Commons passes confidence motion
NDP, Bloc support Conservatives
Last Updated: Friday, September 18, 2009 | 4:49 PM ET
CBC News
Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff rises to vote against a motion to implement measures from the last budget in the House of Commons on Friday. (Adrian Wyld/Canadian Press) The Conservatives' financial motion, which includes the popular tax credit for home renovation, passed in a 224-74 vote. The government garnered the promised support of the Bloc Québécois and the NDP.
The Liberals voted against the motion, prompting jeers from across the floor.
Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff said the Conservatives bringing forward the ways-and-means motion is part of a political game and that the renovation tax credit was secure without it.
"Let's just stop these games," he said. "This is ridiculous. The issue is real simple: Do you have confidence in this government or don't you? Yes or no? We said clearly we no longer have confidence."
Until Friday, the Liberals had propped up the Conservative government since 2007, voting in support of 79 consecutive confidence votes.
Friday's confidence vote was the first of the fall Parliament session, which began on Monday amid speculation that the country would be entering an election campaign by the end of the week.
The Conservatives, however, only need the support of the Bloc or the NDP to survive.
Economy fragile: Flaherty
"I hope the opposition parties will work with the government," said Finance Minister Jim Flaherty following Friday's vote.
New Democrat Leader Jack Layton and the NDP MPs supported the Conservative government in a confidence vote on Friday. (Adrian Wyld/Canadian Press)"Stability is very important for the economy," he said, adding Canada's unemployment rates "may well get worse."
The NDP aligned itself with the Conservatives in order to pass a Tory plan to extend employment insurance for long-tenured workers.
The proposed legislation would provide from five to 20 weeks of additional benefits, depending on how long an eligible individual has been working and paying into EI.
"What we've done is to accomplish something for people," NDP Leader Jack Layton told reporters following the vote.
NDP supporters want the party to work for citizens, Layton said. "So our supporters prefer that we work for them rather than having an election that no one wants."
Progress on EI
The Liberals are trying to quickly push forward the EI legislation ahead of its Opposition day in October, hoping to rob the NDP of its rationale for propping up the Harper government.
Most bills take months to wend their way through the legislative process in both houses of Parliament.
Behind-the-scenes manoeuvring on Parliament Hill on Thursday had the Liberals proposing to whisk the bill through all stages of the legislative process in the lower house by Friday.
Liberals in the Senate have also tabled a motion seeking to allow the upper house to begin its examination of the bill without waiting for the Commons to finish with it.
The Bloc has said it wants the Commons committee examining the bill to have time with it next week.
Layton has also said that though the party wants the bill to pass quickly, it's preferable for MPs to have time to examine the legislation carefully and hear from expert witnesses.
Government House leader Jay Hill has said work is continuing to determine how the legislation will proceed through the House.
With files from The Canadian Press
