A key former ally of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said he would vote to topple the government, a move that would likely plunge the country into an election early next year unless Trudeau seeks a temporary suspension of parliament.
Jagmeet Singh, leader of the New Democratic Party (NDP), said in a public letter that he would put forward a motion of non-confidence in the government at the next parliamentary sitting, which is to begin Jan. 27.
If all other major opposition parties vote with the NDP, Trudeau’s government would have to resign, triggering an election campaign in Canada soon after US president-elect Donald Trump returns to power in Washington.
Photo: Bloomberg
Trudeau’s Liberal Party does not have a majority in the Canadian House of Commons, and until now it has been relying on NDP votes to pass legislation and keep the government going. Singh and Trudeau had a formal agreement to cooperate, which they struck in March 2022. However, the NDP leader withdrew from that deal in September.
“The Liberals don’t deserve another chance,” Singh said. “That’s why the NDP will vote to bring this government down and give Canadians a chance to vote for a government who will work for them.”
Singh issued the letter on Friday morning, shortly before Trudeau announced changes to his Cabinet, an effort to restore stability after this week’s shocking resignation of Chrystia Freeland as finance minister. The Liberals are deeply unpopular in polls and the prime minister is facing pressure from within his caucus to step down after Freeland’s departure.
The prime minister is expected to reflect on his future as Liberal leader over the holiday period.
Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre, whose party appears to be on track to win a large majority if an election is held soon, on Friday said that he would ask the governor-general to urgently reconvene parliament so lawmakers can take down the government right away.
“This cannot go on with a US president coming in threatening tariffs next early next year. We cannot have a chaotic clown show running our government into the ground,” Poilievre told reporters in Ottawa. “What is clear is that Justin Trudeau does not have the confidence of parliament.”
THE ‘MONSTER’: The Philippines on Saturday sent a vessel to confront a 12,000-tonne Chinese ship that had entered its exclusive economic zone The Philippines yesterday said it deployed a coast guard ship to challenge Chinese patrol boats attempting to “alter the existing status quo” of the disputed South China Sea. Philippine Coast Guard spokesman Commodore Jay Tarriela said Chinese patrol ships had this year come as close as 60 nautical miles (111km) west of the main Philippine island of Luzon. “Their goal is to normalize such deployments, and if these actions go unnoticed and unchallenged, it will enable them to alter the existing status quo,” he said in a statement. He later told reporters that Manila had deployed a coast guard ship to the area
HOLLYWOOD IN TURMOIL: Mandy Moore, Paris Hilton and Cary Elwes lost properties to the flames, while awards events planned for this week have been delayed Fires burning in and around Los Angeles have claimed the homes of numerous celebrities, including Billy Crystal, Mandy Moore and Paris Hilton, and led to sweeping disruptions of entertainment events, while at least five people have died. Three awards ceremonies planned for this weekend have been postponed. Next week’s Oscar nominations have been delayed, while tens of thousands of city residents had been displaced and were awaiting word on whether their homes survived the flames — some of them the city’s most famous denizens. More than 1,900 structures had been destroyed and the number was expected to increase. More than 130,000 people
A group of Uyghur men who were detained in Thailand more than one decade ago said that the Thai government is preparing to deport them to China, alarming activists and family members who say the men are at risk of abuse and torture if they are sent back. Forty-three Uyghur men held in Bangkok made a public appeal to halt what they called an imminent threat of deportation. “We could be imprisoned and we might even lose our lives,” the letter said. “We urgently appeal to all international organizations and countries concerned with human rights to intervene immediately to save us from
RISING TENSIONS: The nations’ three leaders discussed China’s ‘dangerous and unlawful behavior in the South China Sea,’ and agreed on the importance of continued coordination Japan, the Philippines and the US vowed to further deepen cooperation under a trilateral arrangement in the face of rising tensions in Asia’s waters, the three nations said following a call among their leaders. Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr and outgoing US President Joe Biden met via videoconference on Monday morning. Marcos’ communications office said the leaders “agreed to enhance and deepen economic, maritime and technology cooperation.” The call followed a first-of-its-kind summit meeting of Marcos, Biden and then-Japanese prime minister Fumio Kishida in Washington in April last year that led to a vow to uphold international
RSS