Published: 12:08 AM, 16 April 2026
Bangladesh-origin Doly Begum wins by-elections in Canada
Doly Begum, the former New Democrat MPP for Scarborough Southwest who shocked the party when she defected to the federal Liberals, will now be heading to Ottawa after cruising to victory in Scarborough Southwest's federal by-elections on Monday night.
Begum's win keeps the riding Liberal following the departure of longtime MP Bill Blair, who stepped down to take a diplomatic post as Canada's high commissioner to the United Kingdom.
It also cinches a thin majority government for Prime Minister Mark Carney, who in recent months has had a total of five MP's - four of whom were Conservative - cross the floor to join his government.
Liberal candidates won in all three federal byelections Monday night, giving the party 174 seats in government. The Liberals needed 172 seats to form a majority.
"Tonight, we celebrate something so powerful ... a community coming together, putting aside their differences to choose hope, compassion, and progress" said Begum, who came up on stage at a Kingston Road banquet hall party to chants of "Doly, Doly, Doly" from the crowd.
Begum received nearly 70 per cent of the total vote, but only about a third of eligible voters actually voted in the by-elections.
There were seven other candidates who ran. Among them, Conservative candidate Diana Filipova, a former middle school teacher who got just over 18 per cent of the vote, NDP candidate Fatima Shaban, a Salvation Army head office worker with six per cent of the vote, and Green candidate Pooja Malhotra, a medical copywriter who took 2.5 percent of the vote.
Some notable faces were present at the banquet hall where Begum's supporters gathered. They included Nathaniel Erskine-Smith, MP for Beaches-East York, MPP Andrea Hazell from neighbouring riding Scarborough-Guildwood, and Qadira Jackson, who previously ran against Begum as the provincial Liberal candidate for Scarborough Southwest.
Just two months ago, Begum was a provincial politician representing Scarborough Southwest as an NDP party member. When she was first elected in 2018, she was 29 and the youngest New Democrat among the party's caucus. She was later named deputy party leader.
Her resignation to run in the federal byelection as a Liberal candidate surprised provincial party members, including leader Marit Stiles. It also elicited heavy criticism from the federal NDP.
A provincial byelection for Scarborough Southwest has yet to be called by Ontario Premier Doug Ford, but it has already garnered interest from hopeful candidates, including Erskine-Smith, who announced plans to seek the Liberal nomination hours after Begum resigned.
Erskine-Smith previously went up against Bonnie Crombie in the Ontario Liberal's leadership contest, and he appears set to take another run at the job.
Ford now has six months to call a provincial byelection.
