Updated December 4, 2024 @ 2:29pm
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre is offering to give up time on an opposition day in the House of Commons to allow Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland to present the government's fall fiscal update.
Poilievre says he will allow Freeland two hours to present the fall economic statement on Monday — a day allocated for Conservatives to present their own motions in Parliament.
The Conservative leader says he'll give up that time so the government can tell Canadians whether it kept a promise to cap the federal deficit at $40 billion.
The parliamentary budget officer is projecting the government will exceed its own fiscal guardrail with a deficit of $46.8 billion for the previous fiscal year.
"Not only will we co-operate to let her introduce that fall update, we will actually give her a Christmas gift: We'll give her two hours out of our Conservative opposition motion day on Monday for her to stand on her feet and tell us how much she's lost control of the nation's finances," Poilievre told reporters Wednesday morning.
So far, it doesn't appear that the Liberal government plans to take Poilievre up on the offer.
A spokeswoman for Freeland said for the Conservatives "to suggest today that they're interested in doing the business of Parliament is ridiculous after months of blocking its work."
"If they want to be serious about supporting Canadians, they can open Parliament for business," said Katherine Cuplinskas in a statement.
Freeland has not yet announced a date for the fiscal update, telling reporters on Tuesday that the filibuster in Parliament is standing in the way of the government's work.
The Liberal government has not said whether it will meet its own pledge on the deficit.
The House of Commons has been in gridlock for weeks as opposition parties demand the government hand over unredacted documents related to misspending at a green technology fund to the RCMP.
Government House leader Karina Gould reacted to Poilievre's offer by calling on the Conservatives to end the filibuster.
"We should end the filibuster," Gould said. "It's enough, right? There's important work that we need to get done."
The filibuster will be placed on pause Thursday after Speaker Greg Fergus cleared the way for the four remaining opposition days to take place over the next two weeks.
Three of those opposition days are allocated to the Conservatives, and one to the NDP. The Conservatives were assigned Dec. 5, Dec. 9 and Dec. 10 and the NDP were assigned Dec. 6.
The Conservatives are expected to use their first of their three to introduce another non-confidence motion quoting NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh's own explanation in why he pulled his party out of its agreement with the Liberals to prop up the minority government.
Singh said yesterday he would not support that motion.
The NDP will introduce its own opposition day motion on Friday to advance affordability policies.
The motion calls for Canada to permanently remove the GST on what the NDP calls essentials. This includes grocery store meals, children’s clothes, diapers, home heating, cellphone and internet bills.
Last month, Singh promised to enact this policy if the NDP forms government after the next election. His party supported the Liberals temporary pause in the GST on holiday-themed items including toys, children's clothes and restaurant meals even though it did not go as far as he wanted.
The NDP motion also calls on the expansion of what the government calls the working Canadians rebate, which the Liberals intend to send to anyone who earned up to $150,000 in employment income in 2023.
The NDP wants to see these one-time $250 payments also go to fully retired seniors, people who rely on disability benefits and “others in need.”
To pay for the expansion, Singh calls for an “excess profit tax” on the “largest and most profitable corporations.”
As it stands, the government’s $250 payment plan is expected to cost nearly $4.7 billion.
Freeland said Tuesday that the government clearly doesn't have backing to pass the rebate payments as introduced, and is talking to opposition parties about it without specifying what she is willing to do.
Both motions are expected to be voted on in the House of Commons on Dec. 9.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 4, 2024.
