NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh - The Canadian Press

By The Canadian Press

Prime Minister reaches deal with opposition NDP to avert an election

Sep 25, 2020 | 4:46 PM

OTTAWA, ONT. — One of Canada’s opposition parties has reached a deal with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government that will allow for Trudeau’s minority Liberal government to stay in power.

Officials said Friday that the Liberals had come to an agreement with the leftist New Democratic Party over its demands for supporting the Throne Speech, in which the government laid out its priorities.

An election would have been forced if the NDP had joined the other two main opposition parties in voting against the speech. Trudeau won reelection last year, but his Liberal party does not have a majority of seats in Parliament and must rely on at least one opposition party to stay in power.

N-D-P Leader Jagmeet Singh says the agreement over legislation to support workers means that millions of Canadians will qualify for paid sick leave.

Singh says the Liberals had proposed a measure that would have provided sick leave for far fewer Canadians during the COVID-19 pandemic.

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The Liberal throne speech introduced Wednesday needs the support of at least one of the major opposition parties for the minority government to survive a confidence vote.

Without today’s deal, Canada likely would have been forced into a federal election just as parts of the country are in a second wave of the pandemic.

The Opposition Conservatives and Bloc Quebecois had already made clear they will vote against the throne speech, which spelled out the Liberal government’s priorities heading into next year.