The federal NDP would pull the plug on its support for the Liberal government if they were to legislate postal workers back to work.
Leader Jagmeet Singh says the party would not prop up the Liberals, even if they made it a confidence vote, which could cause the government to fall.
Singh had a couple of simple messages for the Prime Minister during a stop in St. John’s yesterday.
“Stay out of it. Don’t interfere. Don’t legislate these workers back to work. Don’t put in place 107 (binding arbitration). Let the workers negotiate a fair contract,” Singh told a scrum with media at the Delta Hotel, before heading to a rally at the nearby Canada Post building on Water Street.
“I want to also put this on record for Justin Trudeau: If you bring back-to-work legislation, even if it’s a confidence vote, I will be voting against it, my team will be voting against it, because we oppose back-to-work legislation, we’re always going to defend workers.”
Singh was in town for a labour convention at the hotel, where he spelled out his plan to remove GST from essential, every-day purchases.
He was joined by Mary Shortall, president of the federal NDP and the party’s candidate in St. John’s East for the next federal election.
She said the rising cost of living and eating isn’t just affecting lower-income residents.
Mary Shortall
“I’m hearing over and over again that people are really struggling to get by. It’s not just an anecdotal thing,” she said. “And even people who make a little bit more income can’t afford to do the things that they’re used to doing, can’t afford to go out to eat, for example, can’t afford to take their children to something.
“So this solution will put that money back into people’s pockets and will help the economy as well as themselves, to survive with a little bit of dignity.”
The Conservatives were quick to respond, labelling the NDP leader “Sellout Jagmeet Singh.”
“Since he sold out Canadians to prop up Trudeau’s government and secure his own pension, food prices have skyrocketed by 13 per cent and a record-smashing two million Canadians have been forced to rely on food banks each month just to survive,” said Deputy Party Leader Melissa Lantsman.
“Sellout Jagmeet Singh voted for Trudeau’s carbon tax at least 24 times, making everything – groceries, diapers, clothes, and home heating – more expensive.”
She said if Singh really cared about lowering prices, he would stop supporting Trudeau’s “punishing carbon tax and inflationary spending, and trigger a carbon tax election now.”
