Poilievre says House should be recalled as NDP vows to vote down Liberal government

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre says the House of Commons should be recalled now that NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh is vowing to bring forward a motion of non-confidence to take down the Liberal government.

"The Liberals don't deserve another chance," Singh wrote in an open letter on Friday. "That's why the NDP will vote to bring this government down."

Speaking to reporters on Friday, Poilievre said the House shouldn't wait until it comes back from the winter break in January.

"I will be writing the Governor General asking her to urgently reconvene Parliament and require a non-confidence vote so the prime minister can judge whether he stays in power," he said.

It's unlikely that Governor General Mary Simon can do what Poilievre is asking her to do. The House currently stands adjourned but is still in session. According to House of Commons rules, it's up to the Speaker to recall MPs when the House is adjourned. The Governor General also has no authority to dictate the House of Commons' agenda.

Singh's letter comes as Prime Minister Justin Trudeau shakes up his front bench in the wake of Chrystia Freeland's sudden resignation from cabinet on Monday.

Singh called on Trudeau to resign after Freeland quit, but he hadn't been clear about whether his party would vote to bring down the Liberals until Friday.

For the past few days, Singh has said he did not want to commit himself to any one course of action and would not promise to help take down Trudeau's government.

He said that after NDP House Leader Peter Julian told CBC News Network's Power & Politics on Monday that the party would vote to bring down the government in the coming months.

After backing out of a governance agreement with the Liberals this fall, the NDP has voted with the government on a number of confidence motions over the past few months. The most recent confidence motion came in early December, when the Conservatives and Bloc Québécois voted to topple the government.

Poilievre criticized Singh for not voting down the government earlier — specifically when the Conservatives put forward a motion using Singh's own criticism of the Liberals.

"Just 11 days ago you voted against a non-confidence motion filled with your own words. Had you voted the other way, we'd be almost half-way through the election now," Poilievre said in a response to Singh's letter on X, formerly Twitter.

Singh said in his letter that he would introduce his own confidence motion when the House of Commons meets in the new year. It's not clear when that would happen or if he would support one of the other opposition parties' motions. 

With all three of the main opposition parties now saying they want the government to fall, the Liberals are almost certain to lose the next confidence vote.