Conservative and Bloc parties rally against federal budget, NDP cautiously waits to give verdict
The leaders of the Conservative, Bloc Québécois, and Green parties have indicated they will vote against the Liberals’ latest budget, while the NDP leader said he would discuss the budget with the prime minister before deciding.
“One in four kids cannot afford food, and now he’s adding $40 billion of new debt and new spending. That’s $2,400 of new inflation [for each Canadian],” Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre said in the House of Commons following the tabling of the budget.
“That is why Conservatives will vote against this wasteful inflationary budget that is like a pyromaniac spraying gas on the inflationary fire that [the prime minister] lit.”
The 2024 budget, tabled by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Chrystia Freeland on April 16, involves $53 billion in new spending over the next five years and includes $8.5 billion in new spending on housing. The budget projects the government will post a $40 billion deficit this fiscal year.
Mr. Poilievre brought up the issue of increasing government deficits and what he sees as the Liberal government’s lack of focus on balancing the budget. “This is the ninth deficitary budget since the prime minister promised that the books would balance themselves, and everything he’s spending on has gotten worse,” he said, highlighting the rising cost of housing and food.
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“After nine deficits, … the government is rich and the people are poor. And today, they’re doing the same thing over again, with $40 billion worth of inflationary deficit.”
Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet also told reporters his party had been claiming for a month that it would not support the federal budget, as it had “intrusions” in Quebec’s provincial jurisdiction. He said the budget also continued supporting the oil and gas industry and provided insufficient support for seniors, which were conditions for the party’s support.
“None of our conditions have been respected, so we of course will vote against it,” he said.
Mr. Blanchet added he was not concerned that the Liberal government would fall due to a lack of House support for the budget, claiming that NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh would eventually vote in favor of the legislation. “We already know what will happen. Mr. Singh will come here and find an explanation for his keeping supporting the Liberals,” he said.
NDP Won’t Say Whether It Will Support Budget
Speaking to reporters following the budget announcement, Mr. Singh said he had concerns with the budget providing insufficient support for people living with disabilities and indigenous groups, cutting 5,000 federal employee positions, and not including a wealth tax on the excess profits of the oil and gas, telecommunications, and grocery companies making “record profits.”
Mr. Singh told reporters it was too early to tell whether his party would vote in favor of the budget. “Where we’re at right now is, there’s things in the budget that we fought for that are there. There’s problems that we have. I want to hear what the plan is for the prime minister to address my concerns,” he said.
Due to the supply and confidence agreement the Liberals have with the New Democrats, which keeps the Liberals in power until 2025 in exchange for delivering on NDP priorities like pharmacare and dental care, a lack of support from Mr. Singh’s party could result in a loss of confidence of the House of Commons and an early election.
Green Party Leader Elizabeth May also said her party would vote against the 2024 budget, as it had insufficient support for social housing and an inadequate planned disability benefit of $200 a year.
“The budget falls far short of our hopes,” she said. “It’s not meeting the moment. We need transformative, dramatic changes to our society to be able to afford the things we need.”
