The deal to keep Trudeau in power is contingent on action on these NDP priorities this year
As the minority Liberals plot out their policy moves ahead of the 2023 parliamentary sitting, weighing heavily are commitments Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made to NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh that have to be acted on this year in order to uphold the two-party confidence-and-supply deal.
Inked in March 2022, the agreement injected what could be years of stability on Parliament Hill, seeing the NDP propping up the Liberals until June 2025鈥攋ust ahead of the fixed election date in October of that year鈥 in exchange for policy action on a suite of progressive issues.
In the first year, there was progress on a few key elements of the agreement, including the first phase of a national dental care program, boosts to rental and GST benefits, and the tabling of legislation aimed at protecting the Canada-wide early learning and child-care system.
While not part of the two-party deal, Singh is now calling on the prime minister to make protecting the public health-care system a condition of any increase to provincial Canada Health Transfers. This, compounded by new polling suggesting that health care is a top national issue of concern and that Trudeau is appearing to be squeezed on the left, may challenge the two-party pact in the months ahead.
This comes as several key pledges in the parliamentary pact are outstanding. While not all have time-specific deadlines, such as moving forward , there are five specific commitments that the two sides have agreed need to be acted on within 2023.
Making progress on these key items in order to keep the agreement alive is something the federal Liberal cabinet will be considering as it gathers in Hamilton, Ont., next week for a retreat.
Speaking to reporters during a multi-day strategy session with his caucus in Ottawa this week, Singh offered a reminder that he's willing to pull his support if the Liberals fail to uphold any element of the agreement.
"We always have the right, if the government breaks any conditions of the agreement, if they don't follow through with what we forced them to agree to, we have then the power or the option of withdrawing our support," Singh said.
Here's what needs to get done in 2023 to keep the deal alive.
EXPANDING DENTAL CARE TO TEENS AND SENIORS
While the first phase has seen the government implement a stop-gap dental-care benefit model ensuring the Liberals met their 2022 commitment to cover dental costs for eligible children under 12, the Liberals are still on the hook to roll out a full-fledged national dental program for low-income Canadians by 2025.
In 2023, the Liberals have committed to expanding the system to those under the age of 18, seniors, and people living with disabilities.
Singh says he'll be eyeing the 2023 federal budget to make sure it includes "enough funds" to move forward with the next stage of the program, calling it a "clear requirement."
PASSING CANADA PHARMACARE ACT
Arguably the biggest outstanding commitment of the deal needs to come to fruition this year: a national pharmacare framework. Considered a historic expansion of Canada鈥檚 health-care system, failure to launch could mean the deal fizzles out.
Per the agreement, the federal government has to pass a "Canada Pharmacare Act" by the end of 2023 as a key step towards a universal national pharmacare program and a connected creation of a national formulary of essential medicines.
While this won't mean a full-fledged program is in place by year's end, it would be progress as both the Liberals and New Democrats have pledged over successive elections to implement a national pharmacare system, and so far action has been minimal.
"We want to see a national framework for pharmacare presented in Parliament and passed in Parliament by the end of the year," Singh said. "This is the framework necessary to move forward with universal public pharmacare鈥 If they didn't do that, they would be breaking the deal."
HOMEBUYERS' BILL OF RIGHTS
The two sides have also committed to move forward on a Liberal campaign promise to implement a "Homebuyer鈥檚 Bill of Rights" by the end of 2023.
Aimed at making the process of buying a home more open and transparent, this policy action comes alongside a request to tackle "the financialization of the housing market" by the end of 2023.
Some work has already begun on this promise. In the 2022 federal budget the Liberals announced plans to move forward on this set of protections for homebuyers facing unfair practices.
Minister of Housing and Diversity and Inclusion Ahmed Hussen has been tasked with working with provinces over the next year to develop and implement a bill of rights that, according to the budget, could include "ensuring a legal right to a home inspection, and ensuring transparency on the history of sales prices on title searches."
BENEFICIAL OWNERSHIP REGISTRY
A publicly-accessible beneficial ownership registry needs to be implemented by the end of 2023, a move aimed at cracking down on anonymous shell companies being used to conceal who owns assets.
This commitment is already in the works, after the Liberals announced in the 2022 federal budget that the government would be accelerating by two years its 2021 budget commitment to implement a public and searchable registry, making it accessible before the end of 2023 instead of 2025.
Considered "vulnerable to misuse for illegal activities, including money laundering, corruption, and tax evasion," the registry would "be scalable to allow access to the beneficial ownership data held by provinces and territories that agree to participate in a national registry," the Liberals said in the budget.
'ANTI-SCAB' LEGISLATION
The Liberals will also have to bring forward legislation by the end of 2023 to ban the use of replacement workers when a union employer in a federally-regulated industry has locked out employees or is in the midst of a strike.
Singh has said this bill would help protect good-paying unionized jobs.
The agreement states that a so-called "anti-scab" bill needs to be tabled this year, and not necessarily passed.
IN DEPTH
Jagmeet Singh pulls NDP out of deal with Trudeau Liberals, takes aim at Poilievre Conservatives
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh has pulled his party out of the supply-and-confidence agreement that had been helping keep Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's minority Liberals in power.
'Not the result we wanted': Trudeau responds after surprise Conservative byelection win in Liberal stronghold
Conservative candidate Don Stewart winning the closely-watched Toronto-St. Paul's federal byelection, and delivering a stunning upset to Justin Trudeau's candidate Leslie Church in the long-time Liberal riding, has sent political shockwaves through both parties.
