Roving Periscope: Pro-Khalistani NDP may now inch closer to Canada’s Conservatives to save its skin

Virendra Pandit

New Delhi: Sensing that the unpopular Liberal Party may lose power next year, the pro-Khalistani New Democratic Party (NDP) has pulled out support to the Justine Trudeau government and may inch closer to the Conservatives to avert a possible crackdown on the anti-India outfit by the next rulers.

Canadian Leader of Opposition and top Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre, smelling power, got the hint and provoked NDP chief Jagmeet Singh, who he once referred to as “sell-out Singh,” to call for early elections immediately.

Early elections could suit the Conservatives, who have a good chance of winning amid the anti-incumbency against Trudeau’s government over a housing crisis and inflation.

The NDP-Liberal agreement was supposed to survive until June 2025. Parliamentary elections in Canada are due by October 2025.

As no party got an absolute majority in 2021, Trudeau depended on the pro-Khalistani NDP for support, which was reflected in Canada’s relentless anti-India policies.

In 2021, Trudeau and his Liberals were voted back to power for a third consecutive term but they only got 154 of the 338 seats in the House of Commons, short of the 169 halfway mark.

The Trudeau government is safe for now as the power lies with the 32 members of parliament from Bloc Quebecois, a regional political party in Canada. The MPs seemingly are not against Trudeau and his government for the time being.

The beleaguered PM would, however, find it difficult to pass any new bills or legislation as his minority government’s numbers are diminished in Parliament.

The NDP, widely seen as an opportunist outfit, with its 24 MPs, got into a ‘confidence-and-supply agreement’ and lent support to Trudeau’s government against any vote of no-confidence.

Now that it has ditched Trudeau ahead of next year’s parliamentary polls, Singh is keeping his options open on joining hands with the extreme right, the Conservatives.

For the record, however, the NDP claimed, with generic allegations, that it was pulling out from the Trudeau government as it “failed to deliver on its promises.”

“The deal is done,” Jagmeet Singh cryptically posted on X, formerly Twitter, on Thursday.

The NDP has recently been attacking Trudeau’s government, especially over its “failure to deal with high prices at grocery stores.”
“Justin Trudeau has proven again, and again, he will always cave to corporate greed.”

The NDP’s pullout does not, however, mean an immediate election, but raises the question as to why Jagmeet Singh ditched Trudeau.

Trudeau’s government has increasingly become unpopular among Canadians over its policies, including on immigration to the Sikhs. Canada’s economy is in the doldrums, and Canadians are seeing high unemployment rates and a severe crunch in housing units, both blamed on rather unchecked and record-high immigration.

In June, the Conservatives dealt a stunning blow to Trudeau by winning the Liberal stronghold of Toronto-St Paul in a federal bye-election. The Liberals were 20 points behind the Conservatives. The poll also showed that 59 percent of the respondents had a negative view of Trudeau.

The NDP needed to reestablish its full independence well before the next year’s election, Fred Cutler, an associate professor at the University of British Columbia, was quoted by the media as saying.

Outwardly, the NDP has claimed that it could even stop the Conservatives from returning to power. “The Liberals are too weak, too selfish, and too beholden to corporate interests to stop the Conservatives and their plans to cut. But the NDP can,” Singh said.

Though it is unlikely that the Trudeau government would fall, the controversial PM would have to seek support from other opposition lawmakers in the House of Commons.

The NDP leader announced in a video message on social media, saying the Liberals “have let people down” and that they “don’t deserve another chance from Canadians.”

Reacting to Singh’s announcement, PM Trudeau said his government will continue to focus on tackling the affordability crisis in the country.