Five defections from opposition parties to Carney, including four from the main opposition Conservative party, put Carney’s Liberals on the cusp of the majority
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney secured a majority government with special election wins Monday night, allowing his Liberals to pass legislation without the support of opposition parties.
Voters cast ballots for three vacant seats of the 343 districts represented in Parliament. In Toronto, Liberal candidate Danielle Martin won the election for the district of University Rosedale and Liberal Doly Begum won the district of Scarborough Southwest. The result for a Quebec district was expected later.
The Liberal Party could stay in power until 2029 after Monday’s results.
Carney won Canada’s election last year, fueled by public anger over US President Donald Trump’s annexation threats, and he has vowed to reduce Canada’s reliance on the US.
Since then, five defections from opposition parties, including four from the main opposition Conservative party, put Carney’s Liberals on the cusp of the majority.
One of those defectors referenced Carney’s speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, as helping in his decision. In that speech, Carney condemned economic coercion by great powers against smaller countries and received widespread praise for his remarks.
Carney, the former head of the Bank of England as well as Canada’s central bank, has moved the Liberals to the centre-right since replacing Justin Trudeau as prime minister in 2025.
Carney congratulated Martin and Begum in social media posts but did not comment on winning a majority.
“As of tonight, Mark Carney and our entire incredible Liberal team have earned an even more powerful mandate to continue building a better Canada,” Martin said.
Daniel Beland, a political-science professor at McGill University in Montreal, said the Liberals also had a shot at winning the Quebec seat.
Beland said the deterioration of Canada-US relations under the second Trump presidency has convinced many Canadians, including people who do not identify as Liberal, to rally behind the prime minister.
“Mark Carney entered the political arena about 15 months ago, but he is proving himself to be an astute politician,” Beland said. “He remains popular nearly a year after leading his party to victory in late April 2025 and, with the help of a series of floor-crossings, he is now at the helm of a majority government that provides more stability and greater capacity to move forward with his economic and policy agenda.” The Liberal majority and the recent defections are another blow to Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre, who lost the previous national election last year and even his own seat. He has since rejoined Parliament.
Poilievre won a party leadership review earlier this year, but continues to have problems controlling his lawmakers.
Poilievre said in a social media post Monday night that he “will continue to lead that fight every day and in every way in Parliament, across the country and in the next election, when Canadians will reclaim the country we know and love”.
