Singh says NDP still hasn't decided whether to support Liberals' new budget

NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh said Monday his party still hasn't decided whether it will vote in favour of the federal budget introduced last week.

The New Democrats have an agreement in place to back the governing Liberal Party on confidence and bud‐ getary votes in exchange for movement on key policy pri‐ orities.

The agreement is set to last until June of next year, but Singh has been coy on whether he supports the Lib‐ erals' most recent budget.

"We've not made that de‐ cision yet," Singh told a press conference Monday.

The budget does include items the NDP has been call‐ ing for, such as funding for a national pharmacare pro‐ gram and a school lunch pro‐ gram.

But Singh said he has a number of concerns about the budget. He cited what he described as inadequate funding for a national disabil‐ ity benefit.

"We've got to hear from the prime minister and the Liberals on what their re‐ sponse is to our concerns be‐ fore we make a decision," he said.

Finance Minister Chrystia

Freeland said Monday that she spoke with NDP finance critic Don Davies over the weekend.

"We have had good con‐ versations with the NDP as we built the budget, all along the way," Freeland said dur‐ ing a press conference.

"I hope that MPs from every single party will sup‐ port the essential investmen‐ ts in the budget."

The Conservatives, Bloc

Québécois and Green Party have all said they won't be supporting the budget.

The confidence-and-sup‐ ply agreement between the Liberals and NDP says both parties are committed to "a guiding principle of 'no sur‐ prises.'" That includes a com‐ mitment from the Liberals to have ministers and public servants brief NDP members on certain policy matters, in‐ cluding the budget.

Singh has threatened to withdraw from the deal in the past. In late 2022 he threatened to walk away if the Liberals didn't increase investments in the healthcare system.

Singh struck a similar tone earlier this year to pressure the Liberals into putting for‐ ward pharmacare legislation by the agreed upon March 1 deadline.