A nail-biting Quebec by-election that was supposed to make or break the Liberals’ hopes of a majority government now looks more like a test of Prime Minister Mark Carney’s popularity in a part of the country not given to displays of Canadian unity.
The game has changed since Mr. Carney called the by-election in Terrebonne last month, after the Supreme Court of Canada annulled last year’s federal election result in the former Bloc Québécois stronghold, which the Liberals had won by a single ballot.
Two recent floor-crossings have lowered the stakes for Mr. Carney, whose caucus is now just one seat shy of the 172 he needs to form a majority. On Monday, two Toronto-area by-elections in safe Liberal ridings will likely put him over the top. Terrebonne, an off-island suburb north of Montreal where the Liberal majority appeared to hang in the balance, now seems like a bonus.
