Prime Minister Mark Carney called three by-elections scheduled for April 13 in the ridings of University-Rosedale in Toronto and Scarborough Southwest and in Terrebonne, Que.
If the Liberals win two of the races, they will secure a majority government. The Liberals hold 170 seats in the House and need 172 seats for the majority.
A by-election is held whenever there is a vacancy in the House of Commons, usually after a resignation by a Member of Parliament.
In the case of the two Toronto ridings – University-Rosedale and Scarborough Southwest – MPs Chrystia Freeland and Bill Blair both resigned their seats, resulting in by-elections.
In the riding of Scarborough Southwest, Doly Begum will run as the Liberal candidate after a shocking resignation in the same riding as a former NDP deputy leader.
“I’ve had the privilege to earn the trust and fight for the people of Scarborough Southwest for more than seven years as our MPP,” Begum said during her Liberal Party announcement.
The other two major candidates are NDP candidate Fatima Shaban and Diana Filipova for the Conservatives.
However, the riding is considered a safe Liberal seat as Blair won by more than 16,800 votes in the 2025 election.
In University-Rosedale, Freeland’s resignation has led the Liberals to nominate Danielle Martin, a physician and professor at the University of Toronto.
It is her first time running for public office, after making waves back in 2014 at a U.S. Senate hearing in which she defended Canada’s universal healthcare system.
“For more than 20 years, I have served the people of University-Rosedale as a family doctor and a hospital and university leader,” Martin said in a Liberal Party press release.
Freeland took the riding in 2025 by more than 25,200 votes. But in recent years, the riding has had strong showings by Conservative and NDP candidates.
NDP candidate Serena Purdy, a health scientist, will give it another shot for the left-wing party this time around.
The by-election in Terrebonne, an area north-east of Montreal, features unusual circumstances.
In 2025, the Liberal candidate, Tatiana Auguste, won by only one vote over Bloc Québécois candidate Nathalie Sinclair-Desgagne.
However, since one voter’s mail-in ballot was apparently discounted, the Supreme Court of Canada nullified the vote on Feb. 13 and called for a redo.
Internal Trade Minister Dominic LeBlanc praised Auguste online.
“Tatiana is a committed young leader and the best candidate to build a better future for the people, workers, and businesses of Terrebonne,” he wrote on Instagram.
The two candidates will square off on April 13 with a majority government for Mark Carney on the line.
The Bloc Québécois, a federal Quebec separatist party with 22 seats in the House of Commons, are hoping for a victory in the French-speaking province.
