the same question: will his decision plunge the country into an election?? “I can't guess when the election will be!” ” he had mentioned, after having said that he was also “not afraid to trigger an election”.

Read also

• Pierre Poilievre challenges the Bloc and the NDP to bring down the government
• Yves-François Blanchet denies wanting to reach agreements with the Liberals

200% Deposit Bonus up to €3,000 180% First Deposit Bonus up to $20,000

A back-to-school season that promises to be eventful

The desire for new federal elections is itching the leader of the Conservative Party of Canada, Pierre Poilievre. “It's up to the NDP to sell out!” ” he chanted during a press briefing on Wednesday, in a call also directed towards the Bloc Québécois to get behind his attempt to bring down the Trudeau government as soon as parliament resumes.

“[Jagmeet Singh] needs to answer the question he dodged 31 times!” the Conservative leader continued, somewhat exaggerating the number of times his NDP opponent was directly challenged on the subject.

The subject of the upcoming federal election has, however, been very present in the NDP’s speeches for the past week. The fourth party in the Commons is trying to reframe the current political debate as a struggle between its vision and that of the Conservative Party of Canada. Mr. Singh repeats that he will run “to be prime minister.”

“There's no way Justin Trudeau's Liberals can win the next election, so it's going to be between Pierre Poilievre and Jagmeet Singh,” argued NDP MP Alexandre Boulerice on the sidelines of his caucus meeting in Montreal.

Discussions between Liberals and Bloc Québécois

The Bloc Québécois has for its part opened the door to allowing the Trudeau government to survive “for a little while”, in exchange for specific public policies. While visiting the LaSalle-Émard-Verdun by-election grounds on Wednesday with several MPs, leader Yves-François Blanchet mentioned increasing the pension for seniors aged 65 to 74, as well as removing the religious exception in the definition of hate speech in Canada.

Le Devoir was able to confirm that the first discussions were held on Tuesday between the parliamentary leaders of the Liberal Party and the Bloc Québécois, a few days before the start of the parliamentary session in Ottawa next Monday.

While he wants to keep the suspense as to his position on the imminent Conservative censure motion, New Democrat Jagmeet Singh has revealed that he has no intention of voting for a possible back-to-work bill for Air Canada pilots. “If [the Liberals] want to make back-to-work legislation a vote of confidence, let them do it. We will always oppose it,” he said, just days before a possible strike or lockout at the airline.