Voters are set to head to the polls on Monday in three federal by-elections with the trade war between Canada and the U.S. expected to be a key factor on many people’s minds.
Votes are taking place in British Columbia, Ontario and a third in Quebec following the resignations and departures of their MPs.
In B.C., the Liberals are hoping to hold on to North Vancouver-Capilano, which they’ve held since 2015. Most recently, it belonged to long-time MP and minister Jonathan Wilkinson who left to take on the role of Canada’s ambassador to the European Union.
Over the years, Wilkinson served as minister of Fisheries, Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard, minister of Environment and Climate Change and, in his last role, as minister of Energy and Natural Resources. He was dropped from cabinet following the 2025 federal election.
Braeden Caley, Prime Minister Mark Carney’s former deputy chief of staff and a senior staff member of his election campaign, is returning to his home province to run for the party.
Stephen Curran, a commercial lawyer who ran against Wilkinson last year, is returning to run for the Conservatives. He has run attack ads on social media against Caley, challenging his connection to the community.
Carrying the orange banner for the NDP is Stephen Tweedale. He is a party staffer for the local MLA, but could face an uphill battle as a federal candidate as the party received only four per cent of the vote in 2025 when the NDP’s support collapsed across the country.
Shelley Luce, an environmental scientist from the North Shore community, is running for the Green Party.
A few provinces away in Ontario, Nate Erskine-Smith’s former seat in Beaches-East York is up for grabs.
First elected in 2015, Erskine-Smith was known as a Liberal who could be outspoken against some of his own government’s decisions. He held a ministerial post briefly in the waning days of Justin Trudeau’s leadership and was kept on by Carney going into the 2025 election. He then returned to backbenches when Carney named his post-election cabinet.
The former MP is now running for Toronto city council after a failed attempt to be the candidate for the provincial Liberals in an upcoming byelection. He had also intended to also run for Ontario Liberal leadership but dropped those plans after a nomination contest loss.
Erskine-Smith’s former constituency office manager, Tanveer Shahnawaz, is running for the Liberals. He’ll face off against Shannon Devine for the NDP, who came in third in the 2025 vote. Jim Sybros is running for the Conservatives and Bruce Livesey is running for the Greens.
The third riding to watch will be in Chicoutimi-Le Fjord, which became vacant after Carney named Conservative MP Richard Martel to the Senate.
Martel won in 2025 by a small margin, edging out candidates from both the Bloc Quebecois and the Liberals.
Daniel Gobeil, a dairy farmer and former president of a provincial dairy association, is holding the flag for the Liberals. Lawyer and teacher Regis Gaudreault is running for the Conservatives to try and keep the seat in the party’s hands. Caroline Dube, who served as director of the office of Bloc MP Mario Simard, is running for the Bloc. Nathe Perrone is running for the Greens and Raphael Emond is carrying the NDP banner.
