PoliticsMPs narrowly voted to pass Prime Minister Mark Carney’s first budget Monday, a decision that staves off a Christmastime election and gives the Liberals more time to govern in this period of uncertainty.Final vote was 170-168 with four abstentionsListen to this articleEstimated 6 minutesThe audio version of this article is generated by text-to-speech, a technology based on artificial intelligence.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)MPs narrowly voted to pass Prime Minister Mark Carney’s first budget Monday, a decision that staves off a Christmastime election and gives the Liberals more time to govern in this period of uncertainty.The final result was something of a nail-biter but ultimately enough Opposition MPs blinked, handing Carney a crucial victory in this closely divided minority Parliament.In the end, 170 MPs, all Liberals and Green Party Leader Elizabeth May, voted for the budget while 168 MPs voted against.Perhaps most importantly, four MPs abstained according to the preliminary results, which reduced the number of votes the Liberal government needed to get this budget through. Those MPs who didn’t vote on this closely watched motion were: NDP MPs Lori Idlout and Gord Johns, and Conservative MPs Shannon Stubbs and Matt Jeneroux.NDP interim leader Don Davies said the party couldn’t support the budget — but it also didn’t want an election, which is why two members sat this one out.“The consequences of defeating this budget would not be to improve it or to help Canadians. It would be to plunge the country into an election only months after the last one,” Davies told reporters outside the House chamber. “We have decided to put the interests of our country first — to vote against the budget but to help prevent an election.”WATCH | Carney budget passes crucial confidence vote:Carney’s budget passes crucial confidence vote, averting December electionPrime Minister Mark Carney’s minority government budget passed a third and crucial confidence vote on Monday evening thanks to the support of the Green Party and multiple abstentions, averting the possibility of a federal election at the end of this year.On the Tory side, Jeneroux announced earlier this month he was resigning as an MP after he was rumoured to be crossing the floor to the Liberals. A spokesperson for Stubbs said the Alberta MP couldn’t vote due to a medical issue — she is recovering from major jaw and chin surgery.Speaker Francis Scarpaleggia, who was elected as a Liberal but now holds a non-partisan position, did not have to vote because there was no tie.If MPs had voted down this budget — major financial bills are always considered matters of confidence — the Carney government would have likely resigned, sending Canadians to the polls for an election.May’s vote in favour was a particularly important one as it gave the government some much-needed breathing room.WATCH | May explains her ‘yes’ vote on the budget:May says she’ll vote yes on budget after PM commits to Paris climate targetsGreen Party Leader Elizabeth May says she will support Budget 2025 after receiving confirmation of Canada’s commitment to climate targets as laid out in the Paris agreement from Prime Minister Mark Carney in question period on Monday, ahead of a crucial confidence vote on the budget.May said as recently as Sunday she was voting no — but she ultimately changed her mind after Carney personally committed in the question period to meeting the country’s emissions reduction targets and protecting nature.May said, with the country grappling with tariff-related economic challenges, she wanted to act cooperatively. “I’m going to vote yes — for the country, for the planet,” she said.Carney has framed this budget as a “generational investment” in the country as it stares down the U.S. trade threat.The document includes tens of billions of dollars in new spending on infrastructure, housing and the military — but also more money for the government’s Major Projects Office (MPO), which is tasked with getting new “nation-building” initiatives off the ground, including energy and natural resources projects, ports and railway infrastructure, among others.There’s also tax incentives to get liquified natural gas (LNG) terminals and clean-energy projects built as Carney tries to open up new trade corridors to non-U.S. markets.The budget also shrinks the public service — there’s a plan to curb some 40,000 positions largely through attrition and buyouts but also outright cuts — to help pay for some of these new commitments.Carney’s document also calls for reduced immigration levels — dramatically shrinking the number of temporary residents like international students and foreign workers — and lays out a path to do away with the last government’s proposed emissions cap, something Western Canadian leaders and business interests have strenuously opposed due to the limits it places on oil and gas development.There’s also some more progressive commitments like making the national school food program permanent, preserving dental care, creating a Youth Climate Corps and spending more on affordable housing.The Conservatives vigorously opposed the budget with leader Pierre Poilievre slamming Carney for the budget’s $78-billion deficit, a figure much higher than what the government said it would be just last year before U.S. President Donald Trump launched his trade war.WATCH | Carney, Poilievre square off ahead of budget vote:Carney, Poilievre square off in question period ahead of final budget voteLeader of the Opposition Pierre Poilievre and Prime Minister Mark Carney sparred in question period only hours before the third, and final, confidence vote on Budget 2025 is set to take place.Poilievre has said it’s irresponsible to pile on more to the national debt, which has already ballooned in the post-COVID era, arguing it fuels inflation.Poilievre made a series of demands in exchange for his party’s support — his principal request was that Carney scrap the industrial carbon tax and shrink the deficit — and when the government refused, Poilievre said his party wouldn’t support the budget.”One hundred per cent of our MP’s oppose the costly Carney credit card budget that is going to drive up the cost of food, housing and living for Canadians,” Poilievre told reporters late last week.But Poilievre dodged questions about whether all of his MPs would show up to vote against the budget. Monday’s vote may reveal why he was cagey: two of them sat out the vote entirely.CBC News reported late last month the party brass doesn’t want an election right now, especially given Carney’s lead in most public opinion polls.The Conservative leader’s hand was also weakened after MP Chris d’Entremont defected to the Liberals, saying he couldn’t take what he called Poilievre’s “negative” approach to politics.Two days later, Jeneroux quit politics and he didn’t vote Monday night.The Bloc Quebecois also had some demands, largely focused on seniors and Quebec. All of its MPs voted no.The NDP and its small, seven-member caucus was always a wildcard in these budget deliberations.The party is arguably in a poor position to run a national election campaign right now — there’s no permanent leader and the party is saddled with some $23 million in debt from the last campaign — but New Democrats were decimated in the last election after propping up the Liberals for years under former leader Jagmeet Singh.The NDP were locked in discussions late into the evening Sunday and again Monday morning to decide what to do about this vote — weighing whether to trigger an election or give the Liberals more time.ABOUT THE AUTHORJ.P. Tasker is a journalist in CBC’s parliamentary bureau who reports for digital, radio and television. He is also a regular panellist on CBC News Network’s Power & Politics. He covers the Conservative Party, Canada-U.S. relations, Crown-Indigenous affairs, health policy and the Senate. You can send story ideas and tips to J.P. at jp.tasker@cbc.caFollow J.P. on X
MPs narrowly pass Carney’s first budget, avoiding a Christmas election
