OTTAWA — The minority Liberal government appears poised to survive the first of three confidence tests on its budget, with the NDP and Bloc Québécois declaring Thursday that they will not vote with the Conservatives on an amendment.

"The Conservatives want massive cuts to public spending. That's exactly the opposite direction that New Democrats think we need to go in," interim NDP leader Don Davies said Thursday afternoon before the vote.

But Prime Minister Mark Carney's caucus is likely not breathing a sigh of relief just yet. Davies said he and the six other New Democrats have not decided how they'll vote going forward — and the government is still two votes shy of what it needs to pass the budget on its own.

"We had a discussion about the vote today and we decided we're going to vote

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