Liberals Survive First Confidence Vote Over Throne Speech

Prime Minister Mark Carney responds to an opposition question following his response to the throne speech in the House of Commons, May 29, 2025 in Ottawa. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld

The Liberal government passed its first confidence vote on June 4 as MPs adopted the government’s speech from the throne.

The speech was delivered by King Charles III on May 27 to open Parliament and outlined the new minority government’s agenda focused on growing the economy.

A majority vote against the speech would have meant non-confidence in the government, which would have triggered an election. The Liberals hold a strong minority with 169 seats, while the opposition parties have 174 seats in total.

Earlier in the day, Interim NDP Leader Don Davies had said that his party would vote against the speech.

The motion was passed in an unrecorded vote using the “on division“ procedure, without MPs declaring how they voted.

House Votes

The Liberals lost a symbolic vote of significance earlier in the week when opposition MPs voted to amend their reply to the throne speech to include a request for the tabling of a spring budget or economic update.

The Liberal government said it will delay the release of its budget to the fall, while the federal budget is normally tabled in the spring.

The Conservative Party had proposed an amendment to the address in reply, requesting the government provide a “firm commitment” to presenting an economic update or budget prior to Parliament’s adjournment for the summer.

Opposition parties voted in favour of the amendment, including 166 MPs from the Conservatives, Bloc Québécois, New Democrats, and the Green Party, while 164 Liberals voted against it. Four Liberal MPs, three Conservative MPs, and one Bloc MP “paired” their votes, meaning they made arrangements with opposing parties to abstain from voting so that the overall outcome of the vote would not be impacted by their absences.

Speaking on the vote results on June 3, Chief Government whip Mark Gerretsen said that the vote, which is non-binding, went as planned.

“We knew the outcome of what that vote was going to be,” he said in Ottawa. “We have 169 members, one is the Speaker, and we had four people paired. It’s 100 percent efficiency in terms of our vote turnout yesterday.”

Government House Leader Steven MacKinnon told reporters he expects the Liberals will face “a lot more” non-binding votes in the House of Commons, but that the vote of greatest significance is the June 4 confidence vote.

The May 27 speech from the throne was centred around strengthening Canada’s economy, saying that the government’s goal is to “build the strongest economy in the G7,” which Carney voiced as his intention throughout his election campaign.

Following the delivery of the speech, opposition party leaders said that the speech was “broad” and did not contain “real plans.”

“We’re here to turn the government’s talking points into real plans,” Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre said following the throne speech. “Let’s replace the talking points with real plans to get it done.”

Prime Minister Mark Carney said that he would deliver a “much more comprehensive, effective, ambitious, prudent budget in the fall” after holding in-depth discussions with the United States and attending the upcoming NATO summit, which he said would bring “greater clarity.”

“There is not much value in trying to rush through a budget in a very narrow window—three weeks—with a new cabinet, effectively a new finance minister just reappointed,” Carney said while in Rome in mid-May.

Matthew Horwood contributed to this report.