It was down to the wire, but there will be no federal election in Canada during the holiday season.
On Monday evening, the Liberal minority government survived a critical vote of confidence as Prime Minister Mark Carney's first budget passed.
The final vote was 170 in favour and 168 against.
Two Conservative MPs and two New Democratic Party (NDP) MPs abstained. They were Matt Jeneroux and Shannon Stubbs of the Tories, and the NDP's Gord Johns and Lori Idlout.
Green Party Leader Elizabeth May had pledged her support for the budget earlier on Monday. The Bloc Québécois was fully united in opposition.
Not counting abstainers, the Tories and the NDP were also opposed to it.
With the Liberals only two seats short of a majority and May's support, Carney needed either one opposition MP to vote in favour, or two opposition abstentions, to keep the government from falling.
It was the third confidence vote in Ottawa since Carney tabled his first budget earlier this month.
The budget, as presented on November 4, promised capital investments of about $280 billion over five years in four main areas. They were infrastructure, productivity and competitiveness, defence, and security and housing.
The deficit for 2025-26 is projected to be $78 billion, and the government plans to decrease that number to $57 billion over five years.
The next step in the process is for Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne to introduce a series of budget implementation bills this week.
-with files from Eric Thompson
