46th Canadian federal election

Under the fixed-date provisions of the Canada Elections Act, a federal election must be held on the third Monday in October in the fourth calendar year after the polling day of the previous election. The previous election was held in 2025, therefore an election is scheduled to take place on October 15, 2029. However, the election may occur before that date if the governor general dissolves Parliament on the recommendation of the prime minister, either for a snap election or after the government loses a vote on a supply bill (which has not happened since 1979) or a specific motion of no confidence (which has not happened since 2011). == Background ==

In the 2025 Canadian federal election, the incumbent Liberal Party, led by Prime Minister Mark Carney, won a plurality of seats but failed to win enough seats to gain a parliamentary majority, continuing their six-year tenure as a minority government and marking the third consecutive term of a Liberal minority government. Led by Justin Trudeau, the party won a majority government in 2015, after almost ten years of Conservative leadership under Stephen Harper, but later it was reduced to a minority government in the 2019 election and remained as such in 2021. The Conservative Party continued as the Official Opposition, with party leader Pierre Poilievre losing re-election in his seat of Carleton after nearly 21 years to Liberal candidate Bruce Fanjoy. Damien Kurek, the Conservative member of Parliament–elect for the riding of Battle River—Crowfoot, announced his intentions to resign on May 2, 2025, allowing Poilievre to run in a by-election. Kurek had to wait 30 days after election results were published in the Canada Gazette to resign officially, and plans to run for the Alberta seat again in the next general election. On May 6, Andrew Scheer became the leader of the Official Opposition, the title he had previously held from 2017 to 2020, as Poilievre could not officially hold the title without a seat in Parliament. Poilievre was elected on August 18, returning to the House of Commons. Jagmeet Singh, the leader of the New Democratic Party, also lost his seat, with the party winning just seven seats, resulting in the loss of the party's official party status for the first time since 1993. It was the worst result in the history of the party, including its predecessor party, the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation. As a result, Singh announced his intention to resign from the leadership of the NDP once an interim leader was chosen. On May 5, Don Davies was chosen by the party's Federal Council as interim leader of the NDP until the next leadership election, which was won by filmmaker and activist Avi Lewis. Jonathan Pedneault, the co-leader of the Green Party, was not elected to a seat in Parliament, with the party winning just one seat and receiving its lowest share of the popular vote since 2000. As a result, Pedneault announced his resignation as co-leader shortly after the election. On August 19, Elizabeth May announced her intention to resign as party leader. Incumbents not standing for re-election == Changes in seats held ==

2025 • November 4Chris d'Entremont resigns from the Conservative caucus and crosses the floor to join the Liberals. • December 11Michael Ma resigns from the Conservative caucus and crosses the floor to join the Liberals. 2026 • January 9Chrystia Freeland resigns as a member of Parliament to become an economic advisor for Ukraine. • January 31Pierre Poilievre receives 87.4% support in a leadership review vote during the Conservative Party of Canada convention. • February 2Bill Blair resigns as a member of Parliament to become the Canadian high commissioner to the United Kingdom. • February 13The riding of Terrebonne becomes vacant after the Supreme Court of Canada annuls its 2025 results. • February 18Matt Jeneroux resigns from the Conservative caucus and crosses the floor to join the Liberals. • March 10Lori Idlout resigns from the New Democratic Party caucus and crosses the floor to join the Liberals. • March 29The 2026 New Democratic Party leadership election concludes with Avi Lewis being elected as the new leader of the New Democratic Party. • April 8Marilyn Gladu resigns from the Conservative caucus and crosses the floor to join the Liberals. • April 13 Three by-elections take place, resulting in the Liberals attaining a majority in the House of Commons. ==Opinion polls==