Members of Parliament decide Monday whether to vote in favour of Prime Minister Mark Carney's budget or possibly send the country back to the polls less than a year after the last federal election.
The consequential budget vote, expected around 6:45 p.m. ET, serves as a confidence vote on the minority Liberal government.
The Liberals need the votes of at least two MPs outside their party — or four vote abstentions from the opposition benches — for the budget to pass.
While both the Conservatives and Bloc Québécois have indicated they will not support the budget, four Conservative MPs did not vote on amendments to the budget last week that were considered confidence matters.
While most gave reasons for their absence, such as technical issues, Alberta Conservative MP Matt Jeneroux did not. Jeneroux announced his pending resignation as an MP earlier this month amid rumours he was being courted to join the Liberals.
Jeneroux's initial resignation announcement did not give a date for his departure. Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre later said on social media that Jeneroux will be resigning in the spring. After Poilievre's statement, Jeneroux said he still didn't have a date for his departure but it would be "likely this spring."
Interim NDP leader Don Davies said his caucus members would use last week's time away from Ottawa to speak with constituents before making a final budget decision.
NDP MPs have said while they are worried about public sector job losses through the budget, that needs to be balanced against the potential for private sector job creation from the major infrastructure projects being advanced by the federal government.
The budget also contains a handful of measures NDP MPs have been pushing for, including a Filipino community centre in Davies' Vancouver Kingsway riding and money for a national aerial firefighting fleet.
Green Party Leader Elizabeth May said last week that she can't support the budget without significant changes to environmental policy in the document.
Nova Scotia MP Chris d'Entremont crossed the floor from the Conservatives to the Liberals on Nov. 4, the day the budget was tabled, placing the Carney government two seats away from a majority.
The Liberals presented their budget as a plan to spend less and invest more in the face of U.S. tariffs.
After taking Ottawa's cost savings goals into account, the budget proposes nearly $90 billion in new spending over five years, much of it focused on responding to the United States' trade disruption.
Picture Courtesy: THE CANADIAN PRESS/Justin Tang
