Bloc opposition day next week, but ‘no point’ in tabling confidence motion yet, deputy House leader says

The sole Bloc Québécois opposition day before the winter break has been scheduled, but the party’s Deputy House Leader says there is “no point” in using it to put forward a non-confidence motion against Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government.

“We gave an extra deadline until October 29, so there would be no point,” said Christine Normandin in an interview with CTV Question Period host Vassy Kapelos airing Sunday.

The Bloc will get to set the agenda in the House of Commons on Tuesday, with the vote on their motion scheduled for the following day.

Earlier this week, Bloc Québécois leader Yves-François Blanchet gave the minority Liberal government an ultimatum to commit to his demands by Oct. 29, or he’ll start talking to other parties about toppling the government.

The legislation Blanchet wants the government to push through includes Bill C-319, which proposes a 10 per cent increase to Old Age Security (OAS) payouts for seniors ages 65 to 74, and Bill C-282, which seeks to protect dairy, egg and poultry farmers in future trade talks.

When asked by Kapelos whether the Bloc’s motion next week would ask other parties about their support for those demands, Normandin said “it could.”

“It would be in the general idea of parties working together and making sure that the government also is not stalling for no reason, what we’re already asking for,” Normandin said. “Those two items that we’ve been asking are rather public. So, I guess it will be in that general idea.”

Normandin also told Kapelos that conversations with the federal government on those demands are taking place, saying “no discussion would be an answer in itself.”

She would not reveal how the discussions were going, insisting it wouldn’t be “fruitful” to negotiate in public.

Earlier in the week, Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland would only say conversations were “ongoing” with both the Bloc and the NDP about their requests for policy action in exchange for votes of confidence.

In an interview with CTV’s Power Play, Parliamentary Budget Officer Yves Giroux said it may be “a bit tricky” for the federal government to meet its fiscal anchors if it acquiesces to the Bloc’s demand to expand the OAS. Giroux calculates that demand would come with an annual price tag of more than $3 billion, with a total cost of $16.1 billion over five years.

Asked why this demand is a priority for the Bloc, Normandin told Kapelos the party wants to help that age group with “regaining purchase power and being able to tackle the cost of life.”

Next Tuesday, the Trudeau government will face its second non-confidence vote of the fall sitting after another motion put forward by Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre.

The Conservatives’ first attempt at a non-confidence motion and push for a snap election was defeated on Wednesday after both the Bloc and NDP voted against it.

In an interview on CTV’s Your Morning on Friday, NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh said his party “will not” support the next Conservative-led motion.

“We’re not going to play Pierre Poilievre’s games,” Singh said.

Asked what it would take for the New Democrats to vote to bring down the government, Singh said that when his party makes that decision, it will be based on what’s best for Canadians.

“If there’s a vote, something of substance, something of content, we’ll look at it and say, ‘you know, this is something we oppose.’ But if it’s just a motion being brought by Pierre Poilievre, we’re not going to support that,” Singh said.

“Or we’ve got the fall economic statement, that’s a concrete piece of legislation, we’ll look at that very carefully. If it doesn’t have measures in it for people, we’ll take a close look and we can make a decision there.”

The NDP is also slated to be assigned one opposition day by the government, before Parliament’s winter break.

With files from CTV News’ Rachel Aiello and CTV Power Play’s Samantha Pope