(Ottawa) If the Bloc Québécois refuses to bring down the Trudeau government, it is to save its own skin, argued Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre on Tuesday during the debate on the motion of censure that he tabled.
“That’s why the Bloc doesn’t want a Conservative government, because there will be peace. When the Conservatives were in power during the Harper years, there was no Bloc Québécois at the end, because there was peace,” he said during discussions on the motion.
“Quebecers were saying to themselves: ‘Canada is doing well; they’re leaving us alone! We don’t need the Bloc!’ The Liberals and the Bloc are codependent. Quebecers want to be masters in their own house, and that’s what we’re going to allow,” continued the leader of the official opposition.
He was responding to Bloc Québécois member Simon-Pierre Savard-Tremblay, who asked him why there was any urgency in holding an election, even though it has become possible to wrest gains from the Trudeau government, which has once again become a minority government.
“What’s the rush to go to an election? Isn’t this the opportunity to negotiate, to make gains?” he said, arguing that conservatives should “put aside the scorched earth policy.”
“We think it’s fast,” added Bloc Québécois House Leader Alain Therrien. However, the party has “the wind in its sails,” he insisted, recalling Louis-Philippe Sauvé’s victory in the riding of LaSalle–Émard–Verdun last Monday.
“We are in a position, potentially, to make gains. We could be excited like poodles waiting for visitors and say: ‘We’re going to go for an election. We’re holding back,'” he said, later saying he had very little desire to see a Poilievre government in power in Ottawa.
A “nuclear winter” in sight
In his opening speech, Pierre Poilievre reiterated the threat of a “nuclear winter” that he believes is looming over Canada if an election is not called soon. “It will be a referendum on the carbon tax, an election on the carbon tax,” he insisted.
In her turn to speak, government House leader Karina Gould criticized Pierre Poilievre for having a dark vision of the country he says he wants to lead. She also argued that Canadians did not want to return to policies advocated by Stephen Harper’s government.
“What I remember about the Conservatives’ time in government is a country that was ashamed of what we were doing on the international stage, a country that was ashamed of not fighting climate change, a country that was ashamed of divisive politics,” she listed.
“And that’s exactly what I heard from the member opposite,” Minister Gould added.
The vote on the Conservative motion of censure will take place Wednesday in the House of Commons. Last week, the Bloc Québécois and the New Democratic Party (NDP) said they would not support the Conservative Party’s approach.
How a motion of censure works
This support will ensure the survival of the Trudeau government.
Bloc focuses on seniors
The Bloc Québécois parliamentary leader in the House, Alain Therrien, took advantage of the debate to put forward the Bloc’s request to increase by 10% the amount of the full pension to which people aged 65 to 74 are entitled.
Earlier, at a press conference, Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland did not close the door to this costly possibility. Discussions with the Bloc Québécois and the NDP on new aid measures for seniors are “fruitful,” she indicated.
As for NDP MP Charlie Angus, he expressed his disappointment at seeing the debates monopolized by political manoeuvring while the war rages in Gaza and Lebanon. “We learned this morning that 492 people, including 90 children, had been killed by Israeli forces in Lebanon,” he recalled.
“It’s another pitiful day in this House,” said the elected official, who will not run again in the next federal election.
A promise quickly broken
The debate began to get heated with less than thirty minutes left on the clock.
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre has again attacked Jagmeet Singh, calling him a “radical” and an “NDP sellout.” Outrage has been echoed in the NDP benches, where calls have been made for an apology.
“The leader of the Conservative Party in the pay of companies [corporate sellout] used unparliamentary language, and if it’s not acceptable coming from me, it shouldn’t be acceptable coming from the leader of the Conservative Party,” protested New Democrat Leah Gazan.
The referee at the time, Carol Hughes, said she did not hear the terms used by Pierre Poilievre, busy as she was managing the ruckus. “I will review what was said […] and if it was intended as a personal attack, I will ask for a retraction,” she said.
The day before, at the instigation of the Bloc Québécois, the deputies had unanimously adopted a motion stipulating that the House of Commons “reaffirms that violence and threats have no place in Parliament.”
The deputies are also urged “to behave with civility and respect towards their colleagues”.