Trudeau set to survive confidence vote next week with opposition support

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau looks set to survive a confidence vote next week after a rival party said on Wednesday it would not support an attempt to defeat his minority Liberal government.

The official opposition Conservatives, who hold a commanding lead in the polls, said they would seek to topple Trudeau next Wednesday on the grounds that Canadians cannot afford the promised rise in an existing federal carbon tax.

Trudeau will need backing from other MPs to survive a confidence vote in the House of Commons and quickly found it from Yves-François Blanchet, leader of the separatist Bloc Québécois, which seeks independence for the province of Quebec.

"The Bloc Québécois serves the people of Quebec. It does not serve the Conservatives," Blanchet told reporters, adding that replacing Trudeau with Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre would not be in Quebec's best interests.

The Bloc, which like the Liberals is a centre-left party, may well demand pro-Quebec concessions in return for keeping Trudeau in power.

Trudeau, who first took office in November 2015, is facing growing dissatisfaction from voters over rising prices and a nationwide housing crisis.

The confidence vote will be his first major test since the smaller New Democratic Party tore up a 2022 deal earlier this month to keep the Liberals in power until an election due by the end of October 2025.

Trudeau will need to survive a series of other confidence votes to make it that far.

While working formally with separatists is generally seen as politically toxic in Canada, federal parties have struck one-off deals with the Bloc in the past to secure their support.

In 2009, the Bloc backed the then-minority Conservative government on a confidence vote.