Voters in two ridings in Ontario and one in Quebec have until the end of the day to head to advance polls in upcoming federal byelections that could give Prime Minister Mark Carney a majority government.
Last month, Carney announced byelections in the two Toronto-area ridings of Scarborough Southwest and University-Rosedale and the Montreal-area riding of Terrebonne set for April 13.
Advance polls in the three ridings opened last Friday and will close at 9 p.m. Monday, and voters can also cast ballots at their local Elections Canada office before 6 p.m. Tuesday.
The byelection in Terrebonne comes after the Supreme Court nullified the Liberal candidate’s one-vote federal election win in the riding, after the Bloc Québécois candidate challenged the results when a supporter complained she tried to vote by mail using a special ballot that wasn’t counted.
Meanwhile, the University-Rosedale seat was left vacant after former Liberal MP Chrystia Freeland departed to serve as an adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and become CEO of the Rhodes Trust.
Bill Blair, also a former Liberal MP, left the riding of Scarborough Southwest vacant after he was appointed Canada’s high commissioner to the United Kingdom.
The Toronto ridings are considered to be safe seats for the Liberals, while Terrebonne was held by a Bloc Québécois MP before the last federal election.
Liberal wins in the two Toronto ridings would bring the party to 172 seats in the House of Commons, which is enough for a majority.
But because the Speaker does not typically vote, a government with 172 seats still needs at least one opposition member to vote with them or abstain from voting to pass legislation — which means all eyes will be on the race in Terrebonne, which could give the Liberals a critical extra seat.
Polling aggregator 338 Canada has said Terrebonne is a toss-up between the Liberals and Bloc.
Residents in the three ridings can also cast their vote by mail, if they apply to do so by Tuesday.
