PM Carney will ‘absolutely not’ prorogue parliament after byelections

Prime Minister Mark Carney has swatted down suggestions that he might prorogue parliament following three byelections happening this month.

At a press conference Tuesday in Wakefield, Que., Carney said, “absolutely not.”

“It is never even entered my thinking, the possibility of that,” said Carney. “So I couldn’t have been more surprised to see a suggestion that that was under consideration.”

The byelections are set for April 13, with two in Liberal strongholds in the Toronto area, and one in Terrebonne — a contested Quebec riding north of Montreal by the Bloc Québécois.

If the Liberal party manage to hold the two Toronto seats, they will have 172 MPs.

In that scenario, the House Speaker, Liberal MP Francis Scarpaleggia, could vote in a tie breaker to pass motions — but only under certain conditions.

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That means the Liberals need to win the seat in Terrebonne to clinch the extra vote they would need to effectively govern with a majority.

The byelections were called after former MP Bill Blair stepped down to become Canada’s high commissioner to the U.K., and after Chrystia Freeland left for roles outside of the country.

The Supreme Court of Canada also invalidated last year’s election result from Terrebonne — which was won by just one vote.

The result was disputed because Elections Canada had put an incorrect return address on some mail-in ballots, which were never counted.

With files from The Canadian Press.

READ MORE: Mark Carney calls byelections for Ontario, Quebec ridings in April