Exactly five weeks and a day after Prime Minister Mark Carney triggered the first of at least two rounds of byelections on track to take place by next spring, voters in North Vancouver — Capilano, B.C., Beaches — East York, Ont. and Chicoutimi — Le Fjord, Que., are poised to add three new MPs to the current House of Commons roster following the departures of two long-time Liberals — former Team Trudeau cabinet ministers Jonathan Wilkinson and Nathaniel Erskine-Smith, respectively — as well as a midterm career change for now former Quebec Conservative MP Richard Martel, who resigned his seat last month after accepting Carney’s offer to serve in the Senate.

While the Liberals are widely expected to hold both the B.C. and Toronto-area seats, the race to replace Martel is effectively too close to call, as Canadian Press reports.

“Polls during the campaign placing Bloc Québécois candidate Caroline Dubé, Liberal Daniel Gobeil and Conservative Régis Gaudreault as the three leading contenders,” the wire service notes.

“The most recent poll, published on Aug. 25, and conducted by Segma Recherche for Saguenay radio station CKAJ, puts Gobeil and Dubé neck-and-neck, with 40 per cent and 38 per cent support respectively.  Gaudreault trailed at 17 per cent in the survey of 448 respondents with a margin of error of plus or minus 4.6 percentage points.”

According to his office, Bloc Québécois leader Yves-François Blanchet is heading to Chicoutimi to watch the results roll in alongside Dubé and her supporters. (8 p.m.)

For his part, Carney is not currently booked in for any public events, while neither the Conservatives nor the New Democrats have released any details on the projected whereabouts of their respective leaders.

As per Elections Canada, the polls will close at 9:30 p.m. ET in Quebec and Ontario, and 30 minutes later in B.C.

Hitting the ministerial circuit: Artificial Intelligence Minister Evan Solomon, whose portfolio also includes FedDev Ontario, joins Hamilton-area Liberal MPs John-Paul Danko, Lisa Hepfner and Aslam Rana to share the details of new federal support earmarked to help local businesses “respond to tariff pressures.” (10:45 a.m.)

Also on the radar: The annual Indo-Pacific Chiefs of Defense conference gets underway in Victoria, B.C. as “senior military leaders, practitioners and regional experts” from 32 countries gather for three days of high-level discussions on “strengthening collective security” as part of an ongoing push to strengthen mutual understanding, cooperation and interoperability among allies and partners,” with Chief of Defence Staff Jennie Carignan and United States (U.S.) Pacific Command lead Samuel J. Paparo serving as co-hosts.

ON AND AROUND THE HILL

Nishnawbe Aski Nation Grand Chief Alvin Fiddler, other First Nations leaders and family members of the late Barbara Kentner hit the West Block press theatre to “demand accountability following the decision to grant full parole to the man convicted of manslaughter in her death,” which “has renewed serious concerns for Barbara’s family and First Nations Leadership across the Ontario region,” the advisory notes, (10 a.m.) with a “public demonstration” that will see supporters march from the Centennial Flame to the national headquarters of the Parole Board of Canada to follow. (11 a.m.)

Later this morning, Canadian Health Coalition chair Jason MacLean will team up with representatives of Friends of Medicare Alberta, Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives B.C. and the Ontario Health Coalition to promote the upcoming “Day of Action against Alberta’s Bill 11” — which, as the advisory notes, is slated to come into force on Sept. 1 — as “part of a pan Canadian campaign by health coalitions and other public health care defenders to raise our collective voices in opposition to Bill 11 and two-tier American-style health care,” as well as urge the federal government to “stop the implementation” of the provincial law and “enforce the accessibility and comprehensiveness criteria of the Canada Health Act.” (10:30 a.m.)

IN THE CHAMBER

Both the House of Commons and the Senate have shut down for the summer, with regular parliamentary proceedings set to resume in September.

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