Mark Carney calls 3 August byelections, including in Ontario

See more Toronto Sun on Google — save as a Preferred Source.

Prime Minister Mark Carney has called a trio of byelections, including one in Ontario.

The byelections in the ridings of Beaches—East York, B.C's North Vancouver—Capilano and Quebec's Chicoutimi—Le Fjord will be held on Aug. 31, according to a news release issued by the Prime Minister's Office on Sunday morning.

Candidates will vie to replace former Liberal MP Jonathan Wilkinson, who is now Canada's ambassador to the European Union, along with former Liberal MP Nate Erskine-Smith and former Conservative MP Richard Martel, who has been appointed to the Senate.

The seats in the ridings of Beaches—East York and B.C's North Vancouver—Capilano were most recently held by the Liberals.

Erskine-Smith, the Beaches—East York MP who was seeking the Ontario Liberal nomination in Scarborough Southwest, lost in May by 19 votes to Ahsanul Hafiz and at the time cast doubt on the nomination process. He said after the voting process that he "spoke with a few scrutineers already who said they've never seen anything like it and it's unreal what happened in there."

Interim Liberal Leader John Fraser, however, defended the nomination process in an interview with The Canadian Press, saying that "I know it was fair."

The Liberals need to win one of the races to maintain control of the House of Commons. The Liberals currently hold 172 of the 343 seats in the House. (House Speaker Francis Scarpaleggia votes only in a tie-breaker.) The Conservatives have 139, the Bloc Québécois 21, the NDP five and there is one Green MP.

Liberal cabinet minister Steven Guilbeault is stepping down on Aug. 28, so by the time MPs return from the summer break in late September, the Liberals are expected to be sitting at 170 seats.

With other vacancies factored in, the combined seat total of the opposition parties in late September is expected to be 165 seats.

The Carney Liberals claimed majority control in the House of Commons after sweeping three byelections in April, including holding on to two GTA ridings.

Under federal rules, the prime minister must officially call a byelection between 11 and 180 days after Elections Canada is formally notified of a vacancy by the Speaker of the House.