She succeeds former Foreign Minister Marc Garneau, who announced in March that he was stepping down after 15 years in politics.
Ms Gainey, who was previously leader of the Liberal Party of Canada from 2014 to 2018, was joined by four other candidates from the main federal parties: Jean-François Fillion (New Democratic Party), Mathew Kaminski (Conservative Party of Canada), Jonathan Pedneault (Greens). Party of Canada) and Laurence Massey (Bloc Québécois).
Anna Gainey studied international relations and political science at the London School of Economics and McGill University, according to her official website. The newly elected Liberal also worked with the Ministers of National Defense and Veterans Affairs from 2003 to 2006.
She now runs the Gainey Foundation — an organization that, according to its official site, funds environmental and arts education programs for young people — and Canada 2020, a progressive and independent think tank.
Notre-Dame-de-Grâce-Westmount has been a Liberal stronghold for many years. In the 2021 election, Marc Garneau won a majority of 15,757 votes ahead of new Democrat Emma Elbourne-Weinstock.
Five by-elections
Three more by-elections were also held on Monday. One in Oxford, Ontario and two in Manitoba, at Portage-Lisgar and Winnipeg South Centre.
People’s Party leader Maxime Bernier, who was attempting to be elected in the rural township of Portage-Lisgar, was overtaken by Conservative candidate Branden Leslie, who is allowing the race to remain in Conservative circles.
With more than 95% of the boxes opened, Mr Leslie, a former Parliament Hill employee, led the way with 64.7% of the vote. Mr Bernier follows with 17.3% while Liberal Kerry Smith gets 8.7%.
In the last federal election, Mr Bernier’s candidate had received almost 22% of the vote in the electorate that elected the party’s conservative and former interim leader, Candice Bergen. She announced last fall that she was retiring.
In the Winnipeg South Centre, Liberal Ben Carr leads Conservative Damir Stipanovic, closely followed by NDP’s Julia Riddell. Ben Carr succeeds his father, Jim Carr, who represented the constituency until his death in December 2022.
Six losing candidates failed to overthrow the conservative stronghold of Oxford, a largely rural county in southern Ontario.
Incumbent Conservative Dave MacKenzie announced in December that he was stepping down from his seat after winning the 2021 federal election with nearly 47% of the vote.
In his opinion, intra-party power struggles have led to the dirtiest election campaign we have ever seen in our constituency. Also surprising was the support of Liberal candidate David Hilderley, who finished second in the race.
His seat was coveted most notably by Tory Arpan Khanna, a candidacy rejected by the incumbent MP, who had accused Tory leader Pierre Poilievre and House Speaker former leader Andrew Scheer of meddling in their local association by they had influenced the appointment process and stripped him of power on the basis.
Still, it’s the tenor-conservative stallion who’s winning in this constituency.
In addition, a fifth by-election is scheduled to be held in Calgary Heritage County, Alberta, on July 24 to fill the seat vacated by the departure of former Conservative Rep. Bob Benzen.
Calgary Heritage is the horse show hosted by former Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper until 2016. By 2021, Mr. Benzen had won there by a landslide victory.
With information from The Canadian Press