By Paul Vieira
OTTAWA--Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney has secured a majority government, cementing his hold on power after electoral victories Monday night and defections to his Liberal Party caucus over the past six months.
The political developments give Carney a freer hand to aggressively pursue a policy agenda aimed at rebuilding a struggling Canadian economy, through increasing exports to non-U.S. markets, accelerating infrastructure and resource projects, and stabilizing public finances. With a majority of the seats in the federal legislature, the governing Liberals can pass legislation without cutting side deals with opposition parties and can wait until 2029 to call an election.
The Liberals won an election roughly a year ago, but fell just short of a majority mandate.
Based on early results, the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. had projected the Liberals victorious in one special election to fill a vacant electoral district in Toronto. The Liberals also have a sizable lead in a second special vote, also in a Toronto district.
Based on those results, the Liberals hold 173 seats, or just over half of the 343 in the national legislature. The last time Canada had a majority government was in 2019, or at the end of former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's first term.
A third special election in a northern Montreal suburb, also vacant, was too close to call.
Write to Paul Vieira at paul.vieira@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
04-13-26 2205ET
