Jagmeet Singh says NDP will ‘get help to people’ through deal to support Trudeau government

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This article was published 21/03/2022 (1012 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

OTTAWA — NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh says he would be willing to pull out of a new deal that props up the Liberal minority government for the next three years, but that he is confident his party can secure the social programs and other policies Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has promised to implement in their accord.

“We’re not going to let the Liberal government off the hook,” Singh told reporters near Parliament Hill on Tuesday, shortly after details of the Liberal-NDP deal were published.

Despite campaigning in the past two elections with rhetoric that attacked Trudeau as untrustworthy and beholden to corporate interests, Singh said he has faith the Liberals will abide by the deal, which is now a public document that Singh described as a new tool for New Democrats to secure their policy priorities in Canada’s minority Parliament.

And if the government doesn’t follow through with what it agreed to, Singh said he is willing to drop out of the accord.

“We’re going into this eyes wide open,” he said. “If they fall short … the deal doesn’t continue.”

Asked about how his NDP caucus reacted to the deal, Singh said some MPs were enthusiastic, while others raised concerns about whether they would still be able to hold the government to account.

Singh argued they will be able to, and also to pursue policies not secured in the deal — such as the NDP’s long-promised “wealth tax” on the ultra-rich — even if they’ve pledged to support the Liberals on confidence motions and budget bills.

It also won’t stop the NDP from opposing government measures the party disagrees with, including hypothetical back-to-work legislation for striking workers.

“I want to go into it with a spirit of hopeful optimism, but I will remain critical and we’re going to remain an opposition party. We are going to remain forceful in getting help to people,” he said.

“This is the start of an important journey to get help to people.”

He also said he never wanted to enter into a coalition government in which the NDP would have cabinet seats, and that if the Liberals offered one he wouldn’t have accepted it.

“I’m a New Democrat, not a Liberal. I don’t want to be part of the Liberal government,” he said.

Singh also likened the agreement to actions taken by NDP leaders Jack Layton and Tommy Douglas in previous minority parliaments, and said the deal will provide “stability” as well as “accountability,” since the commitments are clearly spelled out for the public to see.

Under the deal, the NDP promises to prop up the Liberal government on all confidence and budget votes from now until June 2025. In exchange, Singh’s party gets a commitment from Trudeau that the Liberals will implement a series of policy priorities that the NDP supports.

The deal secures a plan to implement a national dental care program for low-income Canadians, a priority the NDP has championed since before the federal election in 2019.

The deal commits the government to start that program this year for those under 12, and expand it to all low-income Canadians without dental coverage by 2025. Households that make less than $90,000 per year would be eligible for the program.

The independent Parliamentary Budget Officer estimated last year that such a program would end up costing about $1.5 billion annually.

The government has also renewed its commitment to implementing a national pharmacare program, with a pledge to pass a law to support such a program by the end of 2023. Singh said Tuesday that his desire is for that program to be a public, universal program for all Canadians.

On top of that, the NDP will get an “anti-scab” law by the end of 2023 that bans companies in the federally regulated sector from hiring workers to replace employees who are locked out or on strike.

The government also pledges to change election rules so voting day is stretched over three days, and people can cast ballots at any polling station in their home ridings, among other things.

The deal includes commitments to spend more on affordable housing, take stronger action on Indigenous reconciliation and the crisis of climate change. And it reiterates a Liberal promise to slap an additional three per cent tax on profits of big financial institutions, while also ensuring the government creates a transparent registry of corporate owners by the end of 2023.

Alex Ballingall is an Ottawa-based reporter covering federal politics for the Star. Follow him on Twitter: @aballinga