As It Happens6:32Why two NDP MPs abstained from the federal budget vote, and what comes next
Interim NDP Leader Don Davies says he’s still waiting for a note of thanks from Prime Minister Mark Carney for the role that he and his caucus played in Monday’s federal budget vote.
In a tense, nail-biting vote, Carney narrowly secured his first budget in the House of Commons through the help of four MPs who abstained, including two from the NDP.
In total, 170 MPs — all Liberals and Green Party Leader Elizabeth May — voted in favour of the budget, while 168 voted against.
The four who abstained reduced the number of votes the government needed. Along with NDP MPs Lori Idlout and Gord Johns, Conservative MPs Shannon Stubbs and Matt Jeneroux also abstained.
“We made the fundamental decision that we cannot support this budget because it just doesn't meet the moment, and in our view, respond to the urgent needs facing Canadians,” said Davies.
“But, at the same time, Canada [is] facing instability and overlapping crises ... in these challenging times, now's [not] the right time for an election.”
Davies explained why he made the "tightly calculated" choice to avoid an election while not supporting the budget to As It Happens host Nil Köksal. Here is part of their conversation.
Those who are experienced watchers of these kinds of votes were surprised by how tense and down to the wire it was. Were you [tense]?
Yeah, I was a little bit. I've said for months and months that we have to all remember that this is a minority Parliament and that no party has enough votes to govern and that it requires parties to work together.
This is what [the late NDP leader] Jack Layton, always told us — it's our first job to make Parliament work. I think that Mr. Carney did not understand that scenario soon enough, and I think that contributed to a Liberal budget that did not do a good job in reaching out to other parties to secure agreement.
The result of that was a very, very narrow result last night that keeps Parliament in a precarious situation.
The budget does include funding for a new Filipino cultural and community centre that may ultimately end up in your riding [Vancouver Kingsway]. What was your calculation there? Were you worried about potentially disappointing your constituents who've long wanted something like that by voting no?
This is my seventeenth budget and there are always things in budgets that are good, and things that are unacceptable. This one was no different.
The main issues with the budget from our point of view, is that it slashes services by tens of billions of dollars. It [also] cuts 40,000 jobs during a jobs crisis. It fails to deliver any immediate help to the affordability issues facing working Canadians.
It fails to invest in and strengthen health care, and I frankly think it's a terrible budget for the climate crisis.
Prime Minister Mark Carney and Minister of Finance and National Revenue Francois-Philippe Champagne applaud following a vote on the federal budget on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Monday, Nov. 17, 2025. (Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press)But of course, there are some things there that are good. It mentions the east-west energy grid, which is something the NDP campaigned on.
It does have a number of local projects that the NDP advocated for. I was the person responsible for getting the Filipino Cultural Center in the budget last year and this year as well.
Those are things that make the calculus a bit hard, but we have to analyze the budget as a whole and whether it's good broadly speaking for the majority of working Canadians.
It did survive the vote though. How are you planning to hold the government accountable from here on in?
We survived last night, but 170 to 168 margin is very close for comfort.
Even accidentally, as we saw in 1979, governments can fall. All it takes is one or two people to get sick or have a problem voting and that's very tight.
We're going to continue to hold the government to account. We're going to continue to offer positive, constructive solutions and proposals to the government and we're prepared to work across party lines to tackle the problems that Canadians are facing.
WATCH | Interim NDP Leader Don Davies spoke to reporters after budget vote:Interim NDP Leader Don Davies, joined by his caucus, spoke to reporters after two New Democrat MPs abstained from voting, which helped Prime Minister Mark Carney’s first budget pass in the House of Commons by a vote of 170-168.You were on our show back in September, [and] you were optimistic about collaboration in this Parliament. It sounds like you still want that to be the reality, but is it?
Over the last few weeks, we did engage in conversations with the government about improvements that could strengthen the budget and potentially earn our support.
We did make progress, but unfortunately not enough to earn our support at this time, but we're going to continue to do that.
We understand the very real issues facing millions of Canadians and the fragile position our country is in and we want to contribute.
We'll always remain open and positive in that regard and I'm hoping that the Carney government pays attention to that close vote, doesn't take it for granted and will display a greater willingness to reach across party lines and shape a budget that works not just for them but for all parties.
What would demonstrate to you that they understand and are listening?
I think movement. We identified a lot of things that we think Canadians need. We were focused on creating good jobs, creating affordable housing, strengthening health care, and tackling the affordability crisis.
We have lots of good proposals in that regard, so a good signal to us would be for them to sit down with us and adopt some of those ideas.
I've learned that no party has a monopoly on good ideas. They come from all parts of the chamber, and I think the Liberals could signal that by adopting some of the great ideas that New Democrats are offering.