3 byelections test Carney government’s popularity as U.S. trade war heats up | CBC

Aren’t there other vacant seats?

PM Carney to call 13 byelections in just 2 years

Prime Minister Mark Carney is set to be the first prime minister in 75 years to call more than 13 byelections in their first two years. So, what does this mean for the current state of Canadian politics? The founder of The Writ.ca, Éric Grenier, joins Power & Politics to discuss.

Keen political watchers will know there are a number of other vacancies in the House of Commons right now that aren’t being filled tonight.

There are another six seats that will need to be filled in the coming months. But when Carney called these three byelections, there was only one seat where the MP had officially resigned — the other four only stepped down in the past few weeks.

The Bloc’s Simon-Pierre Savard-Tremblay resigned his seat, the riding of Saint-Hyacinthe-Bagot-Acton, back in June and is running for the provincial Parti Québécois this fall.

Like Savard-Tremblay, former NDP MP Alexandre Boulerice is shifting to provincial politics and is running for Québec Solidaire. But unlike Savard-Tremblay, Boulerice only resigned his seat, Rosemont-La Petite-Patrie, last week.

Although Liberal MP Steven Guilbeault gave notice that he would be leaving elected politics way back in May, the former cabinet minister made it official last Friday. 

Shaun Chen, another former Liberal MP, gave up his Toronto seat earlier this month.

Conservative Cathay Wagantall gave notice of her intention to step down as MP for the Saskatchewan riding of Yorkton-Melville back in May. Her official last day was slated for today.

There is a bit of a process and timing rules that come into play once an MP official gives notice of their resignation. The Speaker has to inform the chief electoral officer of the vacancy, at which point the prime minister has 11 to 180 days to call a byelection. For Saint-Hyacinthe-Bagot-Acton, the final day to call the vote is in December.

There is another vacancy coming down the pipe as well. Ontario Conservative MP Larry Brock has said he will step down on Sept. 19.