Justin Trudeau weakened after key ally withdraws support

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau suffered an unexpected blow on Wednesday when the small political party helping keep his minority Liberal government in power withdrew its automatic support, forcing him to strike new alliances to govern.

Dismissing talk of early elections after the left-leaning New Democratic Party (NDP) pulled its backing, Trudeau vowed to continue governing and pushing through social programmes. But the move leaves him reliant on support from other opposition legislators to pass budgets and survive confidence votes.

An election will come in the coming year, hopefully not until next fall, because in the meantime, we're going to deliver for Canadians,” Trudeau told reporters.

In a video, NDP leader Jagmeet Singh said he was “ripping up” a deal the two men struck in 2022 and accused Trudeau of not being able to take on the opposition Conservatives.