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OTTAWA, March 11 (Reuters) - Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney on Wednesday moved closer to a parliamentary majority that could help him counter U.S. tariffs when an opposition legislator joined the ruling Liberals.
The centrist Liberals, governing with a minority after an election last April, need opposition support to pass key legislation such as budgets. That can be a slow process, and Carney has said he needs a majority to react more effectively to U.S. President Donald Trump's trade measures.
Carney said in a statement that Lori Idlout of the small left-leaning New Democratic Party, who represents the Arctic territory of Nunavut, would sit with the Liberals in the House of Commons, the elected chamber.
Idlout is the fourth opposition legislator to defect to the Liberals since last November and her decision means the party now has 170 seats in the 343-seat House, two short of a majority.
Special elections will be held on April 13 in three vacant constituencies previously held by Liberals, two of which are safe seats. If the Liberals win two of the three, Carney would have control of the chamber.
A majority would open the way to Carney serving until October 2029. Canadian elections are held no later than every four years.
"At this important moment in our history, Canadians are coming together to build a strong future," said Carney, who has promised to increase defense spending to better protect the vast and almost totally uninhabited Canadian Arctic.
“With new threats against our sovereignty and pressures on the wellbeing of people throughout the North, we need a strong and ambitious government that makes decisions with Nunavut — not only about Nunavut," Idlout said in a statement.
(Reporting by David LjunggrenEditing by Tomasz Janowski)
