Justin Trudea, Canada’s Prime Minister, has lived to fight another day after surviving a “no confidence” vote in the nation’s parliament.
The uber-liberal PM has angered Canadians and politicians alike with his authoritarian approach to lockdowns, the dissenting truckers who protested, tax hikes, and more. His critics would like to see him taken out of his seat, and there are expected to be other votes related to this in the near future.
Opposition party leader Pierre Poilievre was unable to get enough votes from the other two major parties to clinch the deal against Trudeau. Those parties are the New Democratic Party and the Bloc Quebecois. Trudeau, of the Liberal Party, has been prime minister for nine years, though his party holds only a minority in parliament.
Once the good-looking golden boy, former drama teacher Trudeau has slid wildly in popularity. His approval rating started at 63 percent but has declined to 28 percent early this summer. Voters are upset about the lack of affordable housing as well as the skyrocketing cost of every other life expense.
Though his Liberal Party has not fare well in elections, Trudeau was able to cut a deal with the NDP that has kept him in the PM’s seat since the last national election in 2021. But that goodwill has evaporated since NDP leader Jagmeet Singh stepped away from the coalition in September, 2021. At the time, he said the Liberals were “too weak” and “too selfish” to govern effectively.
The Conservative Party of Canada plans to ask for at least two more no-confidence votes to the floor soon. All along, more people have been calling for Trudeau to step down.
To win, a no-confidence vote would need the assent of a majority of the 338-member parliament. In the most recent vote, the Liberal Party’s 153 members voted against it, while the 119 Conservative Party members voted for it (meaning they voted that they had no confidence). The other seats are occupied by the NDP and the Bloc Quebecois, both of which voted against the motion.
The total vote was 211-120.
