Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government is close to an agreement with a left-leaning opposition party that would keep his Liberals in power until 2025, according to multiple reports.
The Liberals and the New Democratic Party have struck a tentative deal that would see the NDP support the government in confidence votes, in exchange for advancing policies including national dental care and drug programs, CTV News and the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. reported Monday night, citing unnamed sources.
The deal, which must still be approved by each party’s caucus, is for a so-called confidence-and-supply agreement, not a formal coalition pact that would see NDP lawmakers take cabinet positions. Trudeau will speak to the media at 9 a.m. in Ottawa before holding a cabinet meeting.
Trudeau called a snap election last year hoping to regain the parliamentary majority he lost in 2019. His Liberals won 159 of the 338 seats in Canada’s House of Commons, 11 shy of a majority. The NDP holds 25 seats.
If the deal comes to fruition, it would reshape Canada’s political landscape, giving Trudeau more latitude to govern as though his party has a majority. The primary opposition party, the Conservatives, are in the midst of a leadership race that will conclude in September.
The Canadian dollar was little changed on the reports, trading at C$1.2583 per U.S. dollar as of 6:57 a.m. Toronto time on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, there is significant debate about whether Trudeau will see the Liberals through another campaign, which would be his fourth at the helm. Pushing the next election off three years would give the prime minister more time to decide whether to step down and trigger a leadership race in the governing party.
Potential contenders to succeed Trudeau include Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland and Mark Carney, the former governor of both the Bank of Canada and Bank of England, who is now vice chair of Brookfield Asset Management.
