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Elections Canada signs are seen in the Beaches-East York riding in Toronto, on Aug. 31. The riding became vacant when Liberal MP Nate Erskine-Smith departed for an unsuccessful attempt to enter provincial politics.Keito Newman/The Canadian Press
The federal Liberals have won two of three Monday by-elections, and were poised to win the third, an outcome that would bolster the party as it deals with a trade war with the United States.
Liberal candidates won one by-election in Ontario, and another in a tight three-way race in Quebec where the seat was previously held by a Conservative. Results were rolling in in the third by-election, in the riding of North Vancouver-Capilano.
Wins in all three ridings would bolster the government’s slim majority in the House of Commons, as additional by-elections loom after the recent departures of several MPs.
Monday’s votes were held amid a tense trade war with the United States, which recently intensified after Mr. Carney pulled out of negotiations with the U.S., saying American proposals were unacceptable.
The microbrewery in La Baie, Que. where the Liberals were holding their election night party was filling up with volunteers and members of the party’s Quebec caucus minutes before polls closed.
“The mood is optimistic,” said Joël Lightbound, a Liberal MP for Louis-Hébert in the Quebec City region, and the Prime Minister’s Quebec lieutenant. “A by-election is always its own beast, but we’re all reasonably optimistic.”
The Liberals previously enjoyed comfortable victories in two of the ridings up for grabs: North Vancouver-Capilano and the Toronto riding of Beaches-East York.
The third riding facing a by-election, Quebec’s Chicoutimi-Le Fjord, was most recently held by the Conservatives. The MP there, Richard Martel, first elected in 2018, departed in July for a seat in the Senate.
The former hockey coach was re-elected in the riding in 2025 with a lead of about 1,500 votes over the Liberal and Bloc Québécois candidates. Mr. Martel received 34 per cent of the vote compared with 31.19 per cent for the Bloc candidate and 31.12 per cent for the Liberals.
This time around, an intensely competitive three-way race was on in the rural riding, which includes part of the city of Saguenay.
The Conservatives were running Régis Gaudreault, a lawyer and teacher at the Cégep de Chicoutimi. The Bloc candidate was Caroline Dubé, a former director of the office of Bloc MP Mario Simard. The Liberal candidate was Daniel Gobeil, the former chair of the Quebec dairy producers association.
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A Liberal defeat there could raise questions about support in Quebec for the federal government’s trade agenda, which is now playing a major role in the provincial election campaign that began last week. Quebeckers head to the polls on Oct. 5.
In North Vancouver-Capilano, Mr. Carney’s former deputy chief of staff, Braeden Caley, was running for the Liberals.
Jonathan Wilkinson had represented the area since 2015, initially as the MP for North Vancouver, and then for the current riding. The former federal cabinet minister was named Canadian ambassador to the European Union earlier this year.
Given Mr. Caley’s former role in the Carney government, if elected, he could potentially be considered as a future cabinet minister.
Other candidates in North Vancouver-Capilano included Conservative Stephen Curran, a lawyer who also contested the riding in 2025; Stephen Tweedale for the NDP; and the Green Party’s Shelley Luce, an environmental scientist.
Beaches-East York became vacant when Liberal MP Nate Erskine-Smith departed for an unsuccessful attempt to enter provincial politics; he is now running for a seat on Toronto city council.
Tanveer Shahnawaz, a onetime assistant to Mr. Erskine-Smith, ran to succeed his former boss as the Liberal candidate in Beaches-East York. Mr. Erskine-Smith won the riding with 67.75 per cent of the vote in 2025.
Other candidates in Beaches-East York included the Conservatives’ Jim Syrbos, the NDP’s Shannon Devine and the Greens’ Bruce Livesey.
The three by-elections were held while the House of Commons is on a summer break. MPs return on Sept. 21.
Additional federal by-elections are expected in the coming months. Quebec Liberal MP Steven Guilbeault has resigned his Montreal seat of Laurier–Sainte-Marie, months after he left Mr. Carney’s cabinet over a difference of opinion over the government’s energy and environment policies. Conservative MP Cathay Wagantall is also expected to officially resign imminently.