Given polls, NDP likely in no rush to force federal election, says Charlottetown MP

Charlottetown MP Sean Casey says he doubts a federal election will be triggered by the NDP's decision Wednesday to end its supply-and-confidence agreementwith the governing Liberals.

NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh made the announcement Wednesday to end the deal, putting the minority Liberal government susceptible to a non-confidence vote that could bring the government down.

"I can't imagine any universe where, with the polling numbers being what they are now, that there's a great deal of urgency for the NDP to force an election," Casey said in an interview Thursday with Island Morning host Mitch Cormier.

"I think as long as we're transparent with them and with the Bloc [Qubcois] on an issue-by-issue basis, Parliament will continue to function."

In its most recent numbers on Sept. 1, the poll aggregator 338Canada suggests the Justin Trudeau Liberals are roughly 17 percentage points behind Pierre Poilievre's Conservatives, while the NDP is 25 points back.

The supply-and-confidence agreement struck between the two parties in March 2022 committed the NDP to supporting the Liberal government on confidence votes in exchange for legislative commitments on NDPpolicy priorities. The deal was scheduled to run until June 2025.

A federal election must be held by October 2025.

Casey said the NDP's decision to pull out of the deal will have no impact on his ownrole as an MP representing his Charlottetown constituents, but it could make Parliament operate less efficiently.

"The biggest single difference that we will see is the fact that the supply-and-confidence agreement called for the NDP to support us on procedural votes, including things like time allocation. Time allocation allowed us to complete our legislative agenda."