OTTAWA – Three byelections are being held on April 13 and the results could have an impact on both the makeup of Parliament and how long it lasts.
Here’s a primer on how things could change.
Where are the byelections?
The votes are in two Liberal stronghold seats in the Toronto area and one contested riding in Quebec, north of Montreal.
I may never understand Toronto voters.
The federal Conservative Party’s campaign manager is shrugging off polls showing the Liberals hold a double-digit lead over the Tories — while Pierre Poilievre says he’s broadening his image but won’t change who he is.
“Polls are polls, and they do what polls do,” Steve Outhouse said in an interview on Rosemary Barton Live that aired Sunday morning. “What you need to do, if you’re talking about the long game, is to not worry about them on a day-to-day basis.”
Over the last month, several national pollsters — including Leger, Abacus Data and Nanos Research — have found the Liberals leading the Conservatives by at least 10 points
Ontario Premier Doug Ford has been given the greatest gifts one can have in politics: time and power. With the three consecutive majority governments that his Progressive Conservatives have won, he’s had the ability to pursue radical policy changes and actually begin to see the fruits of those changes. He’s been able to conceive of, initiate and develop major infrastructure projects. And he can, if he wishes, fundamentally overhaul the way a province structures its basic funding operations, in service to greater efficiency and results.
If Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre had asked me whether he should go on Joe Rogan’s podcast in the United States this week, I would have told him, “No.”
I would have been wrong.
They may be bitter rivals in the House of Commons, but outside the chamber, recent events may have led to Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre and Prime Minister Mark Carney forging a bond.
In recent interviews, Poilievre has said he is communicating regularly with Carney to present a united front while travelling abroad.
“Even on my visit [to the United States], I’m sending him text messages to tell him what’s going on, to try and support his work … we both want what’s best for Canada,” Poilievre told American podcaster Joe Rogan this week.
That’s no fun.
Pierre Poilievre made his debut on the Joe Rogan Experience this week and earned the respect of many Canadians for keeping it “classy.”
The interview with Rogan dropped Thursday afternoon and included some heavy-hitting topics such as the Trump administration tariffs, as well as the 51st state jibes, Canada’s oil sands, Canada’s parliamentary system and Poilievre’s role within it. The JRE, as it’s known, boasts an audience of of almost 21 million subscribers and 11 million downloads per episode, according to Edison Research.
He should’ve smoked dope with Rogan.
“So why did you lose?” Joe Rogan seems baffled that Canadians had anything bad to say about Pierre Poilievre based on how sensible and effective his policies would be. pic.twitter.com/VuW3Yupgvj
— Jasmin Laine (@JasminLaine_) March 19, 2026
7 key takeaways from Poilievre’s Joe Rogan interview
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre sat down for a more than two-hour-long interview on The Joe Rogan Experience this week.
Rogan’s show ranks near or at the top of podcast charts on Spotify, YouTube and Apple Podcasts — with over 20 million subscribers on YouTube alone.
More … Pierre Poilievre was on Joe Rogan’s podcast. Here are the big takeaways
OTTAWA — As Opposition Leader Pierre Poilievre spends the week garnering support for Canada south of the border, his Conservatives continue to lose ground against the Mark Carney Liberals.
In new poll numbers published Monday by Liaison Strategies, the Mark Carney Liberals now maintain a 14 percentage point lead over the Conservatives — commanding 45% support among those polled.
HALIFAX—Whatever you may think about Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre’s chances of becoming prime minister—the proverbial snowball in hell comes to mind—he keeps trying to find a way to stay in the game against Mark Carney.
It is no easy task. Prime Minister Mark Carney’s lead over Poilievre in the polls keeps growing, recently hitting 13 points. If that spread were to hold in an election, it would be a debacle for the Conservatives.
Rumours persist that more Conservative MPs may be planning to join the handful of former colleagues who’ve already defected to the Liberals.
Some Canadians find it perfectly in step … and that number will only increase as more awaken to the rape of Canada by Carney and his Brookfield pals.
WINDSOR – Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre has unveiled a new auto plan aiming to secure tariff-free access to the U.S. market.
The plan would harmonize tailpipe emissions reductions with the U.S., and align Canada with the United States on Chinese tariffs in a move meant to give Canada leverage in trade talks.
Poilievre would also implement a rule where for each car produced in Canada, the same manufacturer would be able to sell a U.S. or Mexico-made car in Canada duty-free.
LIVE: A new tariff-free 🇨🇦🇺🇸 auto pact // EN DIRECT : Un nouveau Pacte de l’automobile 🇨🇦 🇺🇸 sans tarifs https://t.co/yGhrcZSYo0
— Pierre Poilievre (@PierrePoilievre) March 15, 2026
OTTAWA – Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre says he’s planning to pitch a “realistic proposal” to end U.S. tariffs on the Canadian auto industry this weekend.
He says his proposed auto pact would align regulations between Canada and the U.S. and remove the GST from Canadian-made vehicles.
He told reporters his plan, which he intends to roll out on Sunday, is “literally the only hope of keeping our auto sector in Canada.”
Much is being made of Prime Minister Mark Carney’s successful efforts to poach MPs from both the Conservative and New Democratic parties in an effort to convert his minority Liberal government into a majority.
But these MPs’ parliamentary perambulations are small potatoes compared to events in the early 2000s. Floor-crossings in those years helped determine the future of the conservative movement, the fate of a Liberal government and Canada’s foreign policy. Herewith, a brief history lesson on that era – the golden age of crossing the floor.
Link fixed sorry!
Floor-crossing has always been a feature of Canadian politics dating back to the first Parliament — and seeing four opposition MPs jump ship to join the government in a matter of months is rare but not unprecedented.
Prime Minister Mark Carney has only been in office for a year and is ranking near the top in terms of prime ministers who have had opposition MPs join his caucus during a parliamentary session.
John A. Macdonald, Robert Borden and Jean Chrétien attracted a swath of MPs to their respective governments — though all in vastly different circumstances.
It looks like Pierre Poilievre is going to be stuck with the worst damn job in all of Canada for a while longer.
Between Lori Idlout’s decision to defect from the NDP to the Liberals and Mark Carney’s team sure to win at least two if not all byelections next month, the Prime Minister will get his majority and Poilievre will stay as opposition leader.
By luring now-former NDP Lori Idlout across the floor to join the Liberal caucus, Prime Minister Mark Carney has brought his Liberals up to 170. With three byelections pending, two of which are in reliably safe Liberal seats and the third a Liberal-Bloc tossup, the Liberals seem set to achieve a bare minimum majority in the near future, almost a year after falling just short of that mark in last year’s election. And possibly even exceed it by a single seat, freeing the speaker from those awkward tie-breaking votes.
