This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. Distribution and use of this material are governed by our Subscriber Agreement and by copyright law. For non-personal use or to order multiple copies, please contact The Epoch Times Reprints.
Prime Minister Mark Carney arrives with MP for Nunavut Lori Idlout, who crossed the floor from the NDP to the Liberals, as they make their way to a meeting of the Liberal caucus on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on March 11, 2026. The Canadian Press/Justin Tang
Several MPs have reacted to the news that another MP, this time from the NDP, has crossed the floor to join the Liberals, who are now closer to reaching a majority.
Nunavut MP Lori Idlout said she decided to join the Liberals because of “new threats against our sovereignty” impacting the North, adding it would be more effective to be part of the government to represent her region.
Prime Minister Carney said the party was “very honoured” to welcome Idlout. “We’ve had conversations about what we can do, both large and small, in Nunavut,” Carney told reporters on March 11.
“At this important moment in our history, Canadians are coming together to build a strong future. Lori’s voice and leadership will make an invaluable contribution to this work as part of Canada’s new government,” he said in a statement.
Interim NDP Leader Don Davies said he was “very disappointed” by the Nunavut MP’s decision, as his party is against MPs changing their affiliation without going through an election to let voters decide.
Speaking to reporters on March 11, Davies said he was “increasingly concerned by the way that Mr. Carney is trying to stitch together a majority government.”
“Whether or not there’s a majority government is fundamentally a decision of the Canadian people at the ballot box, and it should happen that way, not through back-room deals cut behind closed doors in Ottawa,” he added.
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre accused the Liberals of making “back-room deals.”
“Mark Carney is using back-room deals to seize a costly majority that voters rejected, which will enable Liberals to balloon debt, inflate the cost of living, block resources and turn criminals loose on our streets,” Poilievre said in a post on social media.
Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet called the move “opportunistic.”
“At the founding of the Bloc, MPs took the immense and courageous risk of leaving their respective parties out of conviction and in uncertainty. That was the opposite of this deplorable opportunism, whether it comes from an NDP elected official or Conservatives,” Blanchet said in a post on X.
Idlout did not say whether she had received any assurances from the Liberals in exchange for crossing the floor.
“Like with any complicated issue, it wasn’t just one thing that happened. There are a variety of many things that have allowed me to really reflect on this,” Idlout said about her decision to change parties.
Idlout previously publicly rejected the Liberals’ offer for her to join their caucus, saying in a statement in January that she was “proud of what my fellow NDP Members and I have been able to accomplish during my two terms as MP.”
The latest floor-crossing, which comes after three Conservative MPs joined the Liberals in recent months, brings the Liberals’ seat count to 170—two shy of a majority government. In addition, three seats are vacant in the House of Commons, and Carney has called for byelections on April 13 to fill them. Two of those ridings have traditionally been considered safe seats for the Liberals, making the prospects of the governing party becoming a majority a likely scenario.
Conservative MP Aaron Gunn said Carney was “attempting what is maybe the least democratic thing in Canadian history” by acquiring an “illegitimate majority” through floor-crossers.
NDP MP Jenny Kwan, whose party is now down to six seats in the House, said, “We will carry on, and the NDP will fight on.”
Minister of Justice and Attorney General Sean Fraser welcomed Idlout joining the Liberals, saying her “focus has always been on delivering real outcomes for the people she represents.”
Former Bloc MP Nathalie Sinclair-Desgagné, who will be running in the upcoming April 13 byelection in the Quebec riding of Terrebonne, said that with Idlout crossing the floor, the byelection won’t be about whether the seat is needed for the Liberal government to achieve a majority. She said voters will be “free to choose who is the best person to represent them in Ottawa.”
