Liberals one seat shy of a majority as Conservative MP Marilyn Gladu crosses the floor

Longtime Conservative MP Marilyn Gladu is crossing the floor to the Liberals, putting Prime Minister Mark Carney’s government a single seat shy of a majority.

The Liberals announced Gladu is joining their ranks in a statement Wednesday morning.

“The past year has been like no other that Canada has ever faced, and I’ve heard clearly from constituents that you want serious leadership and a real plan to build a stronger and more independent Canadian economy,” Gladu wrote in a statement.

“That is why I have decided to join Carney and Canada’s new government as the newest member of his caucus,” she added.

Gladu is a longtime Conservative who has held several opposition critic roles. In 2020, she announced her bid for the Conservative leadership, but was disqualified when the party deemed her ineligible.

Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, Carney said he is “very much looking forward to working with Marilyn,” adding that she “brings tremendous experience” as an engineer and businesswoman.

• IN PICTURES: Canadian politicians who crossed the floor or left their party

She has represented the Southwestern Ontario riding of Sarnia—Lambton—Bkejwanong for the Conservatives since 2015. The riding is a major producer of oil and gas in Canada, and the petrochemical industry is one of the region’s largest employers.

Gladu has faced criticism for controversial comments

In 2021, Gladu apologized for comments she made about the COVID-19 pandemic that were deemed misinformation. During an interview on CTV Question Period, she compared COVID-19 to the polio disease that spread in the first half of the 20th century, and said the coronavirus doesn’t pose the same “frequency of risk.”

She made those comments to then-CTV Question Period host Evan Solomon, who is now the artificial intelligence minister, and was present on Wednesday when Carney welcomed her in as his newest caucus member.

According to a government source, Solomon has had “lots of productive conversations” with Gladu, who he’s known for a long time.

Gladu was also a vocal supporter of the 2022 trucker convoy that gridlocked downtown Ottawa for three weeks, meeting and dining with the protestors and calling on former prime minister Justin Trudeau to meet with them as well.

Questions have also been raised about her socially conservative views on abortion and LGBTQ2S+ issues.

Now, Gladu’s floor-crossing is raising eyebrows.

In a post on X Wednesday, Conservative MP Adam Chambers wrote: “Does Liberal caucus still have a vaccine mandate? Asking for a friend.”

Also in a post on X, Supriya Dwivedi, Trudeau’s former senior advisor, wrote: “Guys maybe we should all re-read (Carney’s book) Values, it’s possible we all missed the part where Carney said we don’t need to actually have any.”

NDP women and gender equity critic Leah Gazan also released a statement on Gladu’s announcement Wednesday, writing that the newest Liberal caucus member is “known as a far-right social conservative.”

“It is outrageous but not surprising that in his drive to stitch together a majority government, Prime Minister Mark Carney is further sacrificing long-held Liberal positions on issues of fundamental rights,” Gazan wrote.

Speaking to reporters in Terrebonne, Que., on Wednesday, Bloc Quebecois Leader Yves-François Blanchet said the ideological gap between the Liberals and Conservatives is narrowing, and credited his own party as “the only party that still stands strongly with the population, who supports this idea that there is a problem called climate change.”

“Each day that passes demonstrates that the ideological differences between the Liberals and the Conservatives are getting thinner and thinner by the minute,” Blanchet said. “If you are a progressive Liberal in that Liberal caucus, you must start asking yourself, ‘who the hell is talking for me in that caucus, in that party.’”

According to the government source who spoke with CTV News Wednesday, Gladu plans to address her controversial statements and has been “frank and open” about them with the prime minister.

The source said Liberals have promised to unite the country, and that “unity doesn’t mean uniformity.”

Liberals one seat shy of majority

She is the fifth MP to join the Liberal ranks in as many months, and the fourth Conservative.

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre has accused Carney of “backroom deals” to lure his caucus members over to the Liberal ranks.

In a statement on X Wednesday, Poilievre said Gladu should “honour her word” by resigning her seat so a byelection can be held in her riding.

“The people in her community voted for our Conservative vision of a Canada that is affordable, safe, and strong at home, not for the costly Liberal government she has now joined,” Poilievre wrote.

In January, she told a local news outlet in her riding, The Independent, that she agrees a byelection should be called for any MP who wishes to cross the floor.

The Liberals have hovered around the 172-seat threshold for a majority government since last April’s general election. Despite some former Trudeau-era cabinet ministers picking up diplomat posts and resigning their seats, the Liberals have made up the difference in a stream of floor-crossers since November, putting them at 171 seats as of Wednesday.

There are three byelections set for Monday, and the Liberals are expected to hold onto their stronghold seats in Toronto: University—Rosedale, and Scarborough Southwest.

Carney is also hoping to pick up a seat in Terrebonne, where the Supreme Court of Canada invalidated last year’s general election result, after the Liberals won by a single vote and it was later reported a mail-in ballot for the Bloc wasn’t counted.

Locals stunned by Gladu decision

Constituents in Gladu’s riding expressed shock about her decision when speaking with CTV News London on Wednesday.

Sarnia Mayor Mike Bradley said that of the list of potential Conservatives to cross the floor, Gladu was “at the bottom” of his list.

“She has a long history of being very strong in attacking the Liberals, whether it be Trudeau or Carney, and was very involved with the ‘Freedom Convoy’ during that incident in Ottawa,” Bradley said. “So it’s a stunning surprise.”

Michelle Anderson, who stood outside Gladu’s constituency office holding a flag that read “Poilievre 2025, Bring it home” said she thought there was “absolutely no way” the longtime MP would cross the floor.

“So now I’m wondering, why did she cross? What did Carney give her?” she said, adding that Gladu owes her constituents an explanation.

“We overwhelmingly vote Conservative in this riding … just doesn’t make any sense. We wanted change,” Anderson also said, suggesting Gladu has either been “lying” for the last decade, or is today.

Gladu was re-elected in 2025 with 53.1 per cent of the vote in her riding, securing 40,597 votes. The Liberal candidate who placed second had 37.9 per cent of the vote, with 28,940 votes.

With files from CTV News’ Rachel Aiello and Stephanie Ha