Canada Liberals Closer to Majority Govt03/11 06:19

   

   TORONTO (AP) -- Another opposition lawmaker in Canada has defected to Prime 
Minister Mark Carney's governing Liberals, all but assuring he will soon have a 
majority government.

   Opposition New Democratic interim leader Don Davies said in a statement late 
Tuesday he was very disappointed Member of Parliament Lori ldlout has decided 
to join the Liberals.

   That puts the Liberals closer to having a majority government and being able 
to pass any bill without opposition party support.

   Liberal Cabinet minister Sean Fraser welcomed ldlout to the party in a 
social media post.

   Three opposition Conservative members also defected to Carney's Liberals in 
recent months.

   With another lawmaker decamping from the leftist New Democratic party, the 
Liberals would have 170 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.

   A spokeswoman for Carney did not immediately respond to a message seeking 
comment. A message left at Idlout's office was not immediately returned.

   Carney has called special elections for three districts that would give the 
Liberals a majority government if his party wins two of them.

   The prime minister announced 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 Conservative Members of Parliament who defected from their party 
to join the Liberals in recent months were Chris d'Entremont, Michael Ma and 
Matt Jeneroux.

   Jeneroux referenced Carney's speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos 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, upstaging U.S. President Donald Trump at the 
gathering.

   Carney has moved the Liberals to the center since replacing Justin Trudeau 
as prime minister in 2025 and winning national elections.

   "A year after becoming PM, Carney is an enduringly popular politician at 
home and, especially after his high-profile January 20 Davos speech, an 
increasingly prominent leader on the world stage," said Daniel Bland, a 
political science professor at McGill University in Montreal.

   "Mark Carney's Liberals have found a way to attract both Conservative and 
NDP Members of Parliament to their caucus, a reality that points to the current 
political effectiveness of the Prime Minister's centrist approach in a context 
of ongoing domestic anxieties over the economy and trade, including and 
especially with regard to Canada-US relations," Bland said in an email.