Poilievre Demands Confidence Vote on Liberal Mini-Budget on Day of Freeland’s Resignation

December 16, 2024 TruthUSA

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre called for the Liberals to not only table their Fall Economic Statement, but allow it to be a confidence motion, hours after Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland resigned from cabinet.

“The answer is just for them to table [the fall economic statement] and let’s vote up or down,” Poilievre told reporters on Dec. 16.

“And if the fall economic update is defeated, then it would be a non-confidence vote, and we would proceed to a carbon tax election.”

Freeland sent a letter to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau earlier today to announce her resignation from cabinet. She said Trudeau told her last week he no longer wanted her to serve as finance minister. Despite being offered another cabinet position, Freeland determined the only “viable path” was for her to resign.

Freeland said cabinet ministers need to have the “full confidence” of the prime minister, and it was clear that she no longer had that confidence. The letter also suggested there were disagreements between Freeland and Trudeau over how best to manage Canada’s finances over the next few years.

Freeland’s announcement led to the Fall Economic Statement being pushed back to the afternoon. Poilievre, who had been set to deliver a press conference in the morning, also pushed it back following Freeland’s announcement.

Poilievre told reporters the Liberal government was “spiralling out of control” at the “very worst time” given the incoming U.S. administration has threatened to impose 25 percent tariffs on Canada if it does not adequately deal with illegal immigration and drug smuggling along its border.

Poilievre also suggested the Fall Economic Statement is poised to reveal that the Canadian government will “smash through” its fiscal guardrail. The federal government made a promise to keep the federal deficit below $40.1 billion,
but during a recent press conference, Freeland repeatedly refused to say whether the government would meet this target.

“Canadians were already anxious about the reckless $40 billion deficit the government had announced last spring, but today, in mere hours, they were expected to learn that it was much higher than that,” Poilievre said. “The prime minister … pushed Ms. Freeland to bring on massive, unsustainable, irresponsible spending increases.”

Poilievre said Canadians could not deal with “this kind of chaos, division, weakness, while we’re staring down the barrel of a 25 percent tariff from our biggest trading partner.” He said that’s why there needs to be an election and a chance for Canada to elect a new leader.

Poilievre also accused NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh, whose party has voted in favour of the Liberals in past non-confidence votes, of holding up the government.

“We simply cannot go on like this, and it is up to Jagmeet Singh now to make that realization,” Poilievre said.

Singh criticized the Liberals in comments to reporters on Freeland’s resignation on Dec. 16, saying they are “fighting themselves instead of fighting for Canadians,” and that because of this Trudeau needs to resign. When asked if that meant his party would vote in favour of a non-confidence motion, Singh said “all options are on the table.”

Source link