By-elections to the 42nd Canadian Parliament

By-elections to the 42nd Canadian Parliament
Map of relevant by-election results by riding. Ridings shaded in gray did not hold a by-election.

By-elections to the 42nd Canadian Parliament were held to fill vacancies in the House of Commons of Canada between the 2015 and the 2019 federal elections. The 42nd Canadian Parliament existed from 2015 to 2019 with the membership of its House of Commons having been determined by the results of the Canadian federal election held on October 19, 2015. The Liberal Party of Canada had a majority government during this Parliament.

A by-election was held on October 24, 2016, following the death of Jim Hillyer (Conservative, Medicine Hat—Cardston—Warner) on March 23, 2016.[1]

Five by-elections were held on April 3, 2017: One following the death of Mauril Bélanger (Liberal, Ottawa—Vanier) on August 16, 2016.[2] A second was held due to the former prime minister Stephen Harper's (Conservative, Calgary Heritage) resignation from parliament on August 26,[3] A third was held due to the resignation of Jason Kenney (Conservative, Calgary Midnapore), on September 23,[4] to enter provincial politics and pursue the leadership of the Alberta PCs.[5][6] Two others were called for Markham—Thornhill and Saint-Laurent, respectively following the appointments of John McCallum and Stéphane Dion (both Liberal) as Ambassadors to China and Germany, respectively.[7][8] They officially resigned their seats in the House of Commons on January 31, 2017.[9][10]

Two further by-elections were held on October 23, 2017, in Sturgeon River—Parkland and Lac-Saint-Jean, following the resignations of former interim Conservative leader Rona Ambrose on July 4, 2017, and former Conservative deputy leader Denis Lebel on August 9.[11][12][13]

Four by-elections were held on December 11, 2017,[14] due to the death on September 14, 2017, of Arnold Chan (Liberal, Scarborough—Agincourt),[15] the resignations effective September 30, of former cabinet minister Judy Foote (Liberal, Bonavista—Burin—Trinity),[16] and Dianne Watts (Conservative, South Surrey—White Rock) to enter provincial politics and pursue the leadership of the British Columbia Liberal Party,[17] and in Battlefords—Lloydminster due to the resignation of Conservative MP Gerry Ritz on October 2.[18]

One by-election was held on June 18, 2018 following the resignation of Denis Lemieux (Liberal, Chicoutimi—Le Fjord)[19] on December 1, 2017.[20][21]

One by-election was held on December 3, 2018 following the death of Gord Brown (Conservative, Leeds—Grenville—Thousand Islands and Rideau Lakes) on May 2, 2018.[22]

Three additional by-elections were held on February 25, 2019 due to the announcement by former New Democratic Party leader Tom Mulcair of his resignation of the seat of Outremont on August 3, 2018 to accept an academic position,[23][24] the announcement by NDP MP Kennedy Stewart of his resignation of the seat of Burnaby South on September 17 to run for Mayor of Vancouver,[25][26] and the announcement by Conservative MP Peter Van Loan of his resignation of the seat of York—Simcoe on September 30, 2018.[27][28]

A further vacancy occurred due to the resignation on January 2, 2019, of Sheila Malcolmson (NDP, Nanaimo—Ladysmith) to enter provincial politics.[29] However, the government announced that no federal by-election would be called in the riding before the provincial by-election held on January 30, 2019, in order to avoid an "overlap".[30]

The writ for a by-election must be dropped no sooner than 11 days and no later than 180 days after the Chief Electoral Officer is officially notified of a vacancy via a warrant issued by the Speaker. Under the Canada Elections Act, the minimum length of a campaign is 36 days between dropping the writ and election day.[31]

Due to the passage of Bill C-76 which made an amendment[32] to the Parliament of Canada Act that took effect January 19, 2019[33] no writ for the election of a member of the House shall be issued if the vacancy occurs less than nine months before the date fixed under the Canada Elections Act for the next general election. As a result, the cut-off date for a vacancy to cause a by-election for the 42nd Parliament was January 21, 2019. Any vacancies that occurred after that date were not filled until the next federal election on October 21, 2019.[34][35]

Nicola Di Iorio (Liberal, Saint-Léonard—Saint-Michel) resigned on January 29, 2019,[35][36][37][38][39] eight days after the deadline for a vacancy to occur and cause a by-election. Raj Grewal (Brampton East) had announced on November 23, 2018 that he intended to resign his seat due to a gambling addiction but later announced, on November 30, that he was resigning from the Liberal caucus but would keep his seat as an Independent for the time being.[40] On January 25, 2019, he announced that he would keep his seat in parliament until the next federal election in October.[41]

