Carney Calls Six December Byelections as Liberals Hunt a Bigger Majority
Mark Carney has called six federal byelections for Dec. 7, spread across Ontario, Quebec and Saskatchewan. The Liberals hold a thin majority at 173 seats and wins would bulk up their ranks, while the Conservatives face a messy fight in Brantford-Brant South after appointing a candidate.
Prime Minister Mark Carney dropped the writ Sunday morning on six byelections, all set for Dec. 7, according to a news release. The races land in Ontario, Quebec and Saskatchewan — and they hand the Liberals a shot at padding a majority that's already thin.
Quebec gets half the action. Three seats are up: Saint-Hyacinthe-Bagot-Acton, Rosemont-La Petite-Patrie and Laurier-Sainte-Marie, previously held by the Bloc Québécois, NDP and Liberals respectively. Ontario voters will decide Scarborough North and Brantford-Brant South, while Saskatchewan's Yorkton-Melville rounds out the list.
The vacancies stacked up fast. Liberal MP Shaun Chen left Scarborough North in August citing health issues, then ran for Toronto City Council and won. Conservative Larry Brock quit Brantford-Brant South in September for a job at the Brantford Crown Attorney's office, and Conservative Cathay Wagantall stepped down from Yorkton-Melville at the end of August after holding it since 2015.
The Liberals currently sit at 173 seats. Even a clean sweep of losses wouldn't stop them from governing — but wins mean more bodies in the chamber, and Carney's team is clearly playing for them. Another seat is about to open up: Conservative MP Scott Aitchison says he'll resign Parry Sound–Muskoka at the end of the fall sitting.
Candidates are already lined up. In Quebec, the Liberals are running ex-MNA Chantal Soucy, human rights advocate Jean-Sébastien Vallée and former Desjardins CEO Guy Cormier. Ex-Alouettes player Luc Brodeur-Jourdain carries the Conservative banner in Saint-Hyacinthe-Bagot-Acton, where the Bloc's Caroline Émond and the Greens' Martin Grenier are also in.
Brantford-Brant South could get messy for the Conservatives. The party skipped a local nomination vote and appointed Brantford Mayor Kevin Davis — a move that pushed pastor and longtime Conservative Dave Carroll to run as an independent, with CBC reporting that split could siphon votes from Davis in a riding where the Liberals already look strong. The Liberals have Joy O'Donnell there; the NDP and Greens haven't named candidates yet.
TopicsMark Carney · Liberal Party of Canada · Conservative Party of Canada · Bloc Québécois · New Democratic Party · Kevin Davis · Scott Aitchison · Elections Canada
Source: cbc.ca
Written by Paparazzi with AI. Not financial advice.