The federal budget introduced late last month by Prime Minister Stephen Harper's Conservative government passed in the House of Commons on Tuesday night, by a vote of 211 to 91.
Six Liberal MPs from Newfoundland and Labrador voted against the budget, along with the sitting NDP and Bloc Quebecois members. The remaining Liberal MPs and the Conservative caucus voted in favour of the budget.
Earlier Tuesday, Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff had said he would allow the six MPs from his party to vote against the federal budget.
Prior to Ignatieff's announcement on Tuesday, four Newfoundland and Labrador MPs -- Judy Foote, Scott Andrews, Scott Simms and Siobhan Coady -- had vowed to vote down the budget, saying it negatively targets their province and robs it of about $1.6 billion in federal funding.
Of the two remaining MPs, Todd Russell had said he was going to vote for the budget to promote party unity and Gerry Byrne had not made it clear how he was going to vote.
"I decided to permit them in the budget vote tonight a one-time vote of protest to signal their displeasure and my displeasure at these unilateral actions which in my view weaken our federation, cause strains in our federation at a time when Canadians should be pulling together," Ignatieff said Tuesday.
He said the issue was not just about Newfoundland and Labrador but about "the way (Prime Minister) Stephen Harper runs this federation."
"Tonight, they will have a one-time vote against the budget in order to send a clear signal to Newfoundland and Labrador and to the whole of Canada that this is no way to run a federation," Ignatieff said.
Ignatieff met with the Newfoundland and Labrador caucus on Monday evening to discuss the issue.
Byrne told CTV's Power Play that Igantieff and the MPs "had a very, very broad discussion about all sorts of things," though talk centred on the issue of the contentious changes to the federal funding that Newfoundland and Labrador receives from the government.
He would not say if Ignatieff had asked the MPs to follow party discipline when voting on Tuesday evening.
"I'm not going to discuss exactly what was said in a private meeting with my leader, the future prime minister," he said.
The Liberal Party has agreed to support the Tory budget but has demanded that the government submit periodic progress reports.
The demand, which was put forth in an amendment Monday night, passed by a vote of 214 to 84, with the NDP and Bloc Quebecois voting against it.
St. John's Mayor Dennis O'Keefe said Tuesday that the $1.6 billion figure is based upon the equalization formula and changes to that formula proposed in the budget will create the loss for the province over the next three years.
"That's a tremendous hit for any province," he told CTV's Canada AM on Tuesday.
Finance Minister Jim Flaherty said the change is the result of the government's decision to cap the growth of equalization payments to the rate of economic growth.
"Certainly one of the principles involved in equalization is that all provinces should be treated equally," he told the Commons.
"It is not open to one province to elect to have unrestrained growth of equalization, sharing payments, whether it is through the accords or through formal equalization."
Ignatieff spoke to Harper late Monday asking him to rethink the measures that would penalize Newfoundland.
"I said to the prime minister, 'You can't run a federation this way, unilateral-without-warning changes,"' Ignatieff said.
"I said, would he push the pause button on those changes and rethink his approach to get greater national unity in a time of crisis, and he said no."
CTV's Ottawa Bureau Chief Robert Fife said Ignatieff's decision means he is "marching to the drumbeat" of Newfoundland and Labrador Premier Danny Williams and the Liberal MPs from the province.
"He's opened the door to any of his members of parliament being able to vote against the Liberal Party position if that's the view of their premier or their province," Fife said.
With files from The Canadian Press
