Voters in Toronto handed the federal Liberals two decisive byelection wins Monday, pushing the party to a coveted majority.
Liberal candidate Danielle Martin, a physician and academic, won the riding of University-Rosedale.
Doly Begum, who served as deputy leader of the Ontario NDP just months ago, won Scarborough Southwest as a federal Liberal candidate.
The wins in Toronto restored two seats won by high-profile Liberal candidates in last year’s general election but lost through their resignations. In University-Rosedale, former finance minister Chrystia Freeland resigned to take an advisory position with the government of Ukraine. Former Defence Minister Bill Blair gave up his seat in Scarborough Southwest to take up a post as Canada’s high commissioner to the U.K.
The resignations of Freeland and Blair dragged down the seat count for the Liberals, who won 169 seats in last year’s election. But the Liberal managed to beef up their count to 171 through five floor-crossings – four from the Conservatives and one from the NDP.
Tonight’s wins bring their total to 173, enough for the Liberals to push through their agenda without help from other parties and avoid the constant threat of an election. A third byelection in the Quebec riding of Terrebonne was too close to call Monday evening.
University-Rosedale
With almost a third of the vote counted, Martin had 63 per cent of the vote in University-Rosedale.
“As of tonight, Mark Carney and our entire incredible Liberal team have earned an even more powerful mandate to continue building a better Canada,” Martin said after being introduced to raucous applause by former MP Bob Rae.
She added that the win “is a mandate to get to work on housing, on affordability, on health care and climate change and infrastructure, on the future of our economy and the public services that are more important to this country than ever.”
She told supporters she heard at doorsteps that voters were concerned about both “the end of the month,” referring to affordability, and “the end of the world,” referring to global instability.
Martin was up against NDP candidate Serena Purdy, a health scholar and community organizer, who had around 19.5 per cent of the voted as of 10 p.m. Conservative Don Hodgson garnered around 12.8 per cent and Andrew Massey, a technical writer who ran for the Green Party, got around three per cent.
Martin will represent a traditionally affluent riding with a fast-growing population, including 40 per cent who are immigrants.
Early results showed her win strikingly close to the 2025 results. The Liberals won the seat last year with 64 per cent of the vote.
Scarborough Southwest
Begum handily defeated her competitors in Scarborough Southwest with 69.9 per cent in early results. Former middle school teacher Diana Filipova, who ran for the Conservatives, garnered 18.4 per cent, while NDP candidate Fatima Shaban got six per cent, and Green candidate Pooja Malhotra came in with 2.5 per cent.
Last year the Liberals won the seat with 61 per cent of the vote.
All four major party candidates were both women and immigrants, reflecting the population in an immigrant-heavy riding where 64 per cent of the population identify as visible minorities.
“I stand here tonight deeply humbled and honoured by the love and kindness you have shown me,” Begum told supporters to loud applause in a speech with nods to spirituality and religion.
Begum promised to fight for religious harmony and to represent constituents of all backgrounds, including those that didn’t vote for her.
“I am also here to represent you too. Your voices matter and your concerns matter. I hear you, and I will work hard every single day to earn your trust. I will always fight so that families can get ahead and not just get by,” she said.
She also vowed to fight for better transit in her riding “because Scarborough deserves to be connected and supported.”
Liberals have focused on housing and transit promises in Toronto
While local issues were not a strong factor in the byelections, the Liberals have given Toronto voters several carrots in recent weeks.
Those include a recent announcement about temporarily slashing development charges and HST from new homes in Ontario, as well as a commitment to help fund waterfront transit in Toronto and state-of-good-repair for the TTC.
Carney has also enjoyed good relations with the other two levels of government in his first year in office.
While Premier Doug Ford did not endorse a candidate in the byelections, he said last week that he and Carney have been working “extremely well” together on issues that affect the province.
Mayor Olivia Chow did not endorse a candidate, but she was at the housing announcement with the two men just weeks ago, the three of them beaming at the podium together.
Voter turnout
Activity around polling stations was relatively sluggish Monday, with polling staff reporting that it was busier during advance voting. However official voter turnout for the byelections is not yet known.
Voters in advance polls cast 10,300 ballots in Scarborough Southwest and 9,400 in University-Rosedale.
While federal byelections in the city are over for now, voters in Scarbrough Southwest will be heading to the polls again in a provincial byelection to fill the seat Begum vacated when she stepped aside to run for the Liberals. Premier Doug Ford has not called a date for that byelection yet.
With files from CTV News
