Tensions run high on the Hill as MPs debate second Conservative motion of non-confidence
Members of Parliament debated the second Conservative motion of non-confidence in Prime Minister Justin Trudeau鈥檚 government of the week on Thursday, amid simmering tensions.
One day after Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre鈥檚 first attempt to bring down the Liberal minority , the House of Commons was seized with another Official Opposition-led effort.
: 鈥淕iven that, after nine years, the government has doubled housing costs, taxed food, punished work, unleashed crime, and is the most centralizing government in Canadian history, the House has lost confidence in the government and offers Canadians the option to axe the tax, build the homes, fix the budget and stop the crime.鈥
Debate kicked off in the morning and continued throughout the day, with the vote on this motion scheduled for next Tuesday.
With the Bloc Quebecois giving the Liberals until late October to heed their demands to avoid an election before the new year, and the NDP citing polling about Canadians not wanting an election right now, this motion is likely to have a similar outcome to the first.
Though, neither party has yet to declare how they intend to vote on Poilievre鈥檚 latest proposal. In a statement, the Conservatives called on the other opposition parties to stop propping up the Liberals and 鈥済ive Canadians the relief they desperately need.鈥
Government House Leader Karina Gould said during the debate that it was 鈥渁 little awkward that we're here again today, just a few hours after the House voted non-confidence in the leader of the Conservative Party of Canada,鈥 referencing Poilievre鈥檚 failed push to send Canadians to the polls.
鈥淲hat we saw yesterday is that there are three parties in this House, in fact, that want to work for Canadians, the Liberal members of Parliament, the Bloc members of Parliament, the New Democratic members of Parliament, who are all here to get the work done for Canadians,鈥 Gould said.
鈥淚n fact, it feels a little deflated in here. It feels a little bit like, I don't know, those Conservative members of Parliament don't have that same energy, because they lost that motion yesterday, and they're doing it again today.鈥
Tensions fray over heated moments
With the NDP supply-and-confidence deal no longer in play, the Liberals are poised to face a series of confidence tests this fall. The unstable dynamics and potential for the government to fall at any time has emotions running high on Parliament Hill.
There have been a series of heated exchanges already this sitting. From last Thursday鈥檚 back-and-forth between NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh and Poilievre, to Trudeau yesterday accusing a Conservative MP of 鈥渃asual homophobic comments.鈥
Before question period, House of Commons Speaker Greg Fergus made a ruling on last week鈥檚 scene that saw Singh stepping on to the floor after Poilievre called him a 鈥渟ellout.鈥
Fergus said after offering both leaders the opportunity to 鈥渕ake amends,鈥 Singh vowed to 鈥渁ct differently in the future,鈥 but Poilievre didn鈥檛 reply, prompting the Speaker to take some questions away from him during Thursday鈥檚 question period.
鈥淧arty leaders have a heightened responsibility to be role models... The chair therefore invites members to be more judicious in their choice of words and behaviour. If they are not, the chair will have no choice but to discipline those members who persist in their unparliamentary behaviour,鈥 Fergus said.
Then, after question period, the Conservative MP who was accused Wednesday of making a 鈥渉omophobic鈥 bathtub comment about the prime minister and Canada鈥檚 consul general in New York, offered his side of the story.
鈥淭he Hansard notes, 鈥榙oes he engage with them in the bathtub?鈥 The point of that comment is to illustrate that, of course, meetings don't take place in a bathtub. Luxury, a luxurious bathtub has nothing to do with meetings,鈥 said Garnett Genuis. 鈥淚t had nothing to do with sex. I wasn't thinking about sex at all.鈥
Liberal Rob Oliphant, who is an openly gay member of Parliament, didn鈥檛 agree.
鈥淚t is a homophobic slur鈥 And if the consul general in New York were a woman, if she was treated that way in this House, this House would be outraged. Every member of this House should be outraged,鈥 he said.
Speaking to reporters about the state of decorum, some parliamentarians said the kind of heckling happening is more fitting for a frat house than the House of Commons.
鈥淚t seems lately that there is a political fever that has gripped this place,鈥 said Health Minister Mark Holland, who was first elected in 2004.
鈥淚f somebody's screaming and yelling at you and denigrating you, and making personal slurs, and they do that all day long, and that's your workplace?鈥 Holland said. 鈥淟ike, what other workplace would this stuff be acceptable?
NDP MP Charlie Angus said that while heckling has always been a part of Parliament, it鈥檚 become more personal.
鈥淭he idea that we're all supposed to sit there as choir boys and girls to me, is not democratic, but it's the viciousness of the comments that is problematic. And the polarizing language that's problematic,鈥 Angus said.
Expect tone to worsen: politicos
What鈥檚 on display is emblematic of a Parliament in its dying days, according to politicians and staffers who were on the Hill during past minorities.
Former Conservative cabinet minister James Moore 鈥 who served in five Parliaments, three of which were minorities under Paul Martin and then Stephen Harper that had their fair share of high-stakes moments 鈥 said minority Parliaments have 鈥渁 unique dynamic that is very hard to predict.鈥
鈥淥ne thing about minority parliaments as well that people need to keep in mind, is that sometimes they fall by accident. Sometimes it's not by design. Sometimes they can operate on a razor-thin margin,鈥 Moore said. 鈥淎nd once you vote non-confidence once, you can鈥檛 go back.鈥
He said he expects this Parliament 鈥渘ot to get more sanguine and polite, but actually to get a little tougher and meaner as we get closer to the next election campaign.鈥
Scott Reid, 麻豆影视 political analyst and Martin鈥檚 former communications director said how the fall sitting is playing out so far is 鈥渙n par with minority parliaments that are reaching the end of their life.鈥
鈥淚 can guarantee with no fear of contradiction, it will get worse. The tensions are going to get high. The emotions are going to run even more ragged. And look, as we move toward the holiday season and there are a greater number of these confidence votes鈥 the risk something goes sideways will increase immensely, and that puts everybody on pins and needles,鈥 Reid said.
