Trudeau’s party strikes deal to stay in power in Canada until 2025
TORONTO — Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Tuesday said his Liberal Party has reached an agreement with the opposition New Democratic Party that would keep the Liberals in power until 2025.
“What this means is, during this uncertain time, the government can function with predictability and stability, present and implement budgets and get things done for Canadians,” Trudeau said.
Trudeau’s Liberals won the most seats in Parliament in an election last September but failed to secure a majority, so they must rely on the opposition to pass legislation. The leftist NDP party will support the Liberals in exchange for deals on pharmaceutical and dental care plans, but it will not have a lawmaker in Trudeau’s Cabinet, and the prime minister said the NDP would not have a veto on the budget or any other legislation.
“We’ve agreed to work together,” Trudeau said. “It’s about focusing on what we agree on instead of what we disagree on.”
Anti-vaccination protesters and truckers who laid siege to parts of Ottawa, the capital, called for Trudeau’s government to be ousted earlier this year.
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Trudeau said he plans to run again when the next election is held, which must be by 2025.
“As I’ve said a number of times, I am planning on continuing to serve Canadians through and beyond the next election,” Trudeau said.
But there are widespread doubts that he will do so, given that he would have been in power for 10 years, has seen a drop in his popularity and a rise in animosity toward him in much of western Canada.
Trudeau is still remembered for evoking the prospect of “sunny ways” when he took office in 2015 at age 43, the second-youngest Canadian premier ever. There have been setbacks since then, but he has been reelected twice.
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Tall and trim, Trudeau channeled the star power — if not quite the political heft — of his father, Pierre Trudeau, who swept to power in 1968 on a wave of support dubbed “Trudeaumania.” Pierre Trudeau, who was prime minister until 1984 with a short interruption, remains one of the few Canadian politicians known in America, his charisma often drawing comparisons to President Kennedy.
Daniel Béland, a politics professor at McGill University in Montreal, said the agreement with the New Democratic Party would provide much-needed stability to Justin Trudeau’s minority government while putting left-leaning spending priorities, such as dental care and medical drug coverage, on the policy agenda.
“This would create a frustrating situation, with less clout for the Conservative Party of Canada,” Béland said.
Béland called the length of Trudeau’s tenure impressive, noting that it would make him one of the longest-serving prime ministers in recent history, alongside Jean Chrétien and Stephen Harper, who both served for about a decade.
“However, his father, Pierre Trudeau, the third-longest-serving prime minister in Canadian history, served for more than 15 years, a performance his son might struggle to emulate,” Béland said.
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