Trudeau says Conservative interference study motion won't be a confidence vote

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says the vote later today on the Conservative motion calling for a new study into foreign interference will not be a confidence vote.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says the vote later today on the Conservative motion calling for a new study into foreign interference and to have his chief of staff testify, will not be considered a matter of confidence.

"It's not going to be a confidence motion. Obviously it goes to how important the issue of foreign interference is," Trudeau said on his way into a cabinet meeting on Tuesday morning.

On Monday, the Conservatives had the House debate a motion they put forward that, if passed, would see the House instruct the opposition-dominated ethics committee to strike a fresh study into Chinese interference in the last two federal elections.

The motion is scheduled to come to a vote after question period on Tuesday and there had been some question whether the Liberals would be looking to make it a confidence vote, to potentially force the NDP to side with the government to squash the Bloc Quebecois-backed push for a new probe.

The Conservatives and the Bloc Quebecois wouldn't have the votes to see it pass without the NDP. In the House on Monday Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre and his caucus put concerted pressure on the NDP to vote with them.

So far the NDP have not tipped their hat in terms of their voting intention, other than expressing some concerns with the motion's scope and witness list and still pointing to a public inquiry rather than a parliamentary study as the more apt venue for further investigation into this topic. NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh is slated to take reporters' questions later this morning.

As of midday Monday, Government House Leader Mark Holland told reporters that the prospect of the motion becoming a matter of confidence was the subject of ongoing discussion. A feature of the Liberal-NDP supply-and-confidence deal is that the two parties are to discuss potential confidence votes before they are called.