Special Elections Deliver Huge Win for Carney

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 AP reports.

• In the Quebec riding of Terrebonne, near Montreal, Liberal candidate Tatiana Auguste won a hard-fought race, reports CTV News. She won the district by a single vote last year, but a byelection was triggered when the Supreme Court of Canada invalidated the results because of an issue with addresses on mail-in ballots.

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 President 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 a 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 center-right since replacing Justin Trudeau as prime minister in 2025.
• The Liberals have been the ruling party since 2015, but they led minority governments from 2019 until now. The majority means they can pass long-stalled legislation. The party now holds 174 of 343 seats, the Guardian reports. The Conservatives have 140 seats, the Bloc Québécois 22, the New Democratic Party six, and the Green Party one.

• On X, Carney congratulated the candidates. "This is a time to come together so we can build a Canada strong for all," he said, pledging that the Liberals would continue to work with other parties. He tells the CBC that the wins show the majority wasn't achieved solely by defections from other parties. "I think, very clearly, Canadians want the government to govern," he says.
• "Trump gave rise to Carney and his unique talents," political adviser Scott Reid told the Guardian before the election results came in. "Now, we're watching another effect of Trump on our politics: a desire for stability. The perception is Carney is a wartime leader. And in so many respects, what we're watching is the quietest assembly of a union government we've ever witnessed."
• 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.