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The Bloc Québécois is ready to give the Trudeau government a confidence and supply agreement, amid ongoing chaos in Ottawa after the NDP pulled out of their coalition deal with the Liberals last week. 

Bloc House Leader Alain Therrien told The Globe and Mail their support won’t come cheap. “I’m the one who will negotiate,” he said.

Among the list of demands includes support for Bill C-319, which aims to line up pensions for seniors, ages 65 to 74, to the same level that those 75 and over receive. 

The Bloc also wants Québec to have greater control over immigration. They have repeatedly expressed concerns over the growing number of temporary foreign workers in the province, and their inability to accommodate more.

“Our objectives remain the same, but the means to get there will be much easier,” Therrien said. “We will negotiate and seek gains for Quebec … our balance of power has improved, that’s for sure.”

Additionally, more health care funding and less encroachment of provincial jurisdiction is among their demands.

After "ripping up" the supply-and-confidence agreement that helps keep PM Trudeau's Liberal government in power, NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh says when the next election comes, it will be a choice between Singh's NDP or Poilievre's Conservatives.https://t.co/Nk1RiFZm4H pic.twitter.com/NCVXltIcuq

— Rebel News (@RebelNewsOnline) September 5, 2024

NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh pulled his agreement last Wednesday after calling the Trudeau government “too beholden to corporate interests” to actually serve Canadians.

In March 2022, the NDP pledged to support the government in confidence matters through June 2025. In exchange, the Liberals would prioritize pharmacare and dental care in the House of Commons.

However, cabinet reneged on the agreement last December 31 by failing to pass a pharmacare bill as promised. “I am going into this with eyes wide open,” Singh said at the time.

“Liberals are too weak, too selfish. I have ripped up the supply-and-confidence agreement,” the NDP Leader said last week.

Therrien called the ensuing chaos a “window of opportunity” as the Liberals are truly a minority government at risk of an early election should a confidence vote pass.

Jagmeet Singh won't commit to supporting a non-confidence motion if put forward by Poilievre's Conservatives.

"We are ready to fight an election whenever that happens." https://t.co/vD78U4ZuZQ pic.twitter.com/CJzmEq5uEg

— Rebel News (@RebelNewsOnline) September 5, 2024

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre earlier challenged New Democrats to dissolve Parliament on a Conservative confidence vote on September 16. “That way we can have a carbon tax election where Canadians will decide,” he said.

https://twitter.com/RebelNewsOnline/status/1831418667671965997

The NDP acknowledged that an election was likely, but not certain. Meanwhile, the Bloc is in no rush to the polls.

A recent Leger poll found the New Democrats lost considerable support over the summer, falling from 20% to 15% between July and August. 

An anonymous Bloc strategist told The Canadian Press the NDP has handed the balance of power back to them. 

“It’s going to happen with or without Quebec,” they said. “They [the Conservatives] are 20 points ahead everywhere in Canada, with the exception of Quebec, and that won’t change … their [Conservative] vote is firm.”