Canada election gives majority to Carney’s Liberal Party

Preliminary results showed candidates from Canada’s Liberal Party winning three vacant Parliament seats after a Monday night special election. The trio of wins would give Liberals a majority in the 343-seat chamber, clearing the way for them to pass legislation without support from other parties.

In the Toronto area, winner Doly Begum received over 20,000 votes, while roughly 5,300 people voted for the runner-up. Another race in a Toronto-area district showed a similarly wide split in votes. The election in Quebec’s Terrebone district was much closer, though—Liberal Tatiana Auguste won with a candidate from the Quebec nationalist party, Bloc Québécois, less than a thousand votes behind.

What’s next for the leading opposition party? The Conservative Party thanked its slate of defeated candidates for taking a stand, saying it would continue its fight to hold Carney’s party accountable for rising crime, deficits, and inflation of food prices.

How did Prime Minister Mark Carney react? The prime minister on Tuesday said his party would work with all other parties in Parliament and ask for their perspectives. However, he also said that Liberals planned to quickly make big changes, especially to strengthen Canada’s economy. Carney has frequently vowed to reduce his country’s dependence on the United States.

Dig deeper: Read my report on legislation introduced in one Canadian province that would tighten restrictions on assisted suicide.