Trudeau is poised to survive next week’s confidence vote with support from the opposition by Reuters

By David Ljunggren

OTTAWA (Reuters) – Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau looks set to survive a confidence vote next week after a rival party said on Wednesday it would not support an attempt to topple his minority Liberal government.

The official opposition Conservatives, who have a commanding lead in the polls, have said they will try to unseat Trudeau next Wednesday on the grounds that Canadians cannot afford the promised increase to an existing federal carbon tax.

Trudeau will need support from other lawmakers to survive a confidence vote in the House of Commons, and he quickly found it from Yves-Francois Blanchet, leader of the separatist Bloc Quebecois, which is seeking independence for Quebec province.

“The Bloc Quebecois serves the people of Quebec. It does not serve the Conservatives,” Blanchet told reporters, saying replacing Trudeau with Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre would not be in Quebec’s interests.

The Bloc, which, like the Liberals, is a center-left party, may well insist on pro-Quebec concessions in exchange for keeping Trudeau in power.

Trudeau, who first took office in November 2015, is facing growing voter unhappiness over rising prices and a nationwide housing crisis.

The confidence vote will be his first real test since the smaller New Democratic Party this month broke a 2022 deal to keep the Liberals in office until an election due in late October 2025.

Trudeau will have to survive a series of other confidence votes to get that far.

While official work with separatists is generally seen as politically toxic in Canada, federal parties have in the past made unique deals to win the bloc’s support.

In 2009, the Bloc supported the then minority Conservative government with a vote of confidence.