LANGLEY, B.C. – Polls have closed in a federal byelection in British Columbia amid turmoil in Ottawa as Prime Minister Justin Trudeau faces calls to resign after Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland stepped down from cabinet on the day she was to deliver a fall economic statement.
Six candidates are running to represent the riding of Cloverdale—Langley City, including Liberal candidate Madison Fleischer, a local business owner, and Conservative Tamara Jansen, who has previously held the seat.
The byelection in the Liberal-held riding is a third test for the Trudeau government, which already lost two long-held seats in byelections earlier this year.
The successive byelection losses, dismal poll numbers and now Freeland’s cabinet exit have inspired public calls from inside and outside of Trudeau’s caucus for him to resign as party leader.
Elections Canada says voters in the riding didn’t receive information cards because of the postal strike.
Cloverdale—Langley City in the Fraser Valley east of Vancouver has see-sawed between the Liberals and Conservatives in recent elections, with Jansen unseating Liberal John Aldag in 2019 before a 2021 rematch saw Aldag return as MP.
Aldag quit this year to run in October’s provincial election for the NDP in Langley-Abbotsford, but he was defeated by a B.C. Conservative.
All three provincial ridings in Langley were won by the B.C. Conservatives, who have no official relationship with the federal Conservatives.
Federal NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh said Monday that Trudeau should resign, saying “all options are on the table,” though he didn’t commit to a non-confidence vote to bring down the government.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 16, 2024.
