Copyright cbc
Prime Minister Mark Carney’s government survived its second confidence vote in two days after MPs voted down a Bloc amendment calling on the House to reject the Liberals’ budget. The Liberals and Conservatives voted against the amendment which said the House shouldn’t accept the budget, specifically because it didn’t meet the Bloc Québécois demands. The NDP voted with the Bloc. A similar vote took place on Thursday evening that called for the House to reject the budget because it didn’t satisfy the Conservatives. The Liberals, Bloc and NDP all voted against that sub-amendment. Such votes are usually just procedural and occur without much fanfare — traditionally opposition parties introduce amendments to reject the government’s fiscal plan after every budget. But the Liberals have been signalling over the past month that they aren’t confident they could garner support for the budget, putting heightened attention on these amendment votes. Budget votes are treated as confidence votes, meaning if the government loses Canadians could be heading to another election. Although it’s rare, such budget amendment votes have brought down governments in the past — most recently in 1979 when former prime minister Joe Clark’s short-lived government failed to get support for its budget. MPs have a one-week recess next week for Remembrance Day. MPs are expected to vote on whether or not to approve the budget when they return the following Monday. Thursday and Friday’s votes don't necessarily mean opposition MPs would support the budget itself. The Conservatives already said they won’t, and the Bloc signalled that it likely won’t either. Green Party Leader Elizabeth May — who voted in favour of the Bloc's amendment on Friday — said she’d need to see serious changes to the budget to support the Liberals, while the NDP seems to be mulling its options. Procedural mix-up The Liberal government tabled the budget on Tuesday. It calls for billions of dollars in new spending to help prop up an economy hit hard by U.S. tariffs, along with cuts to the public service that the government says would lead to billions of dollars in savings. Traditionally, the Official Opposition leader moves the main amendment to the budget after their speech to the House of Commons. The third party then has a chance to add a sub-amendment. But Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre finished his speech without moving an amendment and Bloc Leader Yves-François Blanchet jumped at the chance to introduce his own. The Conservatives moved their sub-amendment on Thursday morning. Poilievre's procedural mix-up means little to the overall fate of the budget, or the government. Conservatives have been pushing a few key demands for the budget, which included scrapping the industrial carbon tax and keeping the deficit below $42 billion. The Bloc has been calling for measures such as an increase to federal health transfer to the provinces, and a boost to Old Age Security (OAS) payments for those aged 65 to 74.
