Bay of Quinte MP Chris Malette expressed some relief after the federal budget cleared a key hurdle on Monday night.
Members of Parliament passed the confidence vote by a final tally of 170 to 168.
Green MP Elizabeth May voted in favour of the spending plan after receiving assurances that the Liberal Government will meet its climate commitments under the Paris Accord.
The threshold also decreased a bit after four opposition MPs did not vote — two Conservatives and two NDP — which enabled the motion to pass.
The passage of the budget narrowly avoids what would have been a Christmas election campaign.
Malette’s full reaction to our newsroom is included below.
“While it would be trite and glib to say we were confident all along that the vote would go the government’s way, we as a minority governing party – to a man and woman – are confident the last thing Canadians need right now is a partisan, party-driven election. I know from being home last week doing a myriad of constituent engagements on Budget 2025, our Bay of Quinte families, businesses and every day folk have no appetite for political gamesmanship that is not at all useful to anyone.
That said, we are grateful that some colleagues from other parties in the House decided to support our government on this important budget, we would hope this and the ensuing vote Tuesday will signal a renewed commitment by all of us who are so privileged to be here representing all Canadians to get down to the important work of finding a path of our country going forward in unprecedented turbulent times.
In the end, we never know who these “cooler heads” are, but we’re always happy when they prevail.”
