OTTAWA — Voting was underway Monday in federal byelections in Quebec, B.C. and Ontario taking place under the shadow of an intensifying trade war with the United States.

Elections Canada reports that thousands have already cast votes in advance polls in the three byelections. It estimates that 11,800 advance ballots came in for Beaches-East York, 11,000 for Chicoutimi-Le Fjord and 16,700 for North Vancouver-Capilano.

All eyes are on what could be a close race in rural Quebec. Conservative Richard Martel resigned his seat in Chicoutimi-Le Fjord to sit in the Senate.

Martel won a tight three-way race in 2025, beating the Liberal and Bloc Québécois candidates by about 1,500 votes.

McGill University political science professor Daniel Béland says if the Tories can’t hold on to the Quebec seat, it will add to the narrative that Pierre Poilievre’s leadership is in trouble.

The area is home to the aluminum industry and other sectors wrapped up in the ongoing trade war with the U.S. The Liberals are fielding a well-known dairy farmer, Daniel Gobeil, as their candidate.

The Conservatives are running Régis Gaudreault, a retired lawyer and former law professor at Cégep de Chicoutimi, while the Bloc is running Caroline Dubé, who previously worked for Mario Simard, the Bloc MP for the neighbouring federal riding of Jonquière.

Byelections in the Toronto riding of Beaches-East York and in North Vancouver-Capilano are being held to replace former cabinet ministers Nate Erskine-Smith and Jonathan Wilkinson.

Wilkinson resigned his seat in June to take up a diplomatic posting in Europe.

Prime Minister Mark Carney’s former deputy chief of staff Braeden Caley is running for Wilkinson’s former Vancouver seat. His Conservative opponent Stephen Curran is a commercial lawyer who came second to Wilkinson in 2025. Stephen Tweedale, a provincial party staffer, is running for the NDP.

In Toronto, Erskine-Smith is now running for a city council seat in October’s municipal election. He resigned his federal seat to seek an Ontario Liberal party nomination for a provincial byelection, which he failed to win.

Erskine-Smith’s former constituency office manager, Tanveer Shahnawaz, is running for the Liberals there. Shannon Devine, a labour leader who ran there in the 2025 election, is once again the NDP candidate. Local restaurant owner Jim Syrbos is running for the Conservatives.

Polls close in Ontario and Quebec at 9:30 p.m. ET, while B.C.’s polls close at 7 p.m. PST.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 31, 2026.