Three byelections next week will determine what happens next, and Prime Minister Mark Carney is on the verge of forming a majority government. On April 13, federal byelections will be held in two Toronto-area ridings and one Montreal-area riding.
With the news on Wednesday morning of ex-Conservative Marilyn Gladu crossing the floor to the Liberals, Carney’s Liberals now hold 171 seats in the House of Commons — just one shy of the 172-seat majority threshold, which would be reliant on the support of the Speaker of the House of Commons.If the Liberals win two of the three byelections, they will hold 173 seats, or 174 seats if they win all three byelections, which would let them pass legislation without needing to rely on the Speaker or on any other parties to support them.
The three ridings’ advance polls opened on Friday and closed at 9 p.m. Monday, but until 6 p.m., voters can still vote in person at their local Elections Canada office. Tuesday.
A closer look at the byelections can be found here. Where are the byelections happening?
On April 13, by-elections will be held in the following ridings: Southwest Scarborough University-Rosedale
Terrebonne
A number of MP resignations and contentious ballot counting precede the byelections. On February 2, former Liberal cabinet minister Bill Blair resigned to become Canada’s high commissioner to the United Kingdom, and Chrystia Freeland resigned on January 7 to become an economic development adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Blair has been a Liberal MP for the Scarborough Southwest riding since 2015, and Freeland has been a Liberal MP for the University-Rosedale riding since the same year.
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