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PM Mark Carney Prime Minister Mark Carney speaks at the Liberal national convention in Montreal on Saturday, April 11, 2026. THE CANADIAN PRESS\/Christinne Muschi <\/p>\nPM Mark Carney addresses the Liberal convention on the need to stay united, and outlines plans to build a \u2018Canada strong\u2019. <\/p>\n
Prime Minister Mark Carney is on the precipice of a majority government, a milestone the Liberals haven\u2019t reached in years. <\/p>\n
There are three federal by-elections taking place on Monday, and the Liberals only need to win one to reach the 172-seat threshold required to control the majority of seats in this 45th Parliament. <\/p>\n
So, how did Carney get here? What are the ridings that are up for grabs? And what does the party plan to do with more power? The difference a year makes <\/p>\n
Nearly one year ago, Carney was dancing to Canadian band Down With Webster, celebrating the Liberals\u2019 federal election win. Clinching 169 seats, it was a major comeback for an embattled party but still landed the Liberals three seats shy of a majority mandate. <\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m looking forward to working together to deliver for Canadians,\u201d Carney said on election night. <\/p>\n
PM Mark Carney Prime Minister Mark Carney speaks at the Liberal national convention in Montreal on Saturday, April 11, 2026. THE CANADIAN PRESS\/Christinne Muschi <\/p>\n
After months of having to work across party lines, and amid senior Liberals Chrystia Freeland and Bill Blair vacating their seats, the math started to improve for Carney\u2019s majority.One by one, the prime minister attracted five opposition MPs to cross the floor. First it was Nova Scotia Conservative MP Chris d\u2019Entremont in November. <\/p>\n
Come the Liberal Christmas party in December, Ontario Conservative MP Michael Ma followed suit. By February, Alberta Conservative MP Matt Jeneroux was ready to make the leap rather than resigning. Then, it was the New Democrats\u2019 turn to lose a member, seeing Nunavut MP Lori Idlout leave her then-caucus of seven MPs to become a Liberal. Lastly, Ontario Conservative MP Marilyn Gladu joined Carney\u2019s ranks.<\/p>\n
The ideological range and rapidity of the defections was a rare feat that brought his party to 171 seats and making it so Carney\u2019s coveted majority could be claimed at the ballot box.<\/p>\n
CTV National News: Questions swirl over MP Marilyn Gladu\u2019s move to Liberals MP Marilyn Gladu faces more scrutiny after crossing the floor to join the Liberals. Abigail Bimman reports on the reactions from PM Carney and Pierre Poilievre. <\/p>\n
\u2018Canadians voted for a minority\u2019 <\/p>\n
Though, Conservatives don\u2019t see it that way. <\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re denying the democracy that was reflected in the last election, which was a fiercely contested election, a narrowly decided outcome,\u201d said Conservative MP Shuvaloy Majumdar in an interview on CTV\u2019s Question Period. \u201cCanadians voted for a minority Parliament, and in doing so, they had an expectation that the government [and]the opposition would work together on their priorities.\u201d <\/p>\n
Majumdar accused Carney \u2013 and the cabinet members that have been involved in the conversations to convince MPs to cross the floor \u2013 of \u201cplaying conniving games of an authoritarian looking to consolidate power in the House of Commons.\u201d <\/p>\n
Switching party affiliations between elections is a legitimate option members of Parliament have in our political system. <\/p>\n
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre has in the past voted against a proposal to force byelections in cases of floor-crossings, a measure he\u2019s endorsed since the defections from his ranks occurred. <\/p>\n
CTV News\u2019 pollster Nik Nanos said the current 13-point advantage the Liberals have over the Conservatives is \u201ca bigger advantage than they had in the last federal election.\u201d <\/p>\n
Mark Carney is the ‘strength’ of the Liberal brand: Nanos Pollster Nik Nanos discusses the latest polling numbers and Mark Carney\u2019s popularity among Canadians. <\/p>\n
Three seats for the taking <\/p>\n
Now, with three vacant seats up for grabs on Monday, just one would bring the Liberals over the majority threshold. Any additional pickups would further stabilize the party\u2019s control over Parliament. <\/p>\n
Two of the ridings in question are in Liberal strongholds University-Rosedale, Ont. and Scarborough Southwest, Ont. and the third is in what pollsters consider a Bloc Quebecois-Liberal tossup, Terrebonne, Que. <\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m watching for voter turnout,\u201d Nanos said. \u201cIn Terrebonne, it\u2019s going to be a block-by-block, neighborhood-by-neighborhood fight.\u201d <\/p>\n
Some Liberal insiders at the party\u2019s national convention in Montreal have suggested Carney wants to seal his majority \u201cat the ballot box\u201d and not through additional floor-crossers, which the former communications director to prime minister Paul Martin says is \u201cjust plain sensible.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cIt just comes with that added degree of legitimacy,\u201d said Scott Reid. \u201cAnd it\u2019s buttressed by other things. I mean, if the prime minister should win all three ridings, then that also is echoed in the popular support that he enjoys right now.\u201d <\/p>\n
CTV National News: Byelections loom as key Quebec riding draws national attention The Liberals are eying wins in two ridings, but Terrebonne remains a wildcard. Annie Bergeron-Oliver explains why this Quebec race is drawing national focus. <\/p>\n
What will Carney do with more power? <\/p>\n
Speaking to CTV News\u2019 Mike Le Couteur at the convention on Friday, Liberal Party President Sachit Mehra said the prime minister tightening his grip on power will give the government momentum but doesn\u2019t change their plans. <\/p>\n
\u201cI think Canada finds itself in a moment, in a global moment, and Canadians want to feel that their government is unified and working hard,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019re going to keep working for Canadians. We\u2019re going to keep working towards making Canada a better place.\u201d <\/p>\n
Carney has also said he doesn\u2019t plan to prorogue Parliament if he clinches a majority, saying his MPs will be focused on using any new parliamentary leverage to pass more Liberal policy. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe are absolutely focused on working with Parliament, getting legislation through Parliament, adjusting legislation where it needs to be, where it\u2019s better informed by the discussions in Parliament,\u201d Carney told reporters in late March. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PM Mark Carney addresses the Liberal convention on the need to stay united, and outlines plans to build…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":599570,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[712,49,48,44],"class_list":["post-599569","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-canada","tag-apple-news","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/599569","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=599569"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/599569\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/599570"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=599569"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=599569"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=599569"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}