TORONTO (AP) 鈥� Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney has attracted Conservative lawmaker to the Liberal Party, further assuring that he will soon have a majority government.
Ontario Member of Parliament Marilyn Gladu alluded to U.S. President Donald Trump鈥檚 threats to Canada鈥檚 sovereignty and economy for her decision to defect to the governing Liberals. Trump has talked about making Canada the and has applied punishing tariffs on certain key sectors.
鈥淲e need a serious leader who can address the uncertainty that has arrived due to the unjustified American tariffs,鈥� Gladu said Wednesday, alongside Carney in his office.
鈥淲e need a global leader with a plan to make a more resilient Canada, a stronger Canada, a more self-reliant Canada, for this critical moment and that man is our prime minister Mark Carney.鈥�
Gladu is the fifth Canadian lawmaker to defect to Carney and the fourth Conservative. She called it a 鈥渓arge Liberal tent鈥� and said that she’d rather be inside it than outside.
鈥淪he is going to be a great member of our team,鈥� Carney said. 鈥淭his all comes at a time when the country as a whole is uniting.鈥�
Her defection puts the Liberals on the verge of having a and being able to pass any bill without opposition party support.
The Liberals now have 171 Members of Parliament in the House of Commons. They need 172 to secure a majority government, which would allow them to unilaterally pass any bill.
Carney has for three districts for Monday that would give the Liberals a majority government if his party wins one of them.
The prime minister announced on March 8 that votes will be cast April 13 in the Toronto-area districts of Scarborough Southwest and University-Rosedale, which are considered safe seats for the Liberals, and in the Montreal-area riding of Terrebonne, which is considered a toss-up.
The three other Conservative legislators who to join the Liberals in recent months were Chris d鈥橢ntremont, Michael Ma and Matt Jeneroux. One member of the leftist New Democrats party, Lori Idlout, also defected to the Liberals.
Jeneroux referenced Carney鈥檚 in Davos, Switzerland, as helping his decision. In the speech, Carney condemned economic coercion by great powers against smaller countries and received widespread praise and attention for his remarks.
Carney, the former head of the Bank of England as well as Canada’s central bank, has moved the Liberals to the center-right since replacing as prime minister in 2025 and winning a national election.
Gladu’s defection is another blow to Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre, who lost the previous national election last year and even his own seat in Parliament. He has since rejoined the House of Commons.
Poilievre won a earlier this year, but continues to have problems controlling his lawmakers.
鈥淢ark Carney is seizing a costly Liberal majority that voters denied him, and doing so through backroom deals,鈥� Poilievre said in a post on social media.
Poilievre said that in January, Gladu said that floor crossers should face voters in a special election to give voters the final say.
鈥淪he should honor her word and let voters decide,鈥� he posted.
Gladu, the member of Parliament for Sarnia-Lambton near the U.S. border, served as the Ontario co-chair for Poilievre鈥檚 2022 leadership campaign.
鈥淭his is stunning, not only because Gladu is the fourth Conversative member of Parliament to cross the floor to join the Carney Liberal caucus since the fall, but also because she had been a Conservative member of Parliament since 2015 and that she had strongly criticized the Liberals in the past,鈥� said Daniel B茅land, a political-science professor at McGill University in Montreal.
鈥淕ladu was not typically seen as one of the most likely Conservative MPs to jump ship at this time so it must be quite shocking for many Conservatives,” B茅land said.
He said that it will become harder and harder for Poilievre 鈥渢o hold on, especially because more floor crossings remain possible in the short run. Once the Liberals get a majority government, they could stay in power until 2029 without the need for a new general election.鈥�
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