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Voters head to the polls for 3 federal byelections in Ontario, Quebec, B.C.

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Cite

Steven, B. L. (2026, August 31). Voters head to the polls for 3 federal byelections in Ontario, Quebec, B.C. CBC News. https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/canada-byelection-quebec-ontario-british-columbia-9.7325997?cmp=rss

Dated when The Aporia collected the article, usually within hours of publication. Check the original for its exact date and byline.

CBC News · collected 2026-08-31 · by Benjamin Lopez Steven

Quick Summary

Voters are heading to the polls today in three federal byelections in British Columbia, Quebec, and Ontario. The byelections will determine two seats that could give the Liberals control of the legislative agenda. According to CBC News' special coverage plans, the most competitive race is expected to be in Chicoutimi–Le Fjord, where polls suggest a toss-up between the Liberal and Bloc Québécois candidates. The byelections come as the Liberals hold 170 seats in the House of Commons, while opposition parties have a combined total of 166 seats.
Written by AI on 2026-08-31, from this article's own text only (the story summary below draws on all the coverage).

AI analysis

Story summary

Voting is underway today in three federal by-elections in Canada. One of the most competitive races is taking place in Chicoutimi-Le Fjord, a rural riding in Quebec, where former Conservative MP Richard Martel resigned to take a seat in the Senate. Martel had won the seat in 2025 by just 1,500 votes, and this time around, polls suggest it's a close contest between the Liberals and Bloc Québécois. If the Conservatives lose this seat, it could add to concerns about the leadership of Pierre Poilievre. The other two ridings holding elections today are in Toronto (Beaches-East York) and North Vancouver-Capilano, British Columbia, where former cabinet ministers Nate Erskine-Smith and Jonathan Wilkinson previously held seats.

Written for “Federal Byelection Elections” on 2026-10-30, grounded in this article and the 1 other(s) covering the same event.

Story

📰 Federal Byelection Elections
Politics · 2 article(s) covering the same event. See how they differ ↓

Compared with similar articles

This article reads unscored and hedges 0% of its claims. Each row says how that neighbour differs.
The Globe and Mail
⚖️ Leans left Hedges 1 of 6 claims Outlet record 52/100
Global News
Hedges 0 of 1 claims Outlet record 63/100
“Article B does not mention the byelections in Ontario and Quebec, only mentions a Survey on land use and reconciliation in British Columbia and an Abbotsford-Mission byelection which is different from the North Vancouver–Capilano riding mentioned in Article A”
How this article was measured signals, leaning charts, publisher record, byline, topics and claims

Signals How these are calculated →

Claims extracted
18
sentences that state something as happening or true
Uncertain
0%
0 of 18 hedged ("reportedly", "may", "according to")
Leaning
not political
takes no side on a contested political question
Publisher signals
74/100
CBC News's corrections and hedging, across everything collected from it. Not a measure of accuracy.
Outlets on this story
2
Politics
Same framing elsewhere
1
articles that frame the event the way this one does
Analyzed 2026-08-31 · how these are computed

How this is being covered How these are calculated →

Article leaning vs. publisher reliability
Source leaning vs. consistency

Publisher

CBC News · 1730 article(s) · 5 correction(s) detected
Running correction rate · 5 correction(s)

Who wrote this

Benjamin Lopez Steven
10 article(s) here · 1 carrying a prediction
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Also by Benjamin Lopez Steven
Nothing else under this byline is closely related to this article, so these are simply their most recent.
All 10 articles by Benjamin Lopez Steven →

Topics

CBC News Conservative Liberals Ontario Quebec

Subjects

Liberals NORP · 7× Ontario GPE · 5× Conservative NORP · 4× CBC News ORG · 3× Conservatives NORP · 3× Quebec GPE · 3× the Green Party ORG · 3× B.C. GPE · 2× Beaches–East York GPE · 2× Chicoutimi–Le Fjord GPE · 2×

Narrative

Elections Canada reminds Chicoutimi-Le Fjord voters: Monday's byelection is federal Carney appoints one of his top advisers and a Conservative MP to Senate And in the B.C. riding of North Vancouver–Capilano, candidates are looking to replace former Liberal MP Jonathan Wilkinson, who won the riding by about 16,500 votes in the 2025 federal election.
framing: assertive · carried by 1 article(s) · first seen 2026-08-31
🔮 CBC News will hold special coverage beginning at 9:30 p.m. ET

Claims (18 extracted, 0 hedged)

Voters head to the polls for 3 federal byelections in Ontario, Quebec and B.C. asserted
Voters → head → Ontario
CBC News will hold special coverage beginning at 9:30 p.m. ET asserted
News → hold → p.m.
Voters are heading to the polls on Monday to decide three federal byelections in the British Columbia riding of North Vancouver–Capilano, the Ontario riding of Beaches–East York and the Quebec riding of Chicoutimi–Le Fjord. asserted
Voters → head → Chicoutimi
Due to various vacancies, the Liberals have 170 seats in the House of Commons and the opposition parties have a combined total of 166 seats. asserted
parties → have → seats
The Liberals will need to secure two wins to guarantee control of the legislative agenda once all the seats are eventually filled. asserted
seats → need → agenda
The most competitive race is expected to be in Chicoutimi–Le Fjord. asserted
race → expect → Chicoutimi
Former Conservative MP Richard Martel held the riding since 2018 but stepped down last month after being appointed to the Senate. asserted
Martel → hold → Senate
The Liberals and Bloc Québécois are gunning for the seat, which polls suggest is a toss-up between the two parties. asserted
polls → gun → parties
Daniel Gobeil is the candidate for the Liberals, and Caroline Dubé is running for the Bloc. asserted
Dubé → run → Bloc
Other candidates in the riding include Régis Gaudreault for the Conservatives, Raphaël Émond for the New Democratic Party and Nathe Perrone for the Green Party. asserted
candidates → include → Party
In the Ontario riding of Beaches–East York, candidates are looking to replace former Liberal MP Nathaniel Erskine-Smith, who won the riding by about 26,000 votes in the 2025 federal election. asserted
who → look → election
Elections Canada reminds Chicoutimi-Le Fjord voters: Monday's byelection is federal Carney appoints one of his top advisers and a Conservative MP to Senate And in the B.C. riding of North Vancouver–Capilano, candidates are looking to replace former Liberal MP Jonathan Wilkinson, who won the riding by about 16,500 votes in the 2025 federal election. asserted
who → remind → election
Wilkinson, who was a cabinet minister under both Prime Minister Mark Carney and former prime minister Justin Trudeau, vacated the seat in July after he was appointed by Carney to be Canada's ambassador to the European Union. asserted
he → vacate → Union
CBC News will have special coverage of the byelections with chief political correspondent Rosemary Barton and Power & Politics host David Cochrane. asserted
News → have → Barton
It will begin at 9:30 p.m. ET and can be found anywhere you stream CBC News. asserted
you → begin → News
Should the Liberals lose all three byelections, they'll have additional opportunities in the future to nab the two wins they need for a majority. asserted
they → lose → majority
The prime minister has yet to call three byelections in the Quebec ridings of Saint-Hyacinthe–Bagot–Acton and Rosemont–La Petite–Patrie and the Ontario riding of Scarborough North. asserted
minister → have → North
Plus, Conservative MP Cathay Wagantall is expected to officially resign on Monday from her seat in the Saskatchewan riding of Yorkton–Melville, and Conservative MP Larry Brock says he'll step down from his seat in the Ontario riding of Brantford–Brant South–Six Nations next month. asserted
he → expect → month
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