Not one, not two, but six federal byelections were called on Sunday, as Prime Minister Mark Carney decided to drop the writ to fill all six vacancies that are currently in the House of Commons.
Voters will go to the polls in three ridings in Quebec, two in Ontario and one in Saskatchewan on December 7, giving Canadians some mini-midterms of their own.
Those ridings are:
Quebec: Laurier—Sainte-Marie, Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie and Saint-Hyacinthe—Bagot—Acton
Ontario: Brantford—Brant South and Scarborough North
Saskatchewan: Yorkton—Melville
It’s actually a rare treat for six byelections to be held on the same day — it’s the most simultaneous byelections in over 20 years. Seven byelections were held on May 13, 2002 in six seats held by the Liberals and one by the Canadian Alliance. The night didn’t go so well for the Liberals, though, as they lost two of their six seats.
That probably won’t happen this time. The Liberals are only defending two seats (Laurier—Sainte-Marie and Scarborough North) and are very likely to hold them both. Instead, the pressure will be on the opposition parties to hold what they’ve got. The Bloc and NDP are defending one seat apiece in Quebec (Saint-Hyacinthe—Bagot—Acton and Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie, respectively), while the Conservatives are the incumbents in Brantford—Brant South and Yorkton—Melville. Of those four opposition-held ridings, only one can truly be said to be safe.
And even then…
So, where do these byelection contests stand on Day 1?