Minority government benefitted from opposition members voting across the aisle, paving way for billions in spending
Canada’s prime minister Mark Carney’s minority government has survived two confidence votes on its budget, quashing fears – for now – of a winter federal election.
The Liberals managed to pass the second of three votes on the plan on Friday, paving the way for tens of billions in new spending.
The party, which needs the support of opposition lawmakers, benefitted from Conservatives voting alongside the Liberals, putting the budget on course for a final and consequential vote in mid-November. But the results are also a reminder for Carney, the wonkish economist, of the unpredictable and fortuitous realities of politics.
François-Philippe Champagne, the finance minister, unveiled the Liberal government’s sprawling federal budget on Tuesday, explicitly acknowledging that a protracted trade war with the United States and a weakening domestic economy had forced the government to run a deficit tens of billions larger than initially forecast.
