Trudeau calls byelections for 3 seats, including B.C. riding sought by NDP's Singh

Februarycould give Canadians a sneak peek at what's to come during the upcoming federal electionas voters in threeridings head to the polls for byelections.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced today that byelections for the ridings of YorkSimcoein Ontario,Outremontin QuebecandBurnaby South in B.C.will be held Feb. 25. The calls comefollowing oppositionclaims that the Liberals were deliberately delaying the byelections and leaving the ridings vacant.

NDP LeaderJagmeetSingh is hoping voters in B.C. will give him a seat in the House of Commons.

TheBurnabySouthbyelection vacated by former New Democrat MP Kennedy Stewart, now Vancouver's mayor will be a crucial test of Singh's leadership.

"The wait is finally over. Trudeau has called a byelection in Outremont and York Simcoe and here in Burnaby South," Singh told reporters in Vancouver Wednesday, adding that he and his wife have bought a home in the city.

Jagmeet Singh's by-election chances | Power Panel

5 years ago

Duration 9:43

Tina House, Amanda Alvaro, Kathleen Monk, Chris Hall and Tim Powers weigh in on NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh's chances in the Burnaby by-election.

Singh listed his priorities for both the riding and the nation new investments inhousing, health care and environmental protection and said that only the New Democrats can be trusted to deliver.

"Every issue you look at which matters to the people of Burnaby South, the options are clear," he said.

"You've got Liberals, status quo, telling people to wait. Conservatives are saying that these things don't matter and they are not ready to take the action that people need. Or New Democrats, who are in the corner of people, fighting for them."

Under his tenure, several NDPMPshave said they won't run in the fallfederal election or have already stepped aside. The party's fundraising performance is poor and it sits at 16.7 per cent support in CBC's Poll Tracker, an aggregation of all publicly available polling data.

Singh will be up against Liberal candidate and small business owner Karen Wang,the Conservatives'Jay Shin, a corporate lawyer, andformer talk show hostLaura-Lynn Tyler Thompson of the new People's Party of Canada.

Green Party Leader Elizabeth May has said her party will stand back and respect the "leader's courtesy" by not running a candidate against Singh.

Jagmeet Singh speaks to reporters as the PM calls three byelections

5 years ago

Duration 0:50

The NDP leader is running in the Burnaby South byelection

Meanwhile, in Quebec and Ontario

New Democrats also facea tough battle inOutremont, vacated by their former leader TomMulcairwhen he left politics this summer.The Montreal-area riding has hadsymbolic meaning for the party ever sinceMulcairtook the formerLiberal fortress in a breakout win back in 2007.

The upcoming byelection could serve as an opportunity to measure how Quebec voters view Singh. So far, the party's results in recent byelections have been underwhelming. The NDP finished a distant third in the June byelection in Chicoutimi-Le Fjord and fourth in the 2017 Lac-Saint-Jean contest.

Julia Sanchez, a political novice with a background in the humanitarian sector,will try to keep the riding orange while lawyerRachelBendayanwill carry the banner for the Liberals. Law studentJasmineLourasis running for the Conservative Party and the Greenshave tapped deputy leader Daniel Green to run for them.

There's no word yet on who is running for MaximeBernier'sparty.

The main political parties will also duke it out in the Ontario riding ofYork-Simcoe, now that Conservative MP and former cabinet minister Peter Van Loan has retired from politics.

Business ownerScot Davidson is hoping to keep thenorth-of-Toronto riding blue, while the NDP has nominated activist and community organizer Jessa McLean. The Liberals' nomination meeting is being held Saturday.

Another vacancy to fill

Today's announcementdoesn'taddress all the vacancies in the House of Commons.

Until recently, SheilaMalcolmsonheld theNanaimo-Ladysmithriding in B.C. for the NDP, but has left to run in a provincialbyelection.

A Liberal official told CBC News the government won't call the federalbyelectionthere until after the provincial race to replaceNanaimo MLA-turned-Mayor LeonardKrogis over on Jan. 30.

The Conservatives have already namedJohn Hirst, aSun Life Financial manager, as their candidate.

Meanwhile, Liberal Nicola DiIorio, who has been largely unseen on Parliament Hill since the House resumed sittingthis fall,has said he'll step downas the MP in Saint-LeonardSaint-Michel Jan. 22.

That timeline allowsTrudeau to avoid callinga byelection and to leave Di Iorio's seat vacant for the maximum time allowed nine months before the Oct. 21 general election.

Timing questioned

The government has come under fire from the other parties for not quickly calling thebyelections.

At a rally on the weekend, Singh accused Trudeau of delaying thebyelection, saying the prime minister has left constituents in B.C. without a voice in Ottawa for too long.

"This is a decision that impacts the bedrock of our democracy,"Singh told supporters Sunday.

Last week, Conservative Leader AndrewScheeraccused Trudeau of playing"political games" with his timing.

"Voters in these vacant seats deserve the chance to have their voices heard," saidScheerin a statement."Justin Trudeau needs to do the right thing, and immediately callbyelectionsin all vacant seats."