Canada’s left-wing New Democratic Party (NDP) has pulled the plug on a two-and-a-half-year-old agreement with Justin Trudeau’s Liberals that had helped keep his minority government in power.
In a video posted to social media on Wednesday, NDP leader Jagmeet Singh said he had informed the prime minister of his decision, saying the Liberals were “too weak, too selfish” to fight for Canadians.
The deal – called a “supply and confidence” agreement – had the NDP supporting the Liberals in confidence votes.
The announcement does not automatically mean a federal election is imminent but that Canadians may go to the polls before the election scheduled for October 2025.
In a statement released on Wednesday, Mr Singh said a non-confidence vote would be “on the table” with every confidence measure.
Losing a confidence vote in parliament can trigger a general election.
“The NDP is ready for an election,” Mr Singh said.
Mr Trudeau and Mr Singh reached the agreement in March 2022, with the Liberals pledging to support the NDP on several of the party’s key priorities in parliament.
The deal differed to a coalition, where parties share power.
Instead, the Liberals – who failed to win a majority in the past two elections – governed as a minority, but with assurances the NDP would support them in confidence votes.
In exchange, Mr Singh’s party secured progress on key priorities, including dental benefits for lower-income families and a national pharmacare programme covering birth control and insulin.
It was the first such formal agreement between two parties at the federal level.
Until this spring, Mr Singh and senior members of his party remained publicly committed to the deal.
But NDP’s leadership reportedly began to re-evaluate the agreement last month, after Mr Trudeau’s cabinet directed its industrial relations board to impose binding arbitration after Canada’s two largest railways began a work stoppage.
Announcing he was tearing up the deal, Mr Singh said the Liberals had “let people down” and didn’t “deserve another chance from Canadians”.
Mr Trudeau, speaking at an event in Newfoundland, told reporters he was confident he could make parliament work and will focus on “delivering for Canadians”.
“I’ll let others focus on politics,” he said, adding he hoped the next election will not happen “until next fall” so that his government has time to move forward on its agenda.
In recent years, Canadian voters have shown increasing frustration with issues like rising inflation and a housing affordability crisis.
That has been reflected in the polls, where the Liberals have been down for months, with national opinion surveys suggesting the party is lagging about 18 points behind the opposition Conservatives.
On Wednesday, Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre criticised Mr Singh for not committing to a non-confidence vote, dismissing the announcement as a “stunt”.
Last week, he penned an open letter urging Mr Singh to abandon his agreement with the Liberals.
“No one voted for you to keep Trudeau in power. You do not have a mandate to drag out his government another year,” Mr Poilievre wrote.
Mr Trudeau has been in power since 2015, with the Liberals winning re-election – albeit with a minority – in 2019 and 2021.