Carney Secured A Majority In Parliament. Conservatives Say Voters Were Betrayed.

OTTAWA — Canada’s Conservative Party is casting doubt on the legitimacy of Mark Carney’s majority government, complaining it was formed through “backroom deals” and not at the ballot box.

Carney's governing Liberals secured a majority in an unprecedented way — not by holding a general election, but rather by combining a steady drip of Conservative lawmaker defections with a sweep of three special elections on Monday night.

“The Carney Liberals did not win a majority government through a general election or today's by-elections,” Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre said on X on Monday. “Instead, it was won through backroom deals with politicians who betrayed the people who voted for them.”

In Canada, a governing party can gain or lose a majority without a general election if the balance of seats in Parliament changes — a feat Carney successfully pulled off.

“No rules have been broken,” said Alex Marland, political scientist and co-author of “No I in Team: Party Loyalty in Canadian Politics,” which explores floor-crossers and party discipline.

Crossing the aisle in Parliament is not unusual — more than 300 politicians have done it in Canada’s history both at the federal and provincial level.

“It is simply an ingrained feature within our system that you are allowed to switch parliamentary parties,” Marland said. “It is just simply allowed, and frankly, the Conservatives have accepted Liberals in the past.”

Aaron Gunn, a Conservative lawmaker from British Columbia, accused Carney on X of seeking “unlimited power” through “deception and deceit” by relying on defecting MPs “to overturn the result of a democratic election.” The result is that the “vote will feel stolen,” he argued. He also accused the media of “being disingenuous with Canadians”.

In the words of Conservative MP Andrew Lawton, Carney’s government is “artificial.”

Conservative MP Michael Guglielmin used an X post to denounce what he called a blatant subversion of democracy: “Canadians will not forget this betrayal of the public trust.”

Poilievre has not denounced any of those comments. And his office won’t say if the Conservative leader considers the majority legitimate; it pointed POLITICO to Poilievre’s comments on social media.

When he was elected last April, Carney was just shy of a majority government. But after shifting the Liberal Party back to the center with a focus on crime, affordability and the need to diversify Canada’s economy away from the United States, he managed to woo opposition MPs from conservative and progressive parties — five in the past five months.

The by-election sweep on Monday put Carney’s government over the top.

“We live in a parliamentary democracy,” Carney told reporters on Tuesday.

The Conservatives posted their worst by-election results in more than a decade.

Carney vowed to work with opposition parties in the House of Commons, including the Conservative Party, though he no longer needs their support to pass bills or government spending.

Marland compared Conservative rhetoric to Republicans in the United States, who have criticized the democratic system. “When you have people chipping away at institutions, it reduces trust in democracy itself,” he said. “And we're obviously at a time in history when we don't need that.”

Industry Minister Mélanie Joly pushed back on Poilievre’s comments, challenging him Monday on CBC News to “look at himself in the mirror” and “ask why he hasn’t been able to keep his whole caucus together.” Poilievre has said he’s staying on as leader until the next federal election, which is scheduled for 2029.

Carney said he has no plans to call an early election in response to those who question his mandate.

“I think very clearly Canadians want government to govern,” Carney said.

This isn’t the first time the Conservative Party has cried foul at institutions, including the media, when up against political winds.

During the federal election last spring, Conservative MPs cast doubt on the validity of polls that correctly suggested Carney, a rookie politician, would become the next prime minister.

On election night at the Conservative Party headquarters, supporters accused the Liberals of “rigging” the election, or falsely claimed it was “stolen,” repeating rhetoric heard on the campaign trail — allegations that Carney denounced at the time.

“This is Canada. I know there’s certain parties that just import all their slogans and their policies from America, but let’s not import that nonsense into Canada. We are in the midst of a fair and open and free election in Canada,” he said early on in the campaign.

After accepting the April 28 election result in his concession speech, Poilievre and his caucus are now casting doubt on Carney’s majority mandate.

“It’s hard to know how long the Conservatives here will carry on that narrative,” Marland said. “Because every time you bring up the issue of floor crossing, if you're a Conservative, you're basically reminding everyone that you’re a bunch of losers.”