Cynical Liberal Use of By-Elections

Prime Minister Mark Carney, using his prerogative as Prime Minister to call elections, chose Monday, April 13 for by-elections to fill vacancies in the House of Commons for the ridings of Terrebonne in Quebec, and University–Rosedale and Scarborough Southwest in Ontario. The University–Rosedale seat was vacated when Liberal Chrystia Freeland resigned to work with Ukrainian President Zelenskyy in the capacity of a voluntary advisor. Bill Blair resigned his Scarborough Southwest seat following his appointment to be Canada's High Commissioner in the UK. The riding of Terrebonne became vacant when the Supreme Court of Canada invalidated the judicial recount of the results of the April 25, 2025 general election which gave Liberal candidate Tatiana Auguste a one vote majority over Bloc Québécois incumbent Nathalie Sinclair-Desgagné.

When the by-elections were announced, the Liberal government had 169 seats in Parliament, just three shy of a majority in Canada's House of Commons which has 343 seats. The two Ontario seats are considered Liberal shoo-ins while the Liberals are expected to pull out all the stops to win in Terrebonne. Should the Liberals win all three ridings, they will secure 172 seats in the House of Commons which is considered a majority. However, since one of the Liberal seats is occupied by the Speaker of the House who can only vote in the case of a tie, even with three victories, the only path to what is considered a safe Liberal majority government is through the continued unscrupulous orchestration of Conservative or other cartel party defections.

The same day the by-elections were announced, the Liberals are said to have "hit the ground running" in Terrebonne with appeals to electors to vote for them. Also, the same day, the results of a series of polls were announced with great fanfare claiming that should a general election be held today Mark Carney would win by a wide margin, that he is the most popular Prime Minister ever and that what Canada needs today is a national unity government under Mark Carney. None of this propaganda is in any way, shape or form accompanied with information on any matters of concern to the people, but it does confirm that the Liberal campaign in Terrebonne will be a very dirty and sordid affair to secure a Liberal win.

It is also clear that the Terrebonne election will reveal whether the Quebec electorate make up their minds to secure a Bloc win by going all out to defeat the Liberals whose agenda to Make Canada Strong is seen as very harmful for Quebec in particular, as well as Canada as a whole. The Liberal agenda stands contrary to the claims of the Quebec working class and people to increase investments in social programs and end pay-the-rich schemes which have opened the floodgates to plunder Quebec's natural resources to serve narrow private interests and the U.S. war machine. This increases environmental destruction which Quebeckers vehemently oppose and also subjects the working class to increasingly oppressive and unsafe working conditions as a result of degraded environmental and health and safety regulations while undermining union protections. The Liberal agenda is restructuring the federal state in a manner which further subjugates Quebec to federal control. The usurpation of state powers at the federal level by supranational narrow private interests further marginalizes Quebeckers from decision-making in general at both federal and Quebec levels.

All three by-elections exhibit the corruption of the system of party government. Citizens and residents are reduced to those called "electors" who have no say whatsoever over the decisions made by what are called their representatives. Calling MPs representatives is itself a fraud because they are all part of a party machine at the disposal of an agenda set by supranational narrow private interests. The system guarantees that the people lack representation at any level, from calling elections to choosing candidates to controlling information. There is no guarantee to an informed vote or to deciding how public monies given to the cartel parties are spent. On the contrary, everything is done to contrive election results so that the most powerful financial and state-backed interests win under the hoax that electors are exercising "free choice."

It is hoped that in all three ridings, the people will speak out in their own name by making their claims on society ring out loud and clear. It is hoped that in Terrebonne, the people make sure the Liberals are soundly defeated in this by-election. It is hoped they will be able to smash the arrogance of the Carney government which is using ministerial powers to pass laws, regulations and measures which destroy the natural and social environment, trample hereditary and treaty rights of Indigenous Peoples in the mud, subject Canada to the U.S. war machine, all claims to the contrary notwithstanding. Opposition to the agenda of the Carney government is required today to affirm that it is the people who are sovereign, not those who have usurped the decision-making power through fraudulent elections which marginalize the people and deprive them of their right to participate in governance to make decisions which affect their lives.

