OTTAWA (Reuters) – The leader of the small Canadian left-leaning opposition New Democratic Party, which is helping keep Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in power, will make an announcement on Wednesday, a party spokeswoman said.
She said Jagmeet Singh – who has expressed increasing frustration with Trudeau’s government – would speak at 1 p.m. eastern (1700 GMT). She gave no details.
Under the terms of a 2022 deal between Singh and Trudeau, the NDP agreed to keep the Liberal government in power until mid-2025 in return for more social spending. The Liberals only have a minority in the House of Commons elected chamber and need support from opposition legislators to govern.
If Singh does tear up the deal, it does not mean Trudeau would be defeated. Instead, he would need to seek backing from other parties to survive confidence votes.
(This story has been corrected to fix the date of the political deal to 2022, not 2021, in paragraph 3)