A loveless marriage, a strategic split

It was a marriage of convenience that ended because it was no longer convenient. No need for progressives to shed a tear, or for Liberals to fear the fall of the government, or for Conservatives to celebrate.

- ALTHIA RAJ

NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh did what he needed to do, what caucus members wanted him to do, what many New Democrat members believed should have been done last year.

On Wednesday, days before New Democrat MPs were set to meet in Montreal, and less than two weeks before two important byelections, Singh pulled the plug on his agreement with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau - 10 months before it was set to expire.

The supply and confidence agreement signed in March of 2022 in the shadows of a capital blockaded by a convoy of truckers and protesters angry over COVID vaccination requirements, and amid the invasion of Ukraine by Russia - is no more.

Justin Trudeau's Liberals "have let people down," said NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh in a video on Wednesday.

The deal was framed by Trudeau and Singh as one that offered stability and delivered on the mandate voters gave parliamentarians in the fall of 2021, when they returned MPs to Ottawa in nearly the same formation as in the previous Parliament.

Canadians wanted MPs to "work together to put people and families first. Deliver results and build a better future," Trudeau said in announcing the deal. "This is what Canadians expect from their politicians."

But what Canadians have also learned to expect from politicians is that they make decisions that best serve their partisan interests.