Singh eyes answers on budget details
At issue for NDP leader is Liberals’ commitment to Jordan’s Principle, disability benefit boost
The New Democrats were prepared early Monday to declare whether they would support Ottawa’s federal budget, but pulled back at the eleventh hour to squeeze more assurances out of the minority Liberal government they are keeping afloat.
Reporters were told Monday morning that leader Jagmeet Singh would outline his stance on this month’s budget at a news conference later that afternoon. The NDP is the only opposition party that has not declared its position on the government’s spending blueprint: Singh’s opposition rivals have all stated they will not back it.
But the NDP walked back that plan two hours before Singh was set to address the media, informing reporters the leader would instead discuss his ongoing budget negotiations with the government.
“There are some outstanding elements that we’re still waiting on,” Singh said.
“Some progress has been made but I wanted some more clarity before … we make our final decision clear.”
The reversal comes after a senior NDP source told the Star that plunging Canada into an early election wasn’t immediately on the table for the party because it was committed to seeing what else could be accomplished in the current minority government scenario.
That suggests the NDP could support the budget, because if Singh joins his opposition peers, confidence in the government is lost and an election is triggered.
To get there, however, Singh said he needs more answers.
At issue for the NDP is the longanticipated disability benefit unveiled in the budget, which advocates and New Democrats have slammed as an inadequate measure that fails to meaningfully assist people with disabilities and lift many of them out of poverty. Ottawa’s proposed funding would deliver a maximum benefit amount of $2,400 per year — or $200 a month — and would be constrained by eligibility criteria communities say bars some people from accessing the aid.
The NDP source, who spoke to the Star on the condition they not be named, said that despite holding prebudget conversations with the Liberals, the government did not consult with the NDP over that funding, informing the New Democrats of their proposed figures 24 hours before the budget dropped.
(The Trudeau government has said the benefit announcement is simply a first step that requires further conversations.)
Also a problem for Singh is the Liberals’ commitment to Jordan’s Principle, which prioritizes providing services for First Nations children instead of arguing over which level of government should pay for their care.
The CBC reported last week that Indigenous Services Canada only upheld that principle a third of the time in the last fiscal year.
Singh said Monday he had raised his concerns over both issues with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau — and said he’d achieved “progress” on those fronts.
But he said “outstanding questions” over the nature of the Liberals’ promises about those concerns meant he was not yet prepared to offer his support, something Singh did in the immediate aftermath of last year’s federal budget despite his concerns with the government’s spending commitments at the time.
Neither Singh nor the Prime Minister’s Office would discuss the specifics of the negotiations, but Singh said he was still “fighting” the government on upping the disability benefit amount, and that he had seen movement on attempting to protect against potential provincial clawbacks.
Singh could choose to support the budget, but then exit the parliamentary alliance between the two parties, which requires the NDP to support the Liberals on confidence votes — including budgetary matters — in exchange for progress on shared priorities.
In such a scenario, the Liberals would no longer have the blanket support of the New Democrats, who could then choose whether to continue supporting the government on an individual vote-by-vote basis.