Poilievre urges Singh to pull out of deal with Liberals and trigger fall election

OTTAWA — Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre has written a letter to NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh urging him to rip up his party’s deal with the minority Liberal government and trigger a fall election.

Poilievre wrote that despite the NDP’s stated intention to make people’s lives more affordable, groceries cost more, demand at food banks is up and many children still go to school hungry. He blames the carbon tax and billions more in spending for the rising costs.

“Canadians can’t afford or even endure another year of this costly coalition. No one voted for you to keep (Prime Minister Justin) Trudeau in power. You do not have a mandate to drag out his government another year,” insisted Poilievre.

“Pull out of the costly coalition and vote non-confidence in the government this September to trigger a carbon tax election in October of THIS YEAR. Or you will forever be known as ‘Sellout Singh,’” he added.

The NDP entered a deal with the Liberals in 2022, agreeing to keep the minority government in power until June 2025 in exchange for movement on key priorities, such as dental care and pharmacare.

In a statement, NDP House Leader MP Peter Julian said that walking away from the deal is “always on the table” for Singh and proceeded to blast the Conservatives.

“Let’s be clear: Pierre Poilievre wants to win an election because he wants to cut health care, cut your pension and cut EI in order to give more to big corporations. He wants to ensure pharmacare cannot make it to implementation this fall,” he said.

“The NDP believes in the Canadian value of taking care of our neighbours. That’s what we’ve always done and what guides us before and after an election.”

Trudeau, for his part, has consistently said that Canadians are more than a year away from a federal election, which is set for October 2025. And his party is hoping that its political fortunes will improve as Canadians see better news on the economic front.

After months of high inflation post-pandemic, Canada’s annual inflation rate dropped to 2.5 per cent in July — down from 2.7 per cent in June. Statistic Canada said inflation increased at the slowest pace in more than three years, since March 2021.

“Over the summer, we saw inflation return to normal, and now interest rates are coming down,” said Trudeau in Halifax this week. Our books are the envy of the developed world, he said, noting that within the G7, Canada has the lowest deficit and the lowest net government debt.

Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland said on Thursday Canadians should take Poilievre’s economic assertions with “a very healthy grain of salt.”

“The reality is, in recent weeks and months, we have had a steady stream of good economic news for Canadians,” she said. “And the recession that so many economists, so many analysts were predicting at the height of COVID hasn’t materialized.”

“I think it’s pretty pathetic that the good economic news that we are seeing for Canada and Canadians, the Conservatives feel is bad news for them. They can see that that good news is going to keep on coming and I think they’re a little bit worried about that,” she added.

But Canadians’ mood toward the Liberals remains vastly unchanged — for now.

A new Postmedia-Leger poll found that the Conservatives enjoy 43 per cent support nationally, a full 18 percentage points ahead of the Liberals, who are at 25 per cent. Meanwhile, support for the NDP dropped five points to 15 per cent in just a month.

After a difficult summer characterized by the loss of a safe Liberal seat in Toronto and calls for change, Trudeau said he spent the past two months talking with Canadians and said people’s focus is “on getting the support they need” for their children and their future.

“That’s what we’re working on every single day to deliver, that’s what I’m focused on, that’s what I’m excited about, and that’s why we’re going to go into this next election, putting a very clear choice for Canadians,” he said.

In a press conference in Ottawa on Thursday, Poilievre mocked the Liberals’ summer of discontent, which saw mostly anonymous MPs asking for Trudeau to either step down as Liberal leader or to proceed with drastic changes within his cabinet or his inner circle.

“Well, what did we learn at this expensive Liberal retreat in Halifax? We learned that nothing would change,” he told reporters.

Poilievre said all the ministers he blames for rising costs, crime and chaos in Canada are still in place — despite rumours of an imminent cabinet shuffle.

“But most important of all, Justin Trudeau, the man who is not worth the cost, announced that he too will keep his job. Canadians cannot afford another painful, costly, chaotic and corrupt year of Justin Trudeau,” he said.

“He will not quit. He must be fired, and the person to do it is Jagmeet Singh.”

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