Another NDP Defection to the Liberals

On March 11, Nunavut NDP Member of Parliament Lori Idlout announced that she has crossed the floor to the Liberal Party. Idlout is the second NDP elected member to join the Liberals, the first being Doly Begum, NDP Member of the Ontario Provincial Legislature in Scarborough Southwest who has resigned her provincial seat to run for the Liberals in the April 13 federal by-election. Prior to Idlout's official announcement, Interim NDP Leader Don Davies expressed his disappointment at her decision and called for her to face a by-election. "We believe that when someone rejects the decision of their electors and wants to join another party, they should put that decision to their voters. In a democracy, something as important as the choice of party representation in Parliament must always remain with our constituents," he said.

While his position is based on principle, it begs the question that the current system of representation and cartel party governments harbours MPs who no longer represent either their constituents or their parties and that it is high time electoral laws no longer be based on the premise that their aim is to elect party governments.

Idlout won the Nunavut riding for a second term in the April 2025 general election. She defeated the Liberal candidate by 41 votes in an election which saw a voter turnout of only 36.24 per cent of eligible voters – only 7,747 of the riding's 21,376 eligible voters cast ballots.

Idlout's official statement was published on the Liberal Party's website. It gives a narrative which the Liberals are repeating often about the need to back the Liberal government to Make Canada Strong in these uncertain times. The entire thing diverts attention away from what precisely the Liberals are doing and that, far from making Canada strong, their agenda is embroiling Canada in war preparations and restructuring the state in a manner than gives a green light to the destruction of the natural and social environment and exponentially increases the profits of narrow private interests. Idlout's statement furthermore repeats the false narrative that ridings where a member of the ruling party is elected have a "seat at the table," are part of decision-making, as compared to ridings in which a member of an opposition party is elected to parliament.

She said "With new threats against our sovereignty and pressures on the well-being of people throughout the North, we need a strong and ambitious government that makes decisions with Nunavut – not only about Nunavut. That is why after much personal reflection and encouragement from my community, family, and supporters, I have decided to join the government caucus and to work alongside Prime Minister Mark Carney to build the better future that Nunavummiut are counting on."

"Mark Carney is our first Prime Minister from the North, and at this turning point in our history, I am ready to work with him to build a strong future for Nunavut and for all of Canada," she added, further revealing that her conception of who and what constitute "the north" is a figment of a deluded imagination.

As was the case with the three Conservative MP's who have crossed the floor, media is now full of examples of Idlout's previous criticisms of the Liberal government. In October, when the federal government announced it was appealing a lawsuit over medical experimentation on Inuit children, she said, "I am devastated to hear that the Liberals are looking to prevent justice, yet again." In September, referring to the Iqaluit hydroelectric project, she said, "PM Carney has pitted Indigenous nations against each other and infringed on Indigenous rights and title." In August, when the Liberals cut food vouchers for the region, Idlout said, "I am disgusted by the Carney Government's response to Nunavut. Nunavummiut deserve better." The fact that Idlout endorsed and spoke in favour of one of the NDP leadership contenders only a week prior to crossing the floor is drawing parallels with Conservative floor-crosser Michael Ma having cheerfully attended a Conservative Christmas party the day before his defection.

Whatever deal Idlout cut with Carney, he is beaming as he exudes confidence that all of Canada endorses his "mandate." Unsaid in all of this is that as more NDP MPs resign or abandon the NDP, the more the Liberal dream of eliminating the NDP is realized because they want all NDP voters to join the Liberals so that the Liberals can claim to be the natural governing party for Canadians. It is all a farce which will sooner or later come back to haunt the establishment which wants to pretend the government unites the nation because it has the support of everyone from former Prime Minister Harper on the "right" to the NDP on the "left." In fact, they are all scoundrels of the first order and Canadians and Quebeckers know it.

