The Bloc would still support the Trudeau government if it accedes to its demands

Photo: Adrian Wyld The Canadian Press If the two Bloc projects become law, the Liberals will have the assurance that the Bloc will prevent the government from falling between now and the holidays, Yves-François Blanchet maintained.

Émilie Bergeron – The Canadian Press in Ottawa

Published at 16:20 Updated at 18:45

• Canada

The Bloc Québécois still hopes that the Liberals will accede to its two demands, even if the deadline imposed by the sovereignist party on the minority government has passed.

“It is possible that the government still wants to advance [the bill] protecting supply management and even the treatment for retirees aged 65 to 74,” Bloc leader Yves-François Blanchet said Tuesday, returning to his party's two demands.

Bargaining its support for the government's survival until Christmas, the Bloc had given the Liberals until October 29 to pass two of its bills, C-382 and C-319.

Neither of the two Bloc proposals has become law, but Mr. Blanchet believes that achieving the Bloc's objectives is still possible.

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“It could still happen,” he said. If this is the case, the Liberals will have the assurance that the Bloc will prevent the government from falling before the holidays, Mr. Blanchet maintained.

The team of Liberal House Leader Karina Gould would not confirm to The Canadian Press whether discussions with the Bloc are progressing well.

“I am having conversations with all the parties and we will continue with that,” Gould replied in a press scrum.

Parliamentary paralysis

For C-319 to move forward in its study by the House of Commons, the parliamentary paralysis that has been in place for over a month would first have to be unblocked.

“To pass a law, Parliament has to work and we, moreover, are a little tired of a Parliament that just does not function. It has become normal, the dysfunction of the Canadian Parliament,” lamented Mr. Blanchet.

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Thus, it would support the Liberals in a closure motion that would end the impasse in the Commons if the government, in exchange, agreed to pass Bill C-319. Bill C-382, for its part, has been under study in the Senate for about a year and a half, and the Bloc wants the Liberals to force senators to pass the legislation.

The regular business of the House of Commons is on ice because, at the request of the Conservatives, two questions of privilege have been debated for weeks and are preventing MPs from considering any other item on the agenda. The Conservatives say they want to force the government to release documents requested in committee and which have not been communicated.

However, the debate has dragged on and no vote on these two questions of privilege has been held to end the lengthy discussion and move on to something else.

Ms. Gould implored the Conservatives to “end the political games and let the House get back to its work.”