By David Ljunggren
OTTAWA (Reuters) – Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau looks set to survive a confidence vote next week after a rival party said on Wednesday it would not back an attempt to defeat his minority Liberal government.
The official opposition Conservatives, who have a commanding lead in the polls, said they would try to topple Trudeau next Wednesday on the grounds that Canadians cannot afford the promised increase in an existing federal carbon tax.
Trudeau will need support from other legislators to survive a confidence vote in the House of Commons and quickly found it from Yves-Francois Blanchet, leader of the separatist Bloc Quebecois, which seeks independence for the province of Quebec.
“The Bloc Quebecois serves the people of Quebec. It does not serve the Conservatives,” Blanchet told reporters, saying replacing Trudeau with Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre would not suit Quebec’s interests.
The Bloc, which like the Liberals are a center-left party, could well insist on pro-Quebec concessions in return for keeping Trudeau in power.
Trudeau, who first took office in November 2015, faces increasing unhappiness from voters over rising prices and a nationwide housing crisis.
The confidence vote will be his first real test since the smaller New Democratic Party this month tore up a 2022 deal to keep the Liberals in office until an election that must be held by end-October 2025.
Trudeau will have to survive a series of other confidence votes to make it that far.
While working formally with separatists is generally seen as politically toxic in Canada, federal parties have in the past struck one-off deals to gain Bloc support.
In 2009, the Bloc backed the then minority Conservative government on a confidence vote.