鈥淧eople's careers are on the line, their futures are on the line, and one person losing their temper with another can literally change the course of political history,鈥 he said.
IN DEPTH
Jagmeet Singh pulls NDP out of deal with Trudeau Liberals, takes aim at Poilievre Conservatives
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh has pulled his party out of the supply-and-confidence agreement that had been helping keep Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's minority Liberals in power.
'Not the result we wanted': Trudeau responds after surprise Conservative byelection win in Liberal stronghold
Conservative candidate Don Stewart winning the closely-watched Toronto-St. Paul's federal byelection, and delivering a stunning upset to Justin Trudeau's candidate Leslie Church in the long-time Liberal riding, has sent political shockwaves through both parties.
'We will go with the majority': Liberals slammed by opposition over proposal to delay next election
The federal Liberal government learned Friday it might have to retreat on a proposal within its electoral reform legislation to delay the next vote by one week, after all opposition parties came out to say they can't support it.
Budget 2024 prioritizes housing while taxing highest earners, deficit projected at $39.8B
In an effort to level the playing field for young people, in the 2024 federal budget, the government is targeting Canada's highest earners with new taxes in order to help offset billions in new spending to enhance the country's housing supply and social supports.
'One of the greatest': Former prime minister Brian Mulroney commemorated at state funeral
Prominent Canadians, political leaders, and family members remembered former prime minister and Progressive Conservative titan Brian Mulroney as an ambitious and compassionate nation-builder at his state funeral on Saturday.
Opinion
opinion Don Martin: Gusher of Liberal spending won't put out the fire in this dumpster
A Hail Mary rehash of the greatest hits from the Trudeau government鈥檚 three-week travelling pony-show, the 2024 federal budget takes aim at reversing the party鈥檚 popularity plunge in the under-40 set, writes political columnist Don Martin. But will it work before the next election?
opinion Don Martin: The doctor Trudeau dumped has a prescription for better health care
Political columnist Don Martin sat down with former federal health minister Jane Philpott, who's on a crusade to help fix Canada's broken health care system, and who declined to take any shots at the prime minister who dumped her from caucus.
opinion Don Martin: Trudeau's seeking shelter from the housing storm he helped create
While Justin Trudeau's recent housing announcements are generally drawing praise from experts, political columnist Don Martin argues there shouldn鈥檛 be any standing ovations for a prime minister who helped caused the problem in the first place.
opinion Don Martin: Poilievre has the field to himself as he races across the country to big crowds
It came to pass on Thursday evening that the confidentially predictable failure of the Official Opposition non-confidence motion went down with 204 Liberal, BQ and NDP nays to 116 Conservative yeas. But forcing Canada into a federal election campaign was never the point.
opinion Don Martin: How a beer break may have doomed the carbon tax hike
When the Liberal government chopped a planned beer excise tax hike to two per cent from 4.5 per cent and froze future increases until after the next election, says political columnist Don Martin, it almost guaranteed a similar carbon tax move in the offing.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
MPs debating second Conservative motion of non-confidence in PM Trudeau
Members of Parliament are debating the second Conservative motion of non-confidence in Prime Minister Justin Trudeau鈥檚 government of the week.
Cold case arrest: Nunavut RCMP charge man with murder in 1986 death of teenage girl
Mounties in Nunavut have made an arrest in the murder of a 15-year-old girl almost 40 years ago.
Scammers are increasingly using emails to extort money from victims by threatening to reveal compromising photos, videos and personal information to their friends and family members, according to a new warning from Mounties in Metro Vancouver.
An Air Canada flight headed to Toronto from Frankfurt diverted to Edinburgh due to an emergency Thursday, the airline says.
Canadian singer K鈥檔aan has been charged with sexual assault after being arrested by police in Quebec City.
WATCH LIVE Helene's winds batter Florida as Category 3 storm races toward the coast
Tropical storm force winds began battering Florida on Thursday as Hurricane Helene prepared to make landfall, with forecasters warning that the enormous storm could create a "nightmare" surge along the coast and churn up damaging winds hundreds of miles inland across much of the southeastern U.S.
An NDP MP has introduced a bill that would criminalize residential school denialism, saying it would help stop harm caused toward survivors, their families and communities.
Masking reintroduced in N.S. hospitals as respiratory illnesses increase
A partial masking mandate has returned to Nova Scotia hospitals and provincially run healthcare facilities for visitors and healthcare workers.
Eye drops recalled in Canada over infection risk
A Canadian pharmaceutical company is warning consumers not to use some of its eye drops because of potential microbial growth that may result in eye infections.
Local Spotlight
A pizza chain in Edmonton claims to have the world's largest deliverable pizza.
Sarah McLachlan is returning to her hometown of Halifax in November.
Wayne MacKay is still playing basketball twice at Mount Allison University at 87 years old.
A man from a small rural Alberta town is making music that makes people laugh.
An Indigenous artist has a buyer-beware warning ahead of Sept. 30, the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.
Police are looking to the public for help after thieves broke into a Lethbridge ice creamery, stealing from the store.
An ordinary day on the job delivering mail in East Elmwood quickly turned dramatic for Canada Post letter carrier Jared Plourde. A woman on his route was calling out in distress.
Fire has destroyed a barn and 17,000 plants at a family-owned business in Lower Coverdale, N.B.
Before influencers on social media, Canada鈥檚 Jeanne Beker was bringing the world of high fashion down to earth and as Calgary鈥檚 Glenbow Museum gets a major make-over, it will include a new exhibition showcasing the pop culture icon.