Iqaluit (Jun 26/06) - Opposition parties on Parliament Hill joined forces Tuesday to try to keep the Kelowna Accord alive.

Liberals, New Democrats and the Bloc Quebecois all supported a motion urging the Conservative government to honour the deal, with a vote of 162 in favour and 121 against. All Conservative MPs present voted against the motion.

"It's very comforting to know that we're not the only party to support the motion," said Nunavut MP Nancy Karetak-Lindell, a Liberal. "This is about more than party politics."

The five-year, $5 billion plan to tackle aboriginal poverty was hammered out in 2005 between First Nations and the former Liberal government.

But the government lost a January election and the new Conservative government has allowed the accord to gather dust.

The government of Prime Minister Stephen Harper says it will roll out its own plan to deal with problems in aboriginal communities. Indian and Northern Affairs minister Jim Prentice has said there was no signed agreement and no money budgeted for the deal by the previous government.

Conservatives also point to hundreds of millions of dollars in this year's budget for aboriginal housing - including $200 million for Nunavut alone - as proof of the government's intentions.

But Karetak-Lindell accused the government of "regurgitating money" from some Indian and Northern Affairs programs to fund others, pitting aboriginal groups against one another in the process. "Housing is just one piece of the puzzle that Kelowna encompassed," she said.

While the motion has no legal clout, former Prime Minister Paul Martin tabled a private member's bill earlier this month that would implement the plan.