NDP leader says he doesn’t think Liberals want to find common ground, just want an election //
NDP’s Singh says he doesn’t think the Liberals want to find common ground, just want an election
OTTAWA — The federal New Democrats on Tuesday were once again grappling with a decision about whether to support the minority Liberal government or potentially force an election upon Canadians struggling with the latest wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.
But NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh refused to see it that way, saying that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s decision to make a confidence matter out of the
Conservatives’ motion to create a special COVID-19 pandemic investigation committee was a “farce.”
If the result is an election, that’s on Trudeau to explain to Canadians, Singh said.
“I can’t i magine how the prime minister of Canada would look those people in their eyes, people who are afraid and worried, and say, ‘I know you’re worried and afraid, but we’re going to election because I don’t like a committee,’” he said.
“That is outrageous and is absurd.”
At issue is a Conservative motion that would create a special committee to probe allegations of misspending in C OV I D -19 p r o g r a m s, a move the Liberal say essentially means the opposition has no confidence in the government and an election should be held.
The Bloc Québécois have already said they support the Conservatives, meaning the pressure is on the NDP to decide which way to go: side with their opposition colleagues and bring down the government, or with the Liberals.
Singh was not clear on whether his party will back the motion but said negotiations are ongoing on a path forward.
What concerns him, he said, is whether the Liberals are even interested in negotiating.
“The prime minister is not looking for solution here, the prime minister is looking for an excuse to go to an election,” he said.
“And I will not give the prime minister an excuse to go to an election … He is not going to be able to hide behind the opposition.”
The Liberals have countered with their own version of a special committee, one a Liberal MP would chair and that would have a much broader mandate than the Tory proposal.
The Conservative version would focus on three COVID-19 relief programs having links to individuals or organizations with close ties to the Liberals.
Among them, the student grant program the Liberals intended to have managed by WE Charity, an organization with long-standing connections to the Trudeau family.