By Grant Warkentin
Prime Minister Mark Carney has secured a majority for his federal government, after three by-elections Monday night.
Only one was necessary – Carney has during the last six months convinced five Members of Parliament from other parties to cross the floor to join the Liberal Party of Canada. One more seat was all he needed for a clear majority in the House of Commons, now holding 174 of 343 total seats.
The three by-election ridings, two in Toronto and one in Quebec, were all considered safe Liberal strongholds and voted in Liberal Party MPs as expected. However, the Terrebonne riding in Quebec was a close race, with the Liberal candidate defeating her Bloc Quebecois counterpart by just 731 votes.
North Island – Powell River MP Aaron Gunn responded to the news on social media after the byelection results came in.
“Mark Carney’s real majority was obtained through backroom deals and floor crossings over the past six months,” he said. “The first time in more than 150 years of Canadian history that a prime minister has sought the almost unlimited power of a majority government not through a mandate from voters, but through their very deception and deceit.”
The new Liberal majority means the Carney government does not have to try and work with the other parties or MPs in Parliament to pass legislation. That’s good news for proponents of a host of unpopular Liberal bills in the pipeline, including bills proposing to amend Canada’s immigration and asylum system (C2 and C12); a bill proposing to increase government surveillance and force telecommunications companies to provide data to the national spy agency (C8); and an “anti-hate” bill critics say will stifle free speech and do nothing to stop instances of “hate” on Canadian streets and online (C9).
Gunn said voters will not celebrate Carney’s historic majority for long.
“The Liberals may consider this strategy to have been a success, but as the shine of their government, and Mark Carney, inevitably wears off, and the electorate realizes they are left with a different leader, but the same policies, as Justin Trudeau, voters may well resent the fact that in many ridings their vote will feel stolen, their voice silenced, and the verdict of Canada’s democracy, rejected and ignored,” he said.
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