Carney secures Liberal majority after special election wins

After a wave of defections to the Liberals from opposition parties, projected special election victories help solidify the Canadian PM's hold on power.

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney returns to Parliament with more power after he secured a majority government by sweeping three special elections. Carney's Liberals now have 174 of the 343 seats in the House of Commons and won't need support from opposition parties to pass legislation after winning three districts that became vacant after last year's election. Carney’s government is the first in Canada’s history to switch from a minority to a majority between national elections. The Liberal Party could stay in power ... ’s results.

Canadian prime minister Mark Carney has secured a parliamentary majority for his Liberal government, CBC News reported. The victory will help him push through a legislative agenda he says is needed for an increasingly divided geopolitical world. Three special elections were held on Monday in Ontario and Quebec, with two in districts – known as ridings – that have long voted Liberal. The party has secured the riding of University-Rosedale, CBC News said. The results of the other two elections were still being counted. The win takes Carney’s Liberals to 172 seats in the 343-seat House of Commons. The University-Rosedale seat was previously held by former deputy prime minister Chrystia Freeland, who resigned after being appointed as economic development adviser in Ukraine. Carney has said a majority would help him deal more effectively with the trade war with the US started by president Donald Trump. “He will be able to pass legislation without having to go to the opposition to secure enough votes,” said Andrew McDougall, assistant professor in Canadian politics at the University of Toronto. The Liberals have relied on selective support from the Conservatives to pass economic and trade-related legislation in the last year. A majority government also allows Carney to decide the timing of the next election. Minority governments are at risk of a snap election if they lose a confidence motion and typically last less than two years. Carney has solidified his grip on leading Canada until at least 2029, when national elections are due to be held next. The last time a federal government had a majority in parliament was under Justin Trudeau from 2015 to 2019. Carney’s position strengthened when five opposition legislators in five months defected to the Liberals. Only the governments led by John A Macdonald, Canada’s first prime minister, and Jean Chretien have seen more politicians defect to the ruling party. On Wednesday, longtime Conservative politician Marilyn Gladu switched parties to join Carney’s government, saying Canada needs “a serious leader who can address the uncertainty that has arrived due to the unjustified American tariffs.” Of the other two ridings, the Bloc Quebecois is in an extremely tight race with the Liberals in Terrebonne, Quebec. The Liberals won it by just one vote in the last federal election, but the result was overturned by Canada’s supreme court because of a misprint on a voter’s envelope. The other special election in Ontario is to replace former Liberal lawmaker Bill Blair, who resigned after he was appointed ambassador to the United Kingdom. The Liberals are expected to hold Blair’s seat and were leading early on in counting. Laura Stephenson, chair of the political science department at the University of Western Ontario, noted that while Trudeau had shifted the party to the left and prioritised issues like reconciliation with Indigenous peoples, rights for minority groups and immigration, there are more pressing matters for Carney, a more centrist leader. “He is focused on helping Canada survive the economic turmoil, not remaking society,” she said. “When we’re in tough times like this, there are different calculations being made.” Recent polling from Nanos shows more than half of Canadians prefer Carney as their prime minister, with just 23% picking Conservative leader Pierre Poiliev ... . Before Carney became leader of the Liberal Party last year, Poilievre had been projected to win the next election by more than 20 points. “Carney has done a fairly good job showing Canadians he can handle Trump,” said McDougall of the University of Toronto. “He’s shown Canadians he’s a competent manager of the economy and the country,” he said. “And so far Canadians have not been overly impressed by the alternatives.”

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney has secured a majority government, cementing his hold on power after electoral victories Monday night and defections to his Liberal Party caucus over the past six months. The political developments give Carney a freer hand to aggressively pursue a policy agenda aimed at rebuilding a struggling Canadian economy, through increasing exports to non-U.S. markets, accelerating infrastructure and resource projects, and stabilizing public finances. With a majority of the seats in the federal legislature, the governing Liberals can pass legislation without cutting side deals with opposition parties and can wait until 2029 to call an election. The Liberals won an election roughly a year ago, but fell just short of a majority mandate. Based on early results, the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. had projected the Liberals victorious in one special election to fill a vacant electoral district in Toronto. The Liberals also have a sizable lead in a second special vote, also in a Toronto district. Based on those results, the Liberals hold 173 seats, or just over half of the 343 in the national legislature. The last time Canada had a majority government was in 2019, or at the end of former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's first term. A third special election in a northern Montreal suburb, also vacant, was too close to call.

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney returns to Parliament with more power after he secured a majority government by sweeping three special elections. Carney's Liberals now have 174 of the 343 seats in the House of Commons and won't need support from opposition parties to pass legislation after winning three districts that became vacant after last year's election. Carney’s government is the first in Canada’s history to switch from a minority to a majority between national elections. The Liberal Party could stay in power ... ’s results.