North Vancouver–Capilano by-election emerges as early test of federal leader support

PENTICTON — The August 31 federal by-election in North Vancouver–Capilano is rapidly becoming less about a vacant seat and more about whether British Columbians are ready to deliver a verdict on Mark Carney and Pierre Poilievre.Jonathan Wilkinson’s resignation to become Canada’s ambassador to the European Union created the opening. The longtime Liberal MP, first elected in 2015 and re-elected with nearly 60% of the vote in 2025, stepped down effective June 19. The writ dropped July 26 for the late-summer vote, one of three by-elections that day.Liberal candidate Braeden Caley is a pure product of the Carney machine. The former deputy chief of staff to the prime minister left Ottawa to run in a riding he does not live in, pitching continuity, tariff defence and more housing. He says he “grew up” on the North Shore, but the public record shows he was raised in Richmond and spent much of the past decade in Ottawa, with little evidence of any substantive North Shore connection before his 2026 candidacy..Meanwhile, the Conservative candidate Stephen Curran is a longtime Central Lonsdale commercial lawyer who ran in the same riding in 2025, and has spent the campaign insisting the race is about local issues: soaring costs, property rights, crime and the $3.86-billion North Shore wastewater treatment plant that will cost local households roughly $590 extra a year for three decades..Yet Curran’s own words have pulled the national leaders into the frame. At a closed all-candidates forum in West Vancouver last Thursday, an audience member described Poilievre as “divisive in the extreme” and asked whether Conservatives refuse to collaborate.Curran replied that he hears the same criticism on the doorsteps.He acknowledged the frequent charge that “your leader and your party are always criticizing. You’re never offering any solutions.” He then stressed that “Mr. Poilievre and the rest of the Conservative caucus are not on the ballot."On Sunday morning in the Vancouver area, reporters put the comments directly to Poilievre. .“What he actually said is that he strongly supports me becoming the next prime minister of Canada and that he wants to fight alongside me to make the community and the country affordable, safe, and strong again,” Poilievre said. “I regret that the Liberals have misrepresented what he said.”The exchange captures the essence of what is shaping up to be an intriguing by-election.Caley is running as an extension of Carney’s government. Curran is running as a local alternative while still tied to Poilievre’s brand. Projections continue to favour the Liberals by a wide margin, consistent with the riding’s recent history. But doorstep conversations about affordability, infrastructure waste and national leadership style are forcing both sides to defend their principals.Green candidate Shelley Luce, NDP candidate Stephen Tweedale, and People’s Party candidate Ehsan Arjmand complete the main field. Advance polls open August 21.

North Vancouver–Capilano by-election emerges as early test of federal leader support

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