'We will go with the majority': Liberals slammed by opposition over proposal to delay next election
The federal Liberal government learned Friday it might have to retreat on a proposal within its electoral reform legislation to delay the next vote by one week, after all opposition parties came out to say they can't support it.
Budget 2024 prioritizes housing while taxing highest earners, deficit projected at $39.8B
In an effort to level the playing field for young people, in the 2024 federal budget, the government is targeting Canada's highest earners with new taxes in order to help offset billions in new spending to enhance the country's housing supply and social supports.
'One of the greatest': Former prime minister Brian Mulroney commemorated at state funeral
Prominent Canadians, political leaders, and family members remembered former prime minister and Progressive Conservative titan Brian Mulroney as an ambitious and compassionate nation-builder at his state funeral on Saturday.
Opinion
opinion Don Martin: Gusher of Liberal spending won't put out the fire in this dumpster
A Hail Mary rehash of the greatest hits from the Trudeau government鈥檚 three-week travelling pony-show, the 2024 federal budget takes aim at reversing the party鈥檚 popularity plunge in the under-40 set, writes political columnist Don Martin. But will it work before the next election?
opinion Don Martin: The doctor Trudeau dumped has a prescription for better health care
Political columnist Don Martin sat down with former federal health minister Jane Philpott, who's on a crusade to help fix Canada's broken health care system, and who declined to take any shots at the prime minister who dumped her from caucus.
opinion Don Martin: Trudeau's seeking shelter from the housing storm he helped create
While Justin Trudeau's recent housing announcements are generally drawing praise from experts, political columnist Don Martin argues there shouldn鈥檛 be any standing ovations for a prime minister who helped caused the problem in the first place.
opinion Don Martin: Poilievre has the field to himself as he races across the country to big crowds
It came to pass on Thursday evening that the confidentially predictable failure of the Official Opposition non-confidence motion went down with 204 Liberal, BQ and NDP nays to 116 Conservative yeas. But forcing Canada into a federal election campaign was never the point.
opinion Don Martin: How a beer break may have doomed the carbon tax hike
When the Liberal government chopped a planned beer excise tax hike to two per cent from 4.5 per cent and froze future increases until after the next election, says political columnist Don Martin, it almost guaranteed a similar carbon tax move in the offing.
CTVNews.ca 星空传媒
Israel kills top Hezbollah figure in Beirut strike, Reuters sources say
Top Hezbollah commander Ibrahim Aqil was killed on Friday in an Israeli strike on Beirut's southern suburbs, two security sources told Reuters.
Since she was a young girl growing up in Vancouver, Ginny Lam says her mom Yat Hei Law made it very clear she favoured her son William, because he was her male heir.
The province's public security minister said he was "shocked" Thursday amid reports that a body believed to be that of a 14-year-old boy was found this week near a Hells Angels hideout near Quebec City.
An Ontario man says it is 'unfair' to pay a $1,500 insurance surcharge because his four-year-old SUV is at a higher risk of being stolen.
DEVELOPING Here's what we know about Israel's latest strike in Beirut
Israel鈥檚 military has struck the southern suburbs of Beirut, Lebanon鈥檚 capital, in a dramatic escalation in a year-long period of conflict between Israel and Hezbollah.
Emergency crews in northern Ontario found the bodies of four people inside a home where a fire broke out Thursday night.
Passenger on a previous Titan sub dive says his mission was aborted due to apparent malfunction
A paid passenger on an expedition to the Titanic with the company that owned the Titan submersible testified before a U.S. Coast Guard investigatory panel Friday that the mission he took part in was aborted due to an apparent mechanical failure.
Cognitive decline reduced by MIND diet, especially for women and Black people, study finds
Following the MIND diet for 10 years produced a small but significant decrease in the risk of developing thinking, concentration and memory problems, a new study found.
The Montreal couple from Mexico and their three children facing deportation have received a temporary residence permit.
Local Spotlight
They say a dog is a man鈥檚 best friend. In the case of Darren Cropper, from Bonfield, Ont., his three-year-old Siberian husky and golden retriever mix named Bear literally saved his life.
A growing group of brides and wedding photographers from across the province say they have been taken for tens of thousands of dollars by a Barrie, Ont. wedding photographer.
Paleontologists from the Royal B.C. Museum have uncovered "a trove of extraordinary fossils" high in the mountains of northern B.C., the museum announced Thursday.
The search for a missing ancient 28-year-old chocolate donkey ended with a tragic discovery Wednesday.
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police is celebrating an important milestone in the organization's history: 50 years since the first women joined the force.
It's been a whirlwind of joyful events for a northern Ontario couple who just welcomed a baby into their family and won the $70 million Lotto Max jackpot last month.
A Good Samaritan in New Brunswick has replaced a man's stolen bottle cart so he can continue to collect cans and bottles in his Moncton neighbourhood.
David Krumholtz, known for roles like Bernard the Elf in The Santa Clause and physicist Isidor Rabi in Oppenheimer, has spent the latter part of his summer filming horror flick Altar in Winnipeg. He says Winnipeg is the most movie-savvy town he's ever been in.
Edmontonians can count themselves lucky to ever see one tiger salamander, let alone the thousands one local woman says recently descended on her childhood home.