MPs in the House of Commons have been up all night dealing with more than 250 Conservative motions, as a marathon session of voting continues.
The filibuster began early Thursday evening, after the Liberal majority voted against a Conservative motion to force Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's national security adviser to testify about the PM's trip to India in February.
The Conservatives retaliated by introducing nearly 260 motions -- or opposed votes – to the supplementary and interim estimates, which are documents that outline additional government spending.
Parliamentary rules state that MPs have to deal with all opposed votes before voting on the actual supplementary and interim estimate documents. Each of the 260 motions opposes a different line or portion of the estimates.
Members managed to finish voting on motions related to the supplementary estimates overnight; they now move on to motions related to interim estimates.
Because the motions are related to budgetary matters, they are considered matters of confidence. The government must ensure enough of its MPs are present for every vote because a loss on any one would signal a loss of confidence and thus trigger an election.
Ahead of voting , Conservative House Leader Candice Bergen told CTV’s Power Play that the Conservatives were qute prepared for a procedural showdown.
"We’re going to use every tool that we have,” Bergen said.
The Conservatives could back down and stop the votes at any time, but as voting began Thursday evening, the Tories said they expected the marathon voting session would last 40 hours.
Ahead of the votes, MPs mused about how they planned to stay awake and fill their time between their turns to stand and be counted.
NDP MP Matthew Dube said he'd be "cuing up Netflix" to get him through the night to "try and have a little fun with it," while emphasizing that while long hours of voting can be "gruelling," it’s all part of the job.
The voting session began after MPs debated a motion to have the House call Trudeau to instruct his national security adviser, Daniel Jean, to testify at the Public Safety and National Security Committee before the end of the month.
That motion was defeated 161 to 111.
The Tories want Jean to appear before the committee to get more answers about why he suggested in a background briefing to reporters that factions in the Indian government may have tried to sabotage Trudeau's trip to India.
The briefing was given to reporters after photos surfaced of attempted murderer Jaspal Atwal with Sophie Gregoire Trudeau at an event.
The filibuster will result in a hefty overtime bill for the Commons. All parliamentary services, such as the cafeteria, translation, messenger and transcription services, must be kept available whenever the chamber is sitting.
With a report from CTV’s Ottawa Bureau Online Producer Rachel Aiello and The Canadian Press