Canada’s left-wing New Democratic Party (NDP) has terminated a two-and-a-half-year deal with Justin Trudeau’s Liberals that had helped keep Trudeau’s minority government in power.
In a video posted to social media on Wednesday, NDP Leader Thabo Meat Seng said he had informed the prime minister of his decision, calling the Liberals “too weak and too selfish” to fight for Canadians.
The deal is called a “supply and confidence” deal, with the NDP supporting the Liberals in a vote of confidence.
The announcement does not automatically mean a federal election is imminent, but Canadians may head to the polls ahead of the election scheduled for October 2025.
Singh and Trudeau first struck a deal in March 2022, with the Liberals pledging to support the left-leaning NDP on several key priorities in parliament.
An agreement differs from an alliance, in which the parties share power.
Instead, the Liberals – who failed to win a majority in the past two elections – govern as a minority party, but the NDP pledged to support them with a vote of confidence.
It is the first formal agreement of its kind between the two parties at the federal level.
In announcing the end of the deal, Singh said the Liberals had “let people down” and “don’t deserve Canadians to give them another chance.”
Canadian voters have become increasingly frustrated in recent years with rising inflation and a housing affordability crisis.
For months, polls for Trudeau’s Liberals have shown the party trailing the opposition Conservatives by about 18 percentage points.
