From Stronach to Ma: a pocket guide to the House’s floor crossers

Philippe J. Fournier says even if the Liberals get exactly the right number for a majority, 'that means nobody can catch a cold. Nobody can be disappointed with the government. Everybody has to fall in line. And it's hard to have backbenchers happy all the time.'

Then-MP Belinda Stronach, left, and then-prime minister Paul Martin, pictured in May 2005, after announcing that Stronach would be joining the Liberals right before a critical vote in the House of Commons. Stronach also joined Martin's cabinet. The Hill Times photograph by Jake Wright

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BY SOPHIA LAPORTE

January 5, 2026

If the Liberals do achieve a majority absent a new election, it will be the first time in Canadian parliamentary history that a political party went from a minority to a majority government through MPs crossing the House floor. But with a number of byelections expected this ...

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