Bloc Québécois threatens to take down Trudeau government over growing controversies

OTTAWA – At least one federal opposition party is openly pushing for the possibility of a fall election this year, despite the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Bloc Québécois says if the prime minister, his chief of staff, and Finance Minister Bill Morneau don’t resign, his party is willing to move a non-confidence motion against the Trudeau government this fall in order to try and spark an election.

“We still say that they must go, we say that even more intently than we did before because the situation, and what we know of the situation, and there might still be other things to learn from this situation, points towards such an obligation toward them,” Bloc Leader Yves-François Blanchet says, adding, with growing questions around the WE Charity scandal, he doesn’t believe the Liberals are fit to govern.

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“We observe that this government might not be worthy of our trust anymore,” he says.

“The question becomes: Which is worse? Keeping them and this government in place, or creating temporary distortion in the management of the crisis in going into an election, which might, and replace them with people better suited for the job.”

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However, Blanchet has not yet discussed this plan with the other opposition parties, adding, “My fear is that they might not want to go into an election.”

The Liberals only need the support of one other party to stay alive as a minority government.

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The political threat comes as MPs prepare to meet for a summer sitting of the House of Commons, where the WE controversy and ethics are expected to be in focus.

Opposition parties are expected to use the chance to once again attack and question the sitting government over how it granted a sole-source student-volunteer program contract to the charity, which has ties to both the Trudeau and Morneau families.

Both Trudeau and Morneau are currently under investigation for a possible conflict of interest.

Trudeau will not be there since he is on vacation with his family.