By-election wins strengthen Canadian leader domestically as he defends against Trump’s tariffs
2-MIN READ2-MIN ListenAgence France-PressePublished: 2:25pm, 1 Sep 2026Updated: 2:40pm, 1 Sep 2026Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney’s party swept to victory in special elections on Monday, boosting the leader’s parliamentary majority as a trade war with the United States escalates.
Carney’s Liberal Party secured three seats, taking the district of Chicoutimi-Le Fjord in French-speaking Quebec from the opposition Conservatives, and two other districts in Ontario and British Columbia that were previously held by the Liberals.
Carney congratulated the winning candidates in a post on X, saying that voters had “placed their trust” in the government “at this consequential time for Canada”.
“Canada is being tested in a changing world, and Canadians are up for it,” he wrote.
Relations between former close allies the United States and Canada have soured after trade talks collapsed last month, with Carney saying US negotiators sought restrictions on his country’s trade pacts with other nations.
US officials made unacceptable “threats” to the French language and “Quebec culture” too, he added.
After Washington slapped Canada with 50 per cent duties, Ottawa announced counter-tariffs of its own.
