Powered by Trump: Canada's Liberals Win Back their Majority
Joel Connelly
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Canada’s “natural governing party,” the Liberals, held their annual convention this weekend in Montreal, in an atmosphere of self-satisfaction. Posing for selfies on the floor was avuncular Nova Scotia MP Chris D’Entremont. The curious aspect in this scene: the “honorable gentleman” was until recently a Conservative MP. In recent weeks, the center-left Liberals have welcomed five defectors from other parties, Tories from the right and one defector from the leftist New Democratic Party.
Three vacancies in the House of Commons will be filled in byelections on Monday. Together with the defectors, the party of Prime Minister Mark Carney will have its cherished majority in the 314-member House of Commons. Carney can then govern at will. Parliamentary democracies work that way, unlike the U.S. Congress, currently experiencing a deadlock of democracy.
Donald Trump rescued the Canadian Liberals a little more than a year ago. Polls showed the party, then under an unpopular Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, cratering, polls estimating the party would win an estimated 55 seats in the 342-member parliament. But Trudeau stepped down as party leader and economist Carney was picked to replace him. The successful transplant saw the party rebound in the federal election a year ago, while not winning an outright majority, holding on to power heading a minority coalition.
Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre, his hopes of power dashed by Trump, has reacted to defections from his caucus with fury, demanding that the defectors quit their seats and submit to the judgment of their ridings (districts). By-elections “would put the people back in charge of our democracy rather than having dirty backroom deals,” said Poilievre.
https://www.postalley.org/2026/04/13/powered-by-trump-canadas-liberals-win-back-their-majority/
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