Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre and his office will not say if his caucus will be whipped by party leadership and urged to vote against Prime Minister Mark Carney’s budget next week — a vote that could trigger another election if the minority government falls.
Asked by reporters in Calgary on Friday if he was confident that all his members of Parliament would vote against the budget in the House of Commons on Monday, Poilievre wouldn’t directly answer.
“One hundred per cent of our MPs oppose the costly Carney credit card budget, that is going to drive up the cost of food, housing and living for Canadians,” he said.
While Poilievre is confident his caucus opposes the budget, not all his MPs have shown their opposition when it counts most in the House of Commons. Four Conservative MPs did not vote on Conservative and Bloc Quebecois amendments to the budget last week, which were also confidence votes.
Global News also asked Poilievre’s office if they planned to whip the vote and did not receive a clear response.
“Conservatives will be voting against Carney’s costly credit card budget that drives up the cost of living on every Canadian,” said Poilievre’s communications director, Katy Merrifield.
Global News asked all four Conservative MPs why they missed the vote but only received two responses.
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Ontario MP Michael Chong said he was travelling and had issues voting electronically, and Alberta MP Shannon Stubbs said she missed the vote due to a medical issue.
Alberta MPs Laila Goodridge and Matt Jeneroux both did not respond to a request for comment.
Jeneroux announced last week he plans to quit as an MP, after intense speculation that he was considering following in the footsteps of Nova Scotia MP Chris d’Entremont and crossing the floor to the Liberals.
While the Liberals did find opposition support to survive both confidence votes last week and avoid an election, the absence of those four Conservative MPs meant the opposition parties only had enough members present to tie any vote against the Liberals.
The Liberals have 169 caucus members, and with four Conservative MPs not voting, the opposition parties combined also had 169 members present.
If a tie happens in the House of Commons, Speaker of the House Francis Scarpaleggia would be tasked with casting the deciding vote to break the deadlock. Previous Parliamentary tradition indicates the Speaker usually votes with the government to maintain the status quo and avoid an election.
This was the rationale former speaker Peter Milliken gave when he cast the deciding vote on multiple occasions in the early 2000s, keeping former Liberal prime minister Paul Martin’s government from being defeated.
While four Conservative MPs have not shown up to vote on the two previous budget matters, the Liberals still have no assurances that their budget will pass, when the key vote takes place Monday.
A vote against the federal budget by all opposition MPs would ensure the minority Liberal government falls, which would plunge the country into its second election in seven months.
The Bloc Quebecois have signalled they will not vote for the budget, and multiple NDP MPs have said they are unsure how they will vote.
—with files from David Akin
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