Major surgery kept Tory MP Shannon Stubbs from budget vote

The federal budget narrowly passed 170 to 168 on Monday, with two NDP and two Conservative MPs abstaining.

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OTTAWA — The operation was the reason Conservative MP Shannon Stubbs missed a vital budget vote Monday that narrowly avoided Mark Carney's Liberals in a snap election.

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IN statement published on her social networksStubbs said she was on medical leave following “major jaw and chin surgery” at the Royal Alexandra Hospital in Edmonton.

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“MP Stubbs was born severely premature at 6.5 months gestation and weighed only 2 pounds,” the statement said.

“Like most newborns in the NICU, her heart, lungs and jaw were underdeveloped, and she immediately underwent heart surgery. The jaw problem was identified, but was never corrected surgically.”

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Budget barely passed

Monday's vote on Carney's inauguration the budget barely passed the Minority House 170 to 168, with two Conservative and two NDP MPs abstaining.

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Conservative Matt Genereau, who has denied rumors that he wants to join former caucus comrade Chris d'Entremont in defecting to the Liberals, announced earlier in November that he was looking to enter politics and abstained from voting.

While interim NDP leader Don Davis told reporters his party would not support the budget, two NDP MPs – Gord Jones and Laurie Idlaut abstained from voting.

These abstentions, as well as the Green Party's 11th-hour support for the Liberals, ensured the budget passed by a narrow margin.

With Mark Carney's Liberals operating under a minority government, failure to pass the budget in the House of Commons would lead to the fall of the government, leading to an election.

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Surgery interferes with facial recognition

Heart problems, Stubbs explained in a statement, affected both of her parents at an early age.

She was unable to vote because the operation required strict bed rest and a ban on speaking as her jaw was wired shut.

Additionally, her altered appearance after surgery meant she could not use remote voting apps that require facial recognition to work, and House rules prohibit the use of proxy ballots.

She said the operation was originally scheduled for the spring but was delayed by the election and pushed back well before the budget date was set.

“It is clear that MP Stubbs strongly opposes Carney's credit card budget and every part of this government's neo-Marxist anti-development agenda at every turn,” the statement said, adding that her vote would not have mattered.

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