Bloc ready to support Liberals - for a price

Party sees window of opportunity’ after NDP rips up deal

- MICHEL SABA

MONTEBELLO, QUE. The Bloc Québécois is ready to wheel and deal with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government in exchange for support during confidence votes now that the Liberal government’s confidence and supply agreement with the NDP has ended. That support won’t come cheap, the Quebec-based Bloc said, and the sovereigntist party led by YvesFrançois Blanchet has already drawn up a list of demands.

In an interview ahead of the opening of Monday’s party caucus retreat in the Outaouais region, Bloc House Leader Alain Therrien said his party is happy to regain its balance of power.

“Our objectives remain the same, but the means to get there will be much easier,” Therrien said. “We will negotiate and seek gains for Quebec … our balance of power has improved, that’s for sure.”