Sunday March 8, 2026 | OTTAWA, ON [Posted 10:01 am PT in VICTORIA, BC | Updated 1:07 pm]
by Mary P Brooke | Island Social Trends
There will be three federal by-elections on Monday April 13, 2026 in the following electoral districts:
- Scarborough Southwest
- Terrebonne
- University-Rosedale
The by-election date announcement was made this morning from the Prime Minister’s Office.
The governing Liberals held these seats prior to the by-election call, and are expected to have a good chance at holding them.
Two of the seats (Scarborough Southwest and University-Rosedale) were vacated by former high-profile MPs who departed for international posts. Bill Blair (formerly the Scarborough Southwest MP) is heading to the UK to be Canada’s high commissioner for UK and Ireland and Chrystia Freeland (formerly the University-Rosedale MP) is taking on an advisory role for Ukraine’s government.
The seat in Terrebonne that was held by the Liberals ended up requiring an election ballot recount (resulting from special ballot envelope issues).
All on one date:
Seeing these three by-elections bundled onto one date shows a desired sense of efficiency by Prime Minister Mark Carney, and is likely to produce maximum attention to the results.
Generally speaking, many Canadians pay little attention to by-elections. But this set of three could signal either continued popular strength for the Liberals (if all three by-elections are won by Liberal candidates) or could otherwise signal a shift or pushback with regard to the Liberal surge forward with Carney’s macroeconomic focus (if one or more ridings ends up won by a candidate other than Liberal).
Liberal bravado:
The Liberal thirst for majority status is clear. That was evident with the Conservative floor-crossings (one ahead of Budget day in November 2025, and another just hours ahead of the Liberal holiday-season party in December 2025) and then the manner and composition of candidate selection for the two prominent Toronto-area ridings:
- In choosing the now-former deputy leader of the Ontario NDP to run as the Liberal candidate in Scarborugh West shows cunning to undermine the NDP (in that party’s current state of disarray it doesn’t seem necessary but will send a signal to NDPs who may have doubted their shift to a Liberal vote in the April 2025 election).
- Setting up a medical doctor without political experience to be the Liberal candidate in the downtown Toronto University-Rosedale riding signals party confidence to Liberal supporters in that riding.
- Running the same Liberal candidate in Terrebonne further shows Liberal Party confidence in their brand.
On this March 8 annual International Women’s Day it can be noted that all three Liberal candidates are women.
Close to a majority:
Currently the Liberals hold a strong minority government position in the House of Commons. Together with three floor-crossings from the Conservatives in recent months (Chris d’Entremont, Michael Ma and Matt Jeneroux), the Liberal government continues to function with the bravado of a majority government as is obvious with the bolstering of military and defence budget and international strategy as well as a robust rolling out of trade diversification initiatives.
Of 343 seats in the House of Commons, 169 are currently held by the Liberals, 141 by the Conservatives, 22 by the Bloc, seven by the NDP, and one by the Greens. Three seats are vacant (hence the by-elections).
If the Liberals win all three by-elections that will give them 172 seats for a slim but politically significant majority in the House of Commons. Among other things, that emphasizes the importance of how every vote counts (in elections and by-elections, and overall in democracy).
- Election results annulled in one Quebec riding over special ballot delivery error (February 13, 2026)
- Canada’s diplomatic appointments to UK & France (February 2, 2026)
- Chrystia Freeland resigning as MP to take on advisory role in Ukraine (January 5, 2026)
- Carney Liberals still don’t realize they are a minority government, says NDP (December 10, 2025)
- NEWS SECTIONS: 45th PARLIAMENT of CANADA | LIBERAL PARTY of CANADA | BY-ELECTIONS