Letters to the Editor

Re: By-Elections

Since the by-elections were called it has been announced that Lori Idlout, the NDP Member of Parliament for Nunavut has crossed the floor to join the Liberals. Besides providing further proof of the lack of legitimacy of the system called a representative democracy because elected MPs are accountable to neither electors nor their parties and think they are above being held to account, this also means that if the Liberals win the three April 13 by-elections there will be no need for the Speaker to cast his vote to break a tie. But the story does not end there. A news item in the National Post, referring to the April 13 by-election in Terrebonne, includes the following:

"Philippe J. Fournier, founder of the polling aggregator website 338Canada, said it was a 'stroke of genius' for the Liberals to call for a by-election to be held on the Monday after their party convention in Montreal, which will mean lots of exposure prior to the vote.

"With Carney's government riding high in the polls, even in Quebec, having that media visibility for the Liberal leader in those final days will only be beneficial for his party as voters are headed to the polls, said Fournier."

It certainly underscores the point that the by-elections will once again reveal that the electoral system is corrupt – a corruption that is all "within the law."

Reader from Northern BC

These politicians who have crossed the floor or defected to the Liberal Party show no allegiance to those who voted for them or the Party they ran for or Canada. They only earn the contempt of the people for their pragmatic calculations like Carney himself makes. Whatever their reason, the people do not like it.

Reader in Scarborough

The call made by TML for the people of Terrebonne to go all to defeat the Liberals and for people to use the by-elections to discuss their own concerns and demands, responds to the need for the people to keep the initiative in their own hands no matter what so-called majority the Carney party machine engineers. The declaration that Carney governs with the consent of the governed is an ill-gotten one that will not save the Liberals because the people will continue to fight for their rights and the rights of all. This is what the kind of rotten operation the Liberal government is running will reveal.

Reader in Montreal

The announcement of the two Toronto candidates in early February by the national Liberal party, not the riding associations which nowadays have no say and exist in name only, also speaks to the corruption of the system of party government where the people have no say in who will run or what they do once elected, all controlled by the central party apparatus beholden to private election machines whose mission is to do whatever it takes for their "client" to win. Nothing to do with what Canadians need or want. It is despicable.

Reader in University-Rosedale riding

The shenanigans of the Liberal Party to claim a "mandate" which they then declare shows they have the "consent of the governed" tells us that Carney's mandate is in the style of a fairy tale where all kinds of diversions are used to stop the people from asserting their right to govern themselves. An example is Carney's assertion that he is fighting for Canada's independence by increasing war production.

Reader in Montreal North

The floor crossings and defections to the Liberals from both the Conservatives and the NDP reveal the crisis of legitimacy facing the cartel party system and the necessity for renewal. They aim to shore up Carney's claim that he is defending sovereignty, creating prosperity and following an independent course for Canada and has popular support and to divert from the fact that he is in fact serving the oligarchs, trampling on rights, including those of the Indigenous Peoples, and following a course for the economy which is harmful, removes value from the economy, fails to address the needs and concerns of the people. All of what is taking place is destructive. It shows that what is called a representative democracy is beyond repair and requires the renewal of the democratic processes, from elections to how governments are formed to how the Parliament works.

Reader in Manitoba

The floor crossings and shenanigans of the Liberal Party machine to claim they have a majority government and that this gives them a "mandate" are clearly out of control. What is left of the claims that we live in a democracy if the system has neither the consent of the governed, nor is it the case that the popular will is turned into the legal will? That neither exists is demonstrated by analyzing what is taking place in the parliament with the floor-crossing and the backroom dealings, etc.

Reader in Edmonton

The floor crossings in the parliament and defections to the Liberal Party expose the rot in the cartel party system. The attempts by Carney to gain a majority through capturing seats at any cost shows the desperation of the man to gain legitimacy for his anti-people agenda.

Reader in Guelph

Election Calendar

March 23: Close of Nominations (2:00 pm)

April 3-6: Advance Voting Days (9:00 am-9:00 pm)

April 7: Deadline to apply for mail-in ballot (6:00 pm ET, online or in-person at local Elections Canada office)

April 13: Election Day

(To access articles individually click on the black headline.)

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