Two key byelections today will test Canada’s party leaders

OTTAWA—Voters are heading to the polls to decide the outcome of two federal byelections, both of which will serve as tests for Canada’s main party leaders. The results of both races — one in Montreal’s LaSalle-Émard-Verdun and the other in Winnipeg’s Elmwood-Transcona — are expected late Monday night. The outcome of Montreal’s contest will likely land early Tuesday morning, due to an electoral reform protest movement that led to 91 names appearing on that riding’s ballot.

For Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, the question is whether the Liberals’ candidate, Montreal city councillor Laura Palestini, will be able to hold the party’s fortress in LaSalle-Émard-Verdun following a painful byelection loss to the Conservatives in a Toronto stronghold back in June. The race in Montreal has shaped up to be a three-way contest between Palestini, the NDP’s Craig Sauvé — also a local city councillor — and Louis-Philippe Sauvé, a former political staffer, running for the Bloc Québécois. The contest has created an opening for both the NDP’s Jagmeet Singh and the Bloc’s Yves-François Blanchet to prove that after an era of Liberal rule, the time is now for voters to switch allegiances.



But while the NDP has fought to define itself as the sole alternative to the Liberals in Montreal, in Winnipeg, Pierre Poilievre’s Conservatives are their chief rival. In the NDP bastion of Elmwood-Transcona, the party’s candidate Leila Dance has faced a strong challenge for the working-class vote from the Conservatives’ Colin Reynolds, testing whether voters will still flock to the New Democrats following their exit from Singh’s governing pact with the minority Liberals, or help Poilievre topple another stronghold. Trudeau called both byelections in July after former justice minister David Lametti, who had represented LaSalle-Émard-Verdun since its creation in 2015, left federal politics after he was dropped from cabinet last year.

Former NDP MP Daniel Blaikie triggered the race in Elmwood-Transcona after he left the federal NDP earlier this year to advise Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew. While no party is considering either race a surefire lock, each projected confidence in last-minute appeals to voters during the last two days of the campaign. Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland told reporters Monday that Palestini had the full support of her party, despite the Liberals’ Montreal campaign opting not to use any images of Trudeau in Palestini’s public signage, unlike other parties which all featured their leaders.

“We’ve just had a really good national caucus meeting, and I think all of us left that meeting absolutely committed to supporting Justin Trudeau as the leader of our government, as the leader of our party, and as the leader (to) lead our party in the next federal election,” Freeland said. Trudeau told a Montreal radio station on Friday that he would stay on as leader even if the Liberals were defeated, even though others in Liberal circles have signalled that calls for his resignation may resurface in the event of a loss. Those were sentiments Singh echoed on Monday, telling reporters it would be him leading the New Democrats into the next federal election, no matter his party’s byelection showing.

Earlier that morning, the Bloc’s Blanchet told residents of LaSalle-Émard-Verdun to vote for whoever they wanted — and to avoid getting caught up in the cynicism of politics. Even so, he noted that the Montreal riding is home to many seniors: the Bloc has said one of its top parliamentary priorities is seeking support for a private member’s bill that would boost pension payments for those aged 65 to 74. And in a video posted to social media on Sunday, Poilievre had his sights set on Elmwood-Transcona.

“Jagmeet Singh and Justin Trudeau are the same people. A vote for the NDP is a vote to keep Justin Trudeau and keep the carbon tax,” the Conservative leader said. “A vote for common sense Conservative candidate Colin Reynolds is a vote to fire Justin Trudeau and axe the tax.

” In Reynolds, a construction electrician who calls himself a “proud” union member, the Conservatives see a serious contender to the NDP’s Dance, the head of a local business development organization. Both have garnered union support during the summertime race. Dance has secured the backing of 13 labour leaders, including the business manager of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers 2085.

Reynolds, a member of that electrical workers’ union, has the support of IBEW Canada’s international vice president. Advanced voting for both races ended Sept. 9.

Polls close in Quebec at 9:30 p.m. eastern time and in Manitoba at 8:30 p.

m. central time..