Justin Trudeau suffers political setback, main ally NDP withdraws support, 'rips up' 2022 deal

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Wednesday (Sep 4) suffered a political setback when the party helping keep his minority Liberal government in power withdrew its automatic support, leaving him scrambling for new alliances to govern.

Left-leaning New Democratic Party's leader Jagmeet Singh announced that he was "ripping up" a deal he had struck with Trudeau in 2022.

Elections looming?

Trudeau, as per reports, has dismissed talks of early elections and vowed to continue governing and pushing through social programmes. However, the support withdrawal has left him reliant on backing from other opposition lawmakers to survive confidence votes in the lower chamber of parliament.

Under Canadian law, an election must take place by the end of October 2025.

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"An election will come in the coming year, hopefully not until next fall because in the meantime, we're going to deliver for Canadians," said Trudeau.

"I really hope the NDP stays focused on how we can deliver for Canadians, as we have over the past years, rather than focusing on politics," he added while addressing reporters at a school he arrived at to talk about expanding lunch programmes.

Polls show Trudeau losing

This political upheaval comes as polls show Justin Trudeau losing badly if an election were held now.

Over the last two years, he has struggled to fend off attacks from the opposition centre-right Conservatives. The leader who first took office in November 2015 has been blamed for Canada's high inflation and a housing crisis.

With NDP's support, he managed to power through a social program designed to address the cost of living. However, in recent months, NDP's Singh had expressed growing frustration with Trudeau.

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"Justin Trudeau has proven again and again he will always cave to corporate greed," Singh said, criticising the Liberal Party of Canada for their failure to deal with high prices at grocery stores.

"Liberals have led people down - they don't deserve another chance," he said.

The test for Trudeau could come soon. On Sept 16, the House of Commons — where the Conservatives can propose a vote of confidence — resumes work. Trudeau's party still has a chance at survival granted that the NDP abstained on a vote of confidence vote. 

The NDP in a statement said that it would decide on a case-by-case basis whether to support Trudeau's Liberals on confidence votes.

(With inputs from agencies)