Canada’s ruling Liberals sweep special elections in boost to Mark Carney

Canada’s ruling Liberal Party has swept three special elections in a result that showed voters backing the prime minister, Mark Carney, after his face-off with the US president, Donald Trump.The Canadian Press, Canada’s national news agency, projected Liberal victories in Chicoutimi-Le Fjord in Quebec, Beaches-East York in Toronto and North Vancouver-Capilano in British Columbia.Carney said the results of Monday’s votes amounted to an endorsement of his government’s approach. “At this consequential time for Canada, voters have placed their trust in our government’s plan,” he said in a statement.The Quebec result was the most dramatic shift. The Liberal candidate Daniel Gobeil was projected to win big in Chicoutimi-Le Fjord, a district held by the opposition Conservatives since 2018. The region is home to aluminium producers, dairy farms and other industries caught in the escalating trade war.“This victory means we can maintain Canadian unity all across the country,” Gobeil said.The other two seats were previously held by Liberals. In British Columbia, Carney’s former deputy chief of staff Braeden Caley won North Vancouver-Capilano.The Liberal lawmaker Hedy Fry told the Canadian Broadcasting Corp: “The United States is getting a message tonight. Our leader has the support of the Canadian people.”US-Canada trade talks collapsed on 21 August after the two sides failed to reach a deal, and Trump imposed 50% tariffs on roughly $20bn of Canadian goods. Canada responded with plans for tariffs on US products.Trump has escalated his attacks on Canada since the talks failed. He signed an executive order renaming Lake Ontario “Lake America,” and the US Treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, said on Monday that Canada had limited leverage in the dispute because the US economy was roughly 13 times larger. Trump has repeatedly talked about making Canada the 51st state.Meanwhile, Carney has accelerated efforts to deepen economic ties with Europe and other partners.The Liberal sweep would bring Carney’s party to 173 seats in the 343-seat House of Commons, further strengthening its position in parliament.The special elections were called after the lawmakers who previously held the three seats resigned from parliament earlier this year.Daniel Béland, a political science professor at McGill University, said the sweep showed Carney retaining strong support across regions, but called the Quebec result the most significant. He said the easy win in Chicoutimi-Le Fjord likely reflected, in part, the popularity in Quebec of Carney’s decision “to pull the plug on trade negotiations with the White House”.He said the Conservative collapse there was also bad news for the party’s leader, Pierre Poilievre. The party had about 41% of the vote in last year’s federal elections, but fell to about 13% and third place on Monday. “These numbers do look bad,” Béland said.Carney won Canada’s election last year, fuelled by public anger over Trump’s annexation threats, and he has vowed to reduce Canada’s reliance on the US.