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.
ROB GILLIES
Wed, April 8, 2026
The Canadian Press / AP
Prime Minister Mark Carney delivers some remarks as MP for Sarnia-Lambton-Bkejwanong Marilyn Gladu looks on during an event in his office in Ottawa, Wednesday, April 8, 2026. (Adrian Wyld /The Canadian Press via AP)
Prime Minister Mark Carney shakes hands with MP for Sarnia-Lambton-Bkejwanong Marilyn Gladu in Ottawa, Wednesday, April 8, 2026.
(Adrian Wyld /The Canadian Press via AP)
TORONTO (AP) — Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney has attracted another opposition 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’s threats to Canada’s sovereignty and economy for her decision to defect to the governing Liberals. Trump has talked about making Canada the 51st U.S. state and has applied punishing tariffs on certain key sectors.
“We need a serious leader who can address the uncertainty that has arrived due to the unjustified American tariffs,” Gladu said Wednesday, alongside Carney in his office.
“We 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.”
Gladu is the fifth Canadian lawmaker to defect to Carney and the fourth Conservative. She called it a “large Liberal tent” and said that she'd rather be inside it than outside.
“She is going to be a great member of our team,” Carney said. “This all comes at a time when the country as a whole is uniting.”
Her defection puts the Liberals on the verge of having a majority government 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 called special elections 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 defected from their party to join the Liberals in recent months were Chris d’Entremont, Michael Ma and Matt Jeneroux. One member of the leftist New Democrats party, Lori Idlout, also defected to the Liberals.
Jeneroux referenced Carney’s speech at the World Economic Forum 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 Justin Trudeau 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 party leadership review earlier this year, but continues to have problems controlling his lawmakers.
“Mark Carney is seizing a costly Liberal majority that voters denied him, and doing so through backroom deals,” 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.
“She should honor her word and let voters decide,” he posted.
Gladu, the member of Parliament for Sarnia-Lambton near the U.S. border, served as the Ontario co-chair for Poilievre’s 2022 leadership campaign.
“This 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,” said Daniel Béland, a political-science professor at McGill University in Montreal.
“Gladu 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," Béland said.
Canada's Carney on verge of majority government after another opposition member joins ruling Liberals
TORONTO (AP) — Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney has attracted another opposition 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’s threats to Canada’s sovereignty and economy for her decision to defect to the governing Liberals. Trump has talked about making Canada the 51st U.S. state and has applied punishing tariffs on certain key sectors.
“We need a serious leader who can address the uncertainty that has arrived due to the unjustified American tariffs,” Gladu said Wednesday, alongside Carney in his office.
“We 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.”
Gladu is the fifth Canadian lawmaker to defect to Carney and the fourth Conservative. She called it a “large Liberal tent” and said that she'd rather be inside it than outside.
“She is going to be a great member of our team,” Carney said. “This all comes at a time when the country as a whole is uniting.”
Her defection puts the Liberals on the verge of having a majority government 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 called special elections 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 defected from their party to join the Liberals in recent months were Chris d’Entremont, Michael Ma and Matt Jeneroux. One member of the leftist New Democrats party, Lori Idlout, also defected to the Liberals.
Jeneroux referenced Carney’s speech at the World Economic Forum 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 Justin Trudeau 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 party leadership review earlier this year, but continues to have problems controlling his lawmakers.
“Mark Carney is seizing a costly Liberal majority that voters denied him, and doing so through backroom deals,” 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.
“She should honor her word and let voters decide,” he posted.
Gladu, the member of Parliament for Sarnia-Lambton near the U.S. border, served as the Ontario co-chair for Poilievre’s 2022 leadership campaign.
“This 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,” said Daniel Béland, a political-science professor at McGill University in Montreal.
“Gladu 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," Béland said.
Canada's Carney on verge of majority government after another opposition member joins ruling Liberals
By David Ljunggren and Maria Cheng
Wed, April 8, 2026
REUTERS
Canada's Prime Minister Mark Carney looks on before making an announcement at the new and currently under construction Embleton Community Centre and Park, in Brampton, Ontario, Canada, April 7, 2026. REUTERS/Carlos Osorio
FILE PHOTO: Marilyn Gladu, a Conservative member of parliament at the time, holds a Tim Hortons cup as she arrives at a national caucus meeting on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada January 24, 2020. REUTERS/Blair Gable/File Photo
OTTAWA, April 8 (Reuters) - A Canadian opposition legislator defected to the ruling Liberal Party on Wednesday, leaving Prime Minister Mark Carney on the verge of a parliamentary majority that would make it easier to push through his agenda.
The centrist Liberals, governing with a minority after the April 2025 election, need opposition support to pass key legislation. Carney says he needs a majority to deal with U.S. President Donald Trump's trade measures.
The prime minister welcomed the defection by Marilyn Gladu - a longstanding member of the right-leaning Conservatives - saying it would help the government at a time of global uncertainty.
Gladu is the fourth Conservative legislator to defect to the Liberals since November. A member of the small left-leaning New Democratic Party joined the Liberals last month.
"We 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," Gladu said during a meeting with Carney.
The Liberals now have 171 seats in the 343-seat House of Commons, one short of a majority, and look set to gain at least two more in special elections due to be held on Monday to fill vacant seats.
Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre accused Carney of "seizing a costly Liberal majority that voters denied him, and doing so through backroom deals." He said in a statement that Gladu should step down and face voters in a special election.
Only the governments led by John A. Macdonald and Jean Chretien have seen more politicians defect to the ruling party, including five legislators who joined Macdonald, Canada's first prime minister, in a single day in 1869.
Semra Sevi, an assistant professor of political science at the University of Toronto, said the number of defections to Carney's government was "extraordinary by any historical measure."
"Switching in the 19th century occurred in a system where party labels barely registered with voters," Sevi said in an email. In the modern era, she said the number of politicians from opposition parties who have now jumped to Carney's government "is without precedent at this rate and in this compressed a timeframe."
A majority would open the way to Carney serving until October 2029.
According to Nanos polling from late last month, Carney was the preferred prime minister of 54.5% of Canadians, with Poilievre scoring 22.9%. Carney has said he has no plans to call an early election.
The latest defection will put more pressure on Poilievre, who survived a leadership review in January after he blew a large lead and lost the 2025 election. The party was not immediately available for comment.
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