On the surface, the results of last night’s Canadian by-elections would be significant enough. The Liberals, under Prime Minister Mark Carney, achieved majority status by winning two safe downtown Toronto seats, also eking out a win against the Bloc Québécois in suburban Montreal. But the truth is that Carney won his majority even before Monday, after an extraordinary string of floor-crossings in which five opposition MPs defected to the Liberals, with more rumored on the way. It has decisively put an end to the precarious minority status which emerged from last year’s general election.
Mark Carney’s majority is still full of risk
