NDP supports spending bill, assuring no election amid pandemic

The Liberals are up against a confidence vote on Wednesday, and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is confident as he has gained support from New Democrat MPs after announcing an extension on the Canada Emergency Response Benefit Plan on Tuesday.

Parliament has approved about $81 billion already and there is only around $6 billion in new spending. The money is mostly going towards pandemic related spending, reports CTV News.

Trudeau extended the $2,000-per-month CERB for an additional eight weeks and in return, NDP spokeswoman, Melanie Richer said that New Democratic MPs are going to vote in favour of the Liberals $87 billion supplementary spending estimates.

"The prime minister says he has heard us and is extending support through CERB through the summer," said Jagmeet Singh, NDP Leader, in a statement.

"This is what we were calling for in the short term. We'll keep working to make sure help is there for Canadians who need it in the long term."

The Liberals require the support of a main opposition party in order to guarantee that they pass legislation.

"No one wants to send 20 million Canadians to line up to vote while we are still in the midst of a pandemic," he said.

The country would be thrown into an election if the Liberal government was unable to win the vote of confidence though the Liberals are in a good enough position with the NDP’s support.

Yves-Francis Blanched, the Bloc Quebecois leader alluded to not voting against the estimates, though the party does want a complete resumption of the Commons among other things.

The extension announced by Trudeau on Tuesday will take pressure off of residents who signed up when they first could in April and were going to see the end of their payment periods near the beginning of July.