‘A great time to be a Liberal’: Carney government sweeps trio of byelections

MP-elect for Beaches-East York, Tanveer Shahnawaz speaks to the crowd at an election night watch party in Toronto, on Monday, Aug. 31, 2026. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Keito Newman – The Canadian Press

OTTAWA — The Liberals swept a trio of federal byelections on Monday night, adding one more member to the ranks of their majority government and picking up a seat that had been held by the Conservatives since 2018.

The Tories posted a disappointing showing in all three races, but none more than the loss of Chicoutimi-Le Fjord, where the party was relegated to a distant third-place finish.

“It’s a great time to be a Liberal in Canada and in Beaches-East York,” MP-elect Tanveer Shahnawaz told supporters in the east Toronto riding late Monday.

The Liberals’ strong showing comes in the shadow of an increasingly tense trade war with the United States.

Carney ended trade talks Aug. 21, pulling the pin on negotiations that appeared close to a deal to lower sectoral tariffs that have caused uncertainty in Canada for over 18 months.

Instead, both sides have pledged tariffs and counter-tariffs. Senior members of U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration have traded barbs in the media with the likes of Ontario Premier Doug Ford and former Quebec premier Jean Charest.

“At this consequential time for Canada, voters have placed their trust in our government’s plan. We accept their support with humility and determination,” Carney said in a statement Monday.

Liberal MP-elect Daniel Gobeil reacts after winning in the byelection in the riding of Chicoutimi-Le Fjord in Saguenay, Que., Monday, Aug. 31, 2026. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jacques Boissinot

Voters in the Saguenay region of Quebec, which includes Chicoutimi-Le Fjord, know all too well the impact of Trump’s tariffs. Aluminum, forestry and dairy farming make up a significant portion of the regional economy.

The Liberals chose Daniel Gobeil, a dairy farmer and a former head of the provincial dairy producers’ association, to carry their banner in the byelection.

Addressing supporters in French late Monday, Gobeil said the government would take care of people in the aluminum and forestry sector, and be a strong voice for supply management.

The Quebec riding last elected a Liberal in 2015. Richard Martel has won four times since a 2018 byelection. The former junior hockey coach won a very close race in the 2025 federal election.

On Monday, Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet effectively declared the Tories irrelevant.

Blanchet told supporters of second-place candidate Caroline Dubé that while Canada has a two-party system with the Liberals and Conservatives, “there are two political parties in Quebec: the Liberal Party of Canada and the Bloc Québécois.”

Martel was the fifth Conservative to leave Pierre Poilievre’s caucus since the April 2025 election. Chris d’Entremont, Matt Jeneroux, Michael Ma and Marilyn Gladu all crossed the floor between November 2025 and last April, effectively handing Carney’s Liberals the majority they had been unable to secure the year before.

Martel, also thought to cross to the Liberals, instead accepted a seat in the Senate.

Daniel Béland, a political-science professor at McGill University, said ahead of the byelection that a Liberal victory in Chicoutimi-Le Fjord would be evidence of a “masterful strategy” on the part of Carney’s team to name Martel to the Senate and open up a race in a close riding.

The New Democrats, whose disastrous 2025 election results saw the party lose official party status in the House of Commons, gained some ground in Beaches-East York to finish in second place.

“We’ve proved that the sting of last election was a one-time injury,’ NDP Leader Avi Lewis said in a statement.

“Tonight we more than tripled our vote share from last election, and did better than we have in any election since 2015.”

Still, the NDP was left thousands of votes behind the Liberals.

The east Toronto riding’s new representative, Shahnawaz, was the manager of Nate Erskine-Smith’s constituency office. Erskine-Smith left federal politics to run for the leadership of the provincial Liberals.

That plan was foiled when he failed to secure the party’s nomination.

Liberal MP-elect Braeden Caley addresses supporters after polls closed for a federal byelection in the riding of North-Vancouver Capilano, in North Vancouver, B.C., on Monday, Aug. 31, 2026. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck

Carney’s former deputy chief of staff Braeden Caley also returns to Ottawa this fall as the MP for North Vancouver-Capilano. He replaces former cabinet minister Jonathan Wilkinson, who left politics to take a diplomatic posting.

A longtime Liberal staffer and a key figure in the party’s federal election in April 2025, Caley told supporters Monday that there is more work to do.

“The result is not a finish line. It is an instruction to stand strong versus those unjust tariffs, to bring down costs, build homes people can afford,” he said, flanked by Liberal MPs.

All three are set to be sworn in as members of Parliament before the House of Commons resumes sitting Sept. 21.

The final vote tally may take a few days to confirm. Initial results showed the Liberals earned more than 50 per cent of the vote in all three ridings.

Voter turnout, however — as is often the case in byelections — was well below 50 per cent.

There will be more byelections to come: Liberals Steven Guilbeault and Shaun Chen have resigned their seats in Laurier—Sainte-Marie and Scarborough North, respectively.

New Democrat Alexandre Boulerice, who has represented the Montreal riding of Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie, and the Bloc’s Simon-Pierre Savard-Tremblay — of the Quebec riding of Saint-Hyacinthe—Bagot—Acton — have announced their resignations.

Conservatives Cathay Wagantall and Larry Brock have also announced plans to step down.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published on Aug. 31, 2026.

— With files from Sharif Hassan in Toronto, Émilie Bergeron in Chicoutimi, Que., and Brenna Owen in Vancouver

Sarah Ritchie, The Canadian Press

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