Bloc won’t hold Liberals ‘hostage’ over seniors’ benefits: cabinet minister

Liberal cabinet minister Steven Guilbeault says the Liberals will not be “held hostage” by the Bloc Québécois’ demand to expand Old Age Security (OAS) to more seniors.

“We’re not going to be held hostage simply to extend the life of our government to something that makes absolutely no sense from a fiscal and from a social point of view,” the environment and climate change minister said in an interview with CTV Question Period airing Sunday.

Since the NDP ended its supply-and-confidence deal with the Liberals in September, which guaranteed NDP support for shared priorities, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government has faced two non-confidence motions put forth by the Conservatives. Both were defeated.

With newfound negotiating power, the Bloc Québécois has issued an ultimatum to the Liberals, giving them until Oct. 29 to enact a pair of private members bills or the party will start working with opposition parties to topple the government.

The legislation Bloc Leader Yves-François Blanchet wants the government to push through are Bill C-319, which proposes a 10 per cent increase to OAS payouts for seniors ages 65 to 74, and Bill C-282, which seeks to protect dairy, egg and poultry farmers in future trade talks.

Last month, the Bloc used its one opposition day of the fall sitting to put forth a motion seeking royal recommendation for its private member’s bill to boost OAS. The motion passed, but most Liberal MPs voted against it – citing concerns over the cost and how the policy is targeted.

Government House Leader Karina Gould has since insisted her government is still open to the policy, but the vote would have set a bad precedent.

Guilbeault, however, rejected outright the possibility of doing what the Bloc wants on OAS. He told host Vassy Kapelos that the Liberals are in favour of supporting seniors and open to working with the Bloc on other measures but said any agreement “won’t be what the Bloc has proposed.”

“I’m not obviously personally involved in those conversations. I’m the environment minister. I’m not the minister responsible for seniors, but (the Liberals) have spoken about this as a collective,” Guilbeault said.

He also called the Bloc’s proposal “fiscally irresponsible.”

“It would cost $3 billion per year, and in many cases, it would go to people who don’t need it,” Guilbeault said.

Former Bloc Quebecois leader Gilles Duceppe speculated that Guilbeault’s comments mean there will almost certainly be an election before Christmas.

“Well, if it’s like that, we’ll have an election because the Bloc has been very clear on that. The ultimatum is there,” he told Kapelos, also in an interview airing on CTV’s Question Period on Sunday.

Duceppe also weighed in on the possibility of Trudeau proroguing Parliament, a decision that Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland and Gould have insisted is not on the table, but one that ultimately rests with the prime minister.

Duceppe led the Bloc in 2008 when former prime minister Stephen Harper prorogued Parliament for 53 days in an effort to stave off a rival coalition government.

“If they prorogue, it means you want to be in government for Christmas, but that’d be their last Christmas,” Duceppe told Kapelos.

In the event of an early election, Duceppe said the Bloc is “ready.”

“They’re well-prepared in all regions, in each riding. So if the Liberals want an election, they will act,” Duceppe said.

With the Liberals unwilling to acquiesce to the Bloc’s demands, the NDP has leverage to push new priorities as the Trudeau government only needs support from either the Bloc or NDP to stay in power. But so far, NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh says he has had no conversations with the prime minister.

“The ongoing discussions with the house leader, that is normal, but there’s been no discussion between me and the prime minister,” Singh told reporters on Thursday. “There’s been nothing I’ve been putting on the table nor has the prime minister put on the table.”

On Thursday, the Senate passed the pharmacare bill that was central to the previous political pact between the Liberals and NDP. The legislation requires the federal government to sign deals with provinces and territories to cover diabetes and birth-control medications as part of the public health system.

With the bill now law, Singh is urging the federal government to negotiate deals with the provinces as soon as possible.

When asked whether the federal government’s progress on those deals will dictate the NDP’s future support, Singh would not answer directly.

“When it comes to confidence votes, we’ve been very clear. We’re going to look at each vote as it comes,” Singh said on Friday. “But I’m letting people know that right now, after this bill, this historic bill, has been passed into law, it is now the law of the land. I want to see these deals signed.”

With files from CTV News’ Spencer Van Dyk and Rachel Aiello