Singh won’t support a Tory minority
‘It’s been really clear that their focus has not been on helping people’
OTTAWA—There is no way the New Democratic Party will support a Conservative minority government led by Erin O’Toole, says NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh.
Singh ruled out working with O’Toole’s party on Thursday, marking the continuation of his stance to never help his rightof-centre opponents hold power.
The declaration means that the Conservatives will have a harder time surviving as a government in a minority Parliament if they win the most seats but fall short of a majority in the next federal election.
“Absolutely rule that out — period,” Singh said when asked about the prospect of supporting a Conservative minority during a discussion with the Star’s editorial board on Thursday.
“It’s been really clear that their focus has not been on helping people,” he said, arguing the party has stressed foreign policy and other matters above pressing priorities of Canadians suffering during the pandemic.
He also pointed out that other parties, including the Conservatives, voted against NDP efforts to create new taxes on corporations profiting during the pandemic and on wealth exceeding $20 million.
In an emailed statement to the Star, O’Toole ignored Singh’s position and said he is focused on “what truly matters to Canadians — getting Canadians back to work and securing our future.
“Conservatives will continue to hold the Liberal government to account as we wait on vaccines to round the corner on COVID-19 and to rebuild our economy.”
Singh made the same unequivocal pledge before the 2019 federal election.
At the time, Singh said his refusal to work with Conservatives was based on then-leader Andrew Scheer’s “disgusting prejudice” that was displayed in years-old comments opposing gay marriage.
Singh acknowledged Thursday that O’Toole, who was elected Conservative leader last August, has signalled support for gay marriage and abortion rights. But he said the Conservatives’ opposition to national standards for long-term care and other NDP priorities means his party couldn’t support them after the next election.
And Singh is convinced that the election will be soon if Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has his way.
As evidence, Singh pointed to a conversation with Trudeau late last year about legislation to help Elections Canada prepare for a potential campaign during the pandemic. Singh said Trudeau let it “slip” that he was assuming there would be an election this spring.
“He pretty much said, we’ll figure that out in a spring election,” Singh said.
He also said the Liberal government is not seeking the NDP’s input for the coming federal budget and that “there seems to be no desire for any sort of collaboration” with the opposition.
The Prime Minister’s Office did not respond directly to Singh’s comments but pointed to Trudeau’s statement at a press conference last month when he said the Liberals don’t want an election and are focused on addressing the COVID-19 pandemic.
Singh took credit Thursday for pushing the government to boost monthly pandemic job supports and wage subsidies for millions of recipients, and to create emergency benefits aimed at post-secondary students and people who need to miss work because they’re sick during the pandemic.
“These are some massive victories that we were able to achieve that help people out in a real way, that we were only able to achieve because New Democrats were there,” he said.
As of Thursday, the party had nominated17 candidates for the next election and expected another 20 to be confirmed by the end of March.