OTTAWA (TIP): Speculations for calling federal elections notwithstanding, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney on Sunday, March 8, announced dates for holding by-elections to three ridings to fill the vacancies. The vacancies have been caused by recent resignations by two sitting MPs, while the third followed a judicial adjudication.
Among the by-elections called for next month is the Montreal-area riding of Terrebonne, where the Supreme Court of Canada recently invalidated last year’s result. The incumbent represented the ruling Liberals, Tatiana Auguste.
By-elections will also be held on April 13, 2026, in the ridings of Scarborough Southwest and University-Rosedale.
These by-elections will be an acid test for Prime Minister Mark Carney and his ruling Liberal Party, as the main opposition party, the Conservatives, has been gunning for his minority government.
Longtime MP Bill Blair resigned his seat in Scarborough Southwest in order to become Canada’s new high commissioner to the United Kingdom, while the University-Rosedale seat opened up after former federal minister Chrystia Freeland resigned in January in order to take up a new voluntary role advising the Ukrainian government.
In the Terrebonne riding, Liberal Tatiana Auguste was initially declared the winner before the result flipped to Bloc Québécois’ Nathalie Sinclair-Desgagné after the votes went through a validation process. A judicial recount completed on May 10, however, concluded the Liberals received one more than Sinclair-Desgagné.
But Sinclair-Desgagné challenged the results after a supporter complained that she had tried to vote by mail using a special ballot that was never counted, and on February 13, the Supreme Court sided with the Bloc candidate and invalidated the results.
The Liberals currently have 169 seats in the House of Commons, and if they were to win all three races, they would then have a razor-thin majority government.
The Liberals are running family physician and health care advocate Dr. Danielle Martin in the riding of University-Rosedale, while former Ontario NDP deputy leader Doly Begum has been chosen to run in the riding of Scarborough Southwest. Her decision to quit the NDP and join the Liberals’ bandwagon evoked controversy, as she had been a long-time NDP legislator. Both ridings are considered liberal strongholds.
According to Elections Canada, voters in the three ridings can vote in advance polls from April 3 to 6 at their assigned polling stations or at their Elections Canada office any time before April 7. Voters can also cast their vote by mail before April 7.
(Toronto based Prabhjot Singh is an award-winning journalist recognized for investigative journalism, environment and business reporting, sports and feature writing. AMedia Consultant, he has remained associated with various news agencies, including Reuters, and media houses like PTC News (India/Canada), Parvasi Media (Canada) the Liberal World (India), and The Indian Panorama, New York. He is interested in Indian Diaspora and the Sikh Diaspora in particular. His work has appeared in various international and national newspapers, magazines and journals.)
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