  1. ^ "Byelection date set for Alberta following death of Conservative MP". Toronto Star. September 18, 2016. Retrieved April 4, 2017.
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference Apr3 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference heritage_candidates was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference TorStar_Kenney was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference kenney was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ Fekete, Jason (August 22, 2016). "Quitting federal politics, Stephen Harper and Jason Kenney will get multimillion-dollar pensions". National Post. Retrieved April 4, 2017.
  7. ^ Cite error: The named reference Jan2017shuffle was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  8. ^ Cite error: The named reference Dion-McCallum-Farewell was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  9. ^ Cite error: The named reference McCallum was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  10. ^ Cite error: The named reference Dion was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  11. ^ Levitz, Stephanie (May 15, 2017). "Interim Conservative Leader Rona Ambrose announces retirement from federal politics". Global Edmonton. The Canadian Press. Retrieved May 16, 2017.
  12. ^ Cite error: The named reference lac-saint-jean was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  13. ^ Cite error: The named reference ecsep was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  14. ^ "Prime Minister of Canada announces by-elections". Prime Minister of Canada. November 5, 2017. Retrieved May 13, 2018.
  15. ^ Cite error: The named reference chanobit was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  16. ^ Cochrane, David (August 23, 2017). "Judy Foote steps down from federal cabinet". CBC News. Retrieved August 24, 2017.
  17. ^ "Conservative MP Dianne Watts announces bid for B.C. Liberal leadership". CTV News Vancouver. The Canadian Press. September 24, 2017. Retrieved September 24, 2017.
  18. ^ Cite error: The named reference Ritz was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  19. ^ "Quebec member of Parliament Denis Lemieux resigns seat". CBC News. November 6, 2017. Retrieved November 6, 2017.
  20. ^ "Profile - Lemieux, Denis". Lop.parl.ca. Retrieved May 13, 2018.
  21. ^ Cite error: The named reference :2 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  22. ^ Cite error: The named reference Snowdon-CIII was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  23. ^ Tasker, John Paul (December 18, 2017). "Former NDP leader Tom Mulcair leaving federal politics in June". CBC News. Retrieved December 22, 2017.
  24. ^ "Mulcair resigns as an MP, putting Montreal seat up for grabs". CTV News. August 3, 2018. Retrieved August 3, 2018.
  25. ^ Cite error: The named reference Kennedy Stewart was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  26. ^ Cite error: The named reference Aug 2 tweet was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  27. ^ "Peter Van Loan, former House Leader under Stephen Harper, retiring". Toronto Star. Canadian Press. July 29, 2018. Retrieved July 29, 2018.
  28. ^ Tunney, Catherine (January 9, 2019). "Trudeau calls byelections for 3 seats, including B.C. riding sought by NDP's Singh". CBC News. Retrieved January 10, 2019.
  29. ^ Cite error: The named reference Malcolmson was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  30. ^ Kines, Lindsay (January 9, 2019). "No federal byelection in Nanaimo-Ladysmith until provincial vote done". Times Colonist. Victoria, B.C. Retrieved February 26, 2022.
  31. ^ "Journalists vying for seat in Commons shows politics changing: Spector". The Hill Times. August 12, 2013. Archived from the original on December 16, 2014. Retrieved August 12, 2013.
  32. ^ "Section 378 of the Elections Modernization Act (S.C. 2018, c. 31)". Retrieved January 21, 2019.
  33. ^ Per "section 401 of the Elections Modernization Act (S.C. 2018, c. 31)". Retrieved January 21, 2019. and the notice of coming into force published by the Chief Electoral Officer in the January 19, 2019 issue of the "Canada Gazette, Part I, Volume 153, Number 3: Parliament". January 19, 2019. Retrieved January 21, 2019. See also "Bringing Bill C-76 into Force". Elections Canada. Retrieved January 21, 2019.
  34. ^ "NDP MP's resignation leaves fourth federal riding vacant as Trudeau set to call three byelections". National Post. Canadian Press. January 2, 2018. Retrieved January 3, 2018.
  35. ^ a b "New Rules, Resignations Could Mean 2 Ridings Left Without MPS Until Fall". The Huffington Post Canada. January 3, 2019. Retrieved May 16, 2022.
  36. ^ "Liberal MP Nicola Di Iorio resigns Montreal seat". CBC News. January 29, 2019. Retrieved January 9, 2022.
  37. ^ "Liberal MP Nicola Di Iorio announces resignation after parliament absence". Global News. November 6, 2018. Retrieved January 9, 2022.
  38. ^ Cossette, Marc-André (April 25, 2018). "Liberal MP Nicola Di Iorio resigns, citing family reasons". CBC News. Retrieved April 25, 2018.
  39. ^ Parisis, Quentin (September 18, 2018). "Le député Di Iorio change d'idée et terminera son mandat". Journal Metro (in Canadian French). Retrieved September 21, 2018.
  40. ^ "MP Raj Grewal remaining MP for now, addresses allegations of ethical breaches". CBC News. Retrieved December 1, 2018.
  41. ^ "Former Liberal Raj Grewal says he's staying on as MP following gambling debt admission". CBC News. January 25, 2019. Retrieved January 9, 2022.