Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney smiles during a press conference after the 2025 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Economic Leaders’ Meeting in Gyeongju on Nov. 1, 2025. (Jung Yeon-je – AFP / Getty Images)
By Brooklynn Robinson September 1, 2026 at 3:23pm
Mark Carney’s Liberals swept three special elections Monday, and they did it by running against the United States.
They held Beaches-East York in Toronto and North Vancouver-Capilano in British Columbia.
They also flipped Chicoutimi-Le Fjord in Quebec, a Conservative seat since 2018.
The Associated Press said the elections helped to confirm Carney’s stand against President Donald Trump.
Carney said voters expressed trust in “our government’s plan.” Liberal MP Hedy Fry told CBC that America was “getting a message.”
The message is that picking a fight with Washington still sells in Canada.
Trade talks died Aug. 21. The United States put 50 percent tariffs on about $20 billion in Canadian goods after talks failed, and Ottawa answered with tariffs of its own.
Do you think Trump will get the best of Canada in the current trade standoff?
Trump has needled Canada as a 51st state and renamed Lake Ontario “Lake America.” Carney has used that as fuel: Europe first, less dependence on the American customer who actually buys Canadian aluminum and dairy.
But Quebec is not a campus protest district. It is plants and farms in the crosshairs of the trade war.
Conservatives collapsed to about 13 percent and third place there, the Associated Press reported.
Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilievre was supposed to be the adult alternative. Voters in that riding chose the Davos banker who would rather lecture Trump than close a deal.
By-elections are small. Two seats were already Liberal.
This was not a national referendum. It was a warning.
The one seat that should have punished Carney rewarded him instead. Anti-Trump politics is not a Liberal hobby. It is a turnout machine.
Carney now has 173 seats in a 343-seat House. He has a majority and no reason to blink.
Canada has lived for decades under the American security umbrella while lecturing Americans about manners. When Trump treats the relationship like a contract instead of a charity, Ottawa calls it an attack on sovereignty.
Canadian voters just said they like that script.
Anyone in Washington waiting for a thaw is waiting for a country that just voted against one.
Carney will keep the feud. His base likes it. The border will stay cold until Canadians decide prosperity matters more than spite.
But Monday was not that day.
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