As the federal government faces a crucial confidence vote on its budget Monday, government whip Mark Gerretsen says it is “ready for an election” if one is triggered.
In a Sunday interview with Rosemary Barton Live, Gerretsen said his government has reached out to all opposition parties to hear their budget concerns and work toward gaining their support.
If every single member of Parliament were to vote on Monday, the minority Liberals would need opposition support to pass the budget and stave off an election.
Gerretsen said he doesn’t believe Canadians want an election, but that his party will be prepared.
“We’re always ready for an election. The Liberal Party has been ready for an election since the last one,” he told Barton.
All Liberal members of Parliament will be participating in the Monday evening vote, Gerretsen confirmed.
‘We’re always ready for an election,’ says Government Whip as budget vote looms
After Nova Scotia MP Chris d’Entremont crossed the floor from the Conservative Party to the Liberals earlier this month, the Liberals gained one vote — bringing its seat total to 170. That number includes the Speaker, who would only vote to break a tie.
The minority party would need to secure 172 votes in favour of the budget if every member of Parliament were to vote on Monday.
When the budget was introduced earlier this month, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre signalled his opposition to the Liberals’ fiscal policy — and he said last week that his party intends to “unanimously oppose” the motion.
Similarly, Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet said he could “hardly see” how his party could support the budget. A Bloc spokesperson told CBC News last week that nothing has changed and all Bloc MPs intend to vote against the motion.
That leaves the NDP, with its seven seats, holding the balance. The party has yet to declare which way it will cast its vote.
Green Party Leader Elizabeth May says she’s still undecided on whether she will cast her party’s sole vote in favour of the federal budget on Monday.
As it stands, May — the only Green currently sitting in Parliament — says the budget doesn’t show a strong enough commitment to climate policies, but that she has been having conversations with ministers and representatives from the Prime Minister’s Office about whether anything can be done to sway her vote.
Despite her concerns, May says she is open to supporting the government in the vote of confidence.
“I know how much Canadians don’t want another election right away. So I’m in a dilemma, obviously … because right now I’m a no,” she told Barton on Sunday.
‘Right now I’m a no’: Elizabeth May says she won’t vote for the budget yet
As for the possibility of abstaining from the vote Monday, she said, “I don’t think I was elected to fail to show up.”
May’s vote would bring the number of votes supporting the budget to 170; the Liberals would still need at least one more opposition MP to vote in their favour. The House Speaker could then vote to break the tie and pass the budget.
Alternatively, the government could pass its budget if some opposition MPs abstained from voting. No party has publicly expressed an interest in abstaining from the vote.
An abstention from the NDP would be enough to pass the budget and stop an election.
It’s also possible that a party could have a small number of MPs strategically abstain from voting to prevent an election from being triggered. This would still allow the party to publicly maintain its dissent of the budget through the majority of its members.
