Carney’s budget narrowly passes, winter election averted

OTTAWA — Prime Minister Mark Carney’s Liberal government won a critical vote Monday night in a nail-biter result that approved the federal budget and narrowly averted a winter election over the holidays.

After the dramatic departures of two Conservative MPs in the past two weeks and last-minute cross-party talks, the Liberals pulled off a win that was never assured until the bells rang for the final count. In the end, the vote tally was 170-168 votes in favour of passing the budget.

The Liberals, who even with the addition of a Conservative floor-crosser two weeks ago remained two seats shy of a majority in the 343-seat House of Commons, needed a couple of opposition votes or a handful of abstentions to avoid an embarrassing defeat just seven months after the last election. At the final