PM Carney calls federal by-elections for April in three ridings

CITYnews halifax/ By John Marchesan

Prime Minister Mark Carney has called three by-elections for next month including in the Montreal-area riding of Terrebonne, where the Supreme Court of Canada recently invalidated last year’s result.

By-elections will also be held on April 13, 2026, in the ridings of Scarborough Southwest and University-Rosedale.

Longtime MP Bill Blair resigned his seat in Scarborough Southwest in order to become Canada’s new high commissioner to the United Kingdom, while the University-Rosedale seat opened up after Chrystia Freeland resigned in January in order to take up a new voluntary role advising the Ukrainian government.

In the Terrebonne riding, Liberal Tatiana Auguste was initially declared the winner, before the result flipped to Bloc Québécois’ Nathalie Sinclair-Desgagné after the votes went through a validation process. A judicial recount completed on May 10, however, concluded the Liberals received one more than Sinclair-Desgagné.

But Sinclair-Desgagné challenged the results after a supporter complained that she had tried to vote by mail using a special ballot that was never counted, and on February 13, the Supreme Court sided with the Bloc candidate and invalidated the results.

The Liberals currently have 169 seats in the House of Commons, and if they were to win all three races, they would then have a razor-thin majority government.

The Liberals are running family physician and health care advocate Dr. Danielle Martin in the riding of University-Rosedale, while former Ontario NDP deputy leader Doly Begum has been chosen to run in the riding of Scarborough Southwest. Both ridings are considered Liberal strongholds.

According to Elections Canada, voters in the three ridings can vote in advance polls from April 3 to 6 at their assigned polling stations, or at their Elections Canada office any time before April 7. Voters can also cast their vote by mail before April 7.