Voters will participate in an eighth federal byelection between August 31 and mid-April as a result of the impending resignation of Ontario Conservative MP Larry Brock. Elected in 2021 to represent Brantford–Brant South in southwestern Ontario, Brock is leaving his position in the House of Commons to join the Crown attorney’s office in Brantford, Ontario.
This summer has seen the departure of three Conservative MPs. Saskatchewan MP Cathay Wagantall has announced her resignation by the end of the month, while Quebec’s Richard Martel has been appointed to the Senate. Consequently, byelections will be held in Martel’s riding of Chicoutimi–Le Fjord, as well as in North Vancouver–Capilano and Beaches–East York.
The byelections in North Vancouver–Capilano and Beaches–East York are to fill the seats left by former Liberal cabinet ministers Jonathan Wilkinson, who resigned to take on the role of Canada’s ambassador to the European Union in Brussels, and Nate Erskine-Smith, who had an unsuccessful attempt at Ontario politics.
Earlier this summer, Bloc Québécois MP Simon-Pierre Savard-Tremblay resigned to contest in the Quebec election on October 5, leaving his former seat in Saint-Hyacinthe–Bagot–Acton vacant without a byelection being called.
According to the regulations, the prime minister must call a byelection within 11 to 180 days after a seat becomes vacant, with formal campaigns lasting between 36 and 50 days. This sets the timeframe for a byelection vote to occur between 47 days and seven months following the vacancy.
However, the prime minister’s actions are contingent on the formal vacation of a seat by an MP. For instance, current Independent and former NDP MP Alexandre Boulerice is running for Québec solidaire in the provincial election but has yet to relinquish his Montreal seat.
Former Liberal cabinet minister Steven Guilbeault, who declared his intention to resign as a Montreal MP on May 27, is set to leave his position on August 28. Similarly, Brock has announced his resignation date as September 18, just before the House of Commons is expected to reconvene from its summer recess on September 21.
