Northern MPs to focus on legislating, not campaigning this fall
End of NDP’s supply-and-confidence deal with Liberals increases chances government will be defeated on non-confidence vote
Nunavut’s NDP MP Lori Idlout, left, and Bloc Québécois MP Sylvie Bérubé who represents Nunavik, right, seen in file photos say they will concentrate on legislation, not politicking, following the NDP’s ending of its deal to keep the Liberal party in power in the House of Commons. (Photos by Arty Sarkisian and Jeff Pelletier)
With the possibility of an early election looming, Nunavut’s and Nunavik’s parliamentarians say it will be business as usual when they return to Ottawa later in September.
Bloc Québécois MP Sylvia Bérubé, who represents Nunavik and most of Northern Quebec, does not believe the NDP will force an early election after NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh announced Wednesday the end of his party’s supply-and-confidence agreement with the governing Liberals.
The partnership, agreed to in March 2022, guaranteed NDP support for the Liberal minority government’s legislation, which avoided any votes of non-confidence. In return, the Liberals included NDP priorities in their legislative agenda.
Without that agreement, the government could fall once Parliament resumes sitting on Sept. 16.
The next federal election is currently set for Oct. 20, 2025.
“The NDP does not have the wind in its sails for an early election and the Liberal party must recover from the loss of momentum in the country and in Quebec,” Bérubé wrote in an email to Nunatsiaq News.
Asked if the Bloc Québécois would vote to bring down the Liberal government, Bérubé said it would depend on the issue.
She provided a long list of her party’s wishes, including the indexing of old age pensions, advance requests for medical assistance in dying, and progress on the action plan on reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples.
Lori Idlout, the NDP MP for Nunavut, expressed similar feelings about the future of the Liberal government now that the supply-and-confidence agreement has ended.
For now, she said, it will be business as usual.
“My priority always is to be the voice of Nunavut as the only MP that serves Nunavummiut,” she said. “I’ll be taking the same level of consideration as to what is best for Nunavut.”
Idlout said the major piece of unfinished business she has is the NDP’s proposal to overhaul Nutrition North. In October 2023, Singh visited the territory and called on the federal government to reform the program that subsidizes grocery prices in the North.
“When I return to Ottawa on Sept. 16, I will keep pressuring the minister to take what Nunavummiut have been saying — that the program needs a complete overhaul — so that it is alleviating poverty and not supporting corporate greed,” Idlout said.
The Conservatives’ northern affairs critic, MP Bob Zimmer, did not respond to a request for comment.
Currently in the 338-seat House of Commons, of the major parties the minority Liberal government has 154 seats, the Conservatives have 119, Bloc Québécois has 32 and the NDP has 24.
“For now, she said, it will be business as usual.
“My priority always is to be the voice of Nunavut as the only MP that serves Nunavummiut,” she said. “I’ll be taking the same level of consideration as to what is best for Nunavut.”
Now this is a scary thought. Business as usual. Well, we can now expect nothing to be accomplished in Ottawa for Nunavut till the next election. She voted FOT the carbon tax increases
Fat fingers. She voted FOR the carbon tax increases. So much for alleviating the cost of anything when it arrives. She is led by someone (and agrees with) who does NOT keep his commitments and lies to the people.
How does she think over haul on food subsidies when the very cost of what brings the goods up here she votes to bring the prices up? And please ms idlout Atleast acknowledge your constituents when they email you with their concerns instead of just ignoring them with completely silence.