Voters are gearing up for the eighth federal byelection set to take place between August 31 and mid-April following the announcement of Ontario Conservative MP Larry Brock’s impending departure. Elected in 2021 to represent the Brantford–Brant South riding in southwestern Ontario, Brock disclosed his decision to leave the House of Commons to assume a new role at the Crown attorney’s office in Brantford, Ont.
Brock is one of three Conservative MPs resigning this summer, alongside Saskatchewan MP Cathay Wagantall who will step down at the end of the month, and Quebec’s Richard Martel who has been appointed to the Senate. Byelections are scheduled for the end of the month in Martel’s riding of Chicoutimi–Le Fjord, as well as in North Vancouver–Capilano and Beaches–East York in Toronto.
The races in North Vancouver–Capilano and Beaches–East York aim to fill the vacancies left by former Liberal cabinet ministers Jonathan Wilkinson and Nate Erskine-Smith. Wilkinson vacated his seat to assume the role of Canada’s ambassador to the European Union in Brussels, while Erskine-Smith pursued an unsuccessful venture into Ontario politics.
Earlier this summer, Bloc Québécois MP Simon-Pierre Savard-Tremblay resigned to contest the Parti Québécois in the upcoming Quebec election on October 5. The Saint-Hyacinthe–Bagot–Acton seat, left vacant by Savard-Tremblay, remains the sole federal seat without a scheduled byelection.
According to the regulations, a byelection must be called by the prime minister within 11 to 180 days after a seat becomes vacant, with formal campaigns lasting between 36 and 50 days. As a result, the voting for a byelection must occur between 47 days and seven months following the vacancy of a seat, pending the formal resignation of the MP.
Current Independent and former NDP MP Alexandre Boulerice is contesting for Québec solidaire in the provincial election but has yet to relinquish his Montreal seat. Meanwhile, former Liberal cabinet minister Steven Guilbeault, who announced his resignation as a Montreal MP on May 27, is set to step down on August 28. Brock has indicated his resignation date as September 18.
The House of Commons is slated to reconvene from its summer recess on September 21.
