Prime Minister Mark Carney’s party secured a majority in Canada’s parliament on Monday after two domestic election victories, boosting his Liberals as they work to shore up a country rocked by threats from the United States.
Carney’s Liberals won the majority of seats in last year’s election but fell short of a majority.
Canadians voted in three constituencies on Monday to fill vacancies, and the Liberals easily won two Toronto precincts the party had dominated in recent polls.
The result remained uncertain in Quebec’s Terrebonne district, where the Liberal candidate and the separatist Bloc Quebecois were in a close contest.
But the Toronto victories gave the Liberals full control of parliament, holding enough seats to ensure they don’t need the speaker of the house — a Liberal — to break the tie.
Carney congratulated the new Liberal lawmakers — Danielle Martin and Doly Begum — on X, saying the two would make Canada “stronger.”
Carney has improved his party’s fortunes since last year’s election by sticking firmly to a message focused on President Donald Trump, arguing that the American leader has upended the world order and Canada must take bold action in response.
He has announced massive increases in military spending — insisting Canada can no longer rely on Washington for security — and has toured the globe seeking new trade deals in Asia and Europe.
Liberal poll numbers are higher than they were a year ago, and the party has attracted a stunning array of defections from the opposition benches — bringing four Conservatives and one lawmaker from the left-wing New Party into the Liberal fold.
Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre accused X on Monday that the Liberals had won their majority through “deals in the chamber” and said the defectors “betrayed the people who voted for them”.
The by-election results give Carney Canada’s first majority government since 2019, when Justin Trudeau’s Liberals controlled parliament.
‘Historical Moment’
Canadians are shocked by Trump’s return to power.
The president’s tariffs on key sectors have forced job losses in Canada and slowed growth, even as most bilateral trade remains tariff-free.
Trump has threatened to annex Canada and has mocked Carney and Trudeau as the “governor” of an American state.
For University of Ottawa political scientist Genevieve Tellier, Carney has built momentum by “highlighting the historic moment we’re living in.”
“We have rarely seen such high popularity ratings a year after coming to power,” she told AFP, saying Carney was working to build “a broad national coalition” to respond to the unprecedented geopolitical moment.
“sovereign nation”
On a warm afternoon in downtown Toronto, Jeyaram Duraisingam told AFP he volunteered for the Liberal campaign in part because he was impressed by the local candidate, Danielle Martin.
But he also praised Carney for asserting that Canada is “a sovereign nation” in response to Trump’s taunts.
“He’s willing to go out there and connect with Europe, connect with different countries and make those relationships stronger. I think that’s important,” he said.
The Liberals remain a political juggernaut, but signs of vulnerability are beginning to emerge.
The Angus Reid Institute found last month that “concerns about the high cost of living are higher than they have been in recent memory for lower-income Canadians.”
Food prices have risen more than 20 percent since 2022 and unemployment is at 6.7 percent.
Opposition parties are arguing that Carney’s soaring rhetoric about economic transformation has failed to make life more affordable for Canadians.
“We will continue to fight for people to afford houses, food and fuel,” Poilievre said after Monday’s vote.
