'It is a takeover': Sask. premier frustrated with Liberal, NDP confidence deal

Saskatchewan’s premier voiced his displeasure about a newly announced confidence deal between the federal Liberal and NDP parties that will keep the Liberal government in power into 2025.

Premier Scott Moe said the deal is not good for Canadians and the Liberal party does not have the best interest of Canada in mind.

“This is really an affront to democracy, it is a takeover of one party by another,” he said.

“Jagmeet Singh and the NDP have … given Justin Trudeau specifically what Canadians did not provide him with in the last election and that’s a majority government.”

The agreement would keep the federal Liberal party in power until the end of the current Parliament.

“We're different political parties, we stand for different things. But where we have common goals, we cannot let our differences stand in the way of delivering what Canadians deserve. That's why we're taking this step,” said Prime Minister Justin Trudeau Tuesday.

In exchange, the Liberals have agreed to deliver on several of the NDP’s policy focuses, including dental care, pharmacare and affordability.

“In this time, everyone I talk to, people are telling me that they need help now. And they expect politicians to deliver that help. And that's exactly what we're doing,” NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh said.

Regina Conservative Party MP Andrew Scheer said he was disappointed by the news of the agreement.

“It’s disappointing to hear that the NDP are basically flipping their cards over on the table before the hands even done,” Scheer said.

Moe feels this will hurt collaboration between the federal and provincial government on healthcare.

“We have a federal government right now that thus far has refused to engage with the provinces unanimous ask on this very important topic,” he said, explaining how he feels the federal government is stomping on provincial jurisdiction by not funding healthcare.

Saskatchewan NDP Opposition Leader Ryan Meili said he likes the idea of Pharmacare but is distancing himself from the agreement.

“Generally the junior partner in these things ends up doing not well in the next election, but those are considerations being made pretty far from me,” Meili said.

The confidence agreement is effective immediately, and will remain in effect until June 2025.

The deal was struck by party leadership and presented to Liberal and NDP MPs on Monday night. Prime Minister Trudeau officially unveiled the agreement on Tuesday morning.

With files from ctvnews.ca