There will be no federal election this fall.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his federal Liberal minority government survived a confidence vote on Wednesday (October 21).
This means that the country will not have a snap election amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Trudeau and the Liberals were supported by NDP, Green Party, and independent MPs to defeat a motion.
The motion called for the creation of a committee to investigate alleged corruption by the Liberal government of Trudeau.
The final vote result was 146 for the motion, and 180 against.
Federal Conservatives pushed for the motion with the support of the Bloc Quebecois.
MPs are interested to look into the government’s COVID-19 spending, allegations of conflicts of interest, and the WE Charity controversy.
The Liberals declared the vote to create this committee a matter of confidence.
If it had been successful, the vote could have triggered an election call.
Trudeau and his Liberals won a minority government in the 2019 federal election.
In minority Parliaments, governments stay in power so long as they maintain the confidence of the House of Commons.
That confidence is often tested several times a year with votes on budgets and other monetary matters.
Governments can also designate other key votes on important issues as matters of confidence.
In a statement, Conservatives said the smaller progressive-leaning parties in the House “chose to follow the prime minister’s weak leadership”.
Conservatives vowed to keep up their fight for deeper probels into alleged Liberal misdeeds.
Conservatives wanted to create a new super committee that would be focused on studying Liberal controversies including the WE Charity affair and the alleged of misuse of public funds during the COVID-19 pandemic.
All 24 NDP MPs ended up voting with the Liberal government against the motion.
Three Green MPs and two Independent MPs also joined the vote against the motion to create a committee to investigate government corruption..
Defeat of the motion means the Liberals remain in a minority government.
Conservative Leader Erin O’Toole issued a statement following the vote criticizing the decision to make the matter a question of confidence given the risk of an election during the pandemic.
“Our motion was clear that the creation of a special committee is not a matter of confidence. The prime minister threatened to use this committee as an excuse to call an election in the middle of the second wave – which would have needlessly put the health and safety of Canadians at risk,” O’Toole said.
“Canadians don’t want an election,” O’Toole said.
O’Toole said the Conservatives would continue pushing for more answers into accusations that the government in giving contracts for work related to the pandemic to party insiders and supporters.
The two Independent MPs who voted with the government were Marwan Tabbara and Jody Wilson-Raybould.
