Carney just called 3 by-elections and it could give the Liberals a majority

Prime Minister Mark Carney has announced three byelection for ridings in Ontario and Quebec which could result in the governing Liberals securing a razor-thin majority in the House of Commons.

A statement posted on the prime minister’s website on Sunday says the votes will be cast on April 13 in the Montreal-area riding of Terrebonne as well as in the Toronto-area ridings of Scarborough Southwest and University-Rosedale.

The Supreme Court nullified the Liberal’s one-vote federal election win in Terrebonne after the Bloc Québécois candidate challenged the results when a supporter complained she tried to vote by mail using a special ballot that wasn’t counted.

Liberal Tatiana Auguste had been the member of Parliament since being declared the winner over Nathalie Sinclair-Desgagné, the Bloc Québécois candidate, until the Supreme Court invalidated the election last month.

“The Supreme Court decided today that every vote counts and that the vote of one person isn’t worth more than the vote of another, and that, when there is a tie, there should be a new election,” said Sinclair-Desgagné, reacting to the decision at the time.

“Up until today, someone was representing the riding who, however, did not have the legitimacy to do so. Fortunately, this was corrected today.”

Former Liberal MP Chrystia Freeland’s departure to become the adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy left the riding of University—Rosedale vacant.

Family physician Danielle Martin will run for the Liberals in that riding, while Serena Purdy, a community organizer and academic with the University of Toronto, has been selected as the NDP candidate.

Bill Blair, also a former Liberal MP, left the riding of Scarborough Southwest vacant after he was appointed Canada’s high commissioner to the United Kingdom.

Former provincial NDP deputy leader Doly Begum is running for the Liberals in the riding. Pooja Malhotra, a community organizer, is running for the Greens.

The Toronto ridings are considered to be safe seats for the Liberals, while Terrebonne was held by a Bloc Québécois MP before the last federal election.

The Conservatives have not announced candidates for either riding.

Elections Canada said in a news release that voters in the three ridings can vote in advance from April 3 to 6 at their assigned polling stations, or at their Elections Canada office any time before April 7. Ridings residents can also cast their vote by mail, with the application to do so due by April 7.

The byelections will come two weeks after the federal NDP will select a new leader during their national convention in Winnipeg in late March. It also comes days after the Liberals hold their national convention in Montreal on April 9 to 11.

The Liberals currently have 169 MPs in the House of Commons, but they need 172 to secure a majority government.

The Conservatives currently hold 141 seats, the Bloc Québécois has 22, there are seven members of the NDP and the Greens have one seat.

Three Conservative MPs, Chris d’Entremont, Michael Ma and Matt Jeneroux, defected from their party to join the Liberals in recent months.

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre has accused Carney of trying to sidestep the will of Canadians by using the defections to gain a majority government.

Laura Stephenson, chair of the political science department at Western University, previously told The Canadian Press there’s a “possibility” of the Liberals securing a majority if they can win Terrebonne — “a very, very slim, itty-bitty majority.”

If the Liberals do win all three byelections, House of Commons Speaker Francis Scarpaleggia would still need to cast tiebreaking votes to ensure the government’s legislation passes.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 8, 2026

— With files from Michel Saba