CANADA: PM Homes In On Improbable Majority After Another Conservative Defection

The defection of Greater Toronto Area MP Michael Ma from the Conservatives to the Liberals late on 11 December leaves PM Mark Carney's gov't just one seat short of an overall majority in the House of Commons. This scenario would have been viewed as improbable following the hung parliament delivered in the April federal election. Ma represents the Markham-Unionville riding, which has flipped between the Liberals and Conservatives in recent electoral cycles. 

• Ma is the second MP to have crossed the floor from Pierre Poilievre's centre-right Conservatives to join the centre-left Liberals since the election, following in the footsteps of Chris d’Entremont (Acadie-Annapolis, NS), who joined the Liberals in November.
• The defections boost the Liberals to 171 seats, one seat short of an overall majority.
• They will also place further pressure on Poilievre, who faces an internal leadership review in January. There is no clear successor or challenger to Poilievre. However, the disastrous past 12 months for the party, going from a 20-point lead in the polls and widespread assumptions that the Conservatives would form the next gov't, to facing a fourth term of Liberal rule, means the opposition leader sits in an uneasy position.