TORONTO (AP) — Canada's governing Liberals were one seat short of a simple majority in Parliament after a Conservative lawmaker defected and joined Prime Minister Mark Carney’s party Thursday.
Michael Ma was the second Canadian Conservative opposition lawmaker to join the Liberals in just over a month. Ma, who represents Markham–Unionville, said he entered politics “to focus on solutions, not division.”
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Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, right, shakes hands with Michael Ma, Member of Parliament for Markham-Unionville, who crossed the floor from the Conservatives to the Liberals hours earlier, as he brings him on stage at the Liberal caucus holiday party in Ottawa, Ontario, Thursday, Dec. 11, 2025. (Justin Tang/The Canadian Press via AP)
Prime Minister Mark Carney reacts as Michael Ma, Member of Parliament for Markham-Unionville, who crossed the floor from the Conservatives to the Liberals hours earlier, makes brief remarks at the Liberal caucus holiday party in Ottawa, on Thursday, Dec. 11, 2025. (Justin Tang/The Canadian Press via AP)
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre stands in the House of Commons during Question Period on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Canada, Thursday, Dec. 11, 2025. (Spencer Colby/The Canadian Press via AP)
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney arrives on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Canada, Thursday, Dec. 11, 2025. (Spencer Colby/The Canadian Press via AP)
Canada Prime Minister Mark Carney delivers remarks during the annual Equal Voice gala in Ottawa, Ontario, Wednesday, Dec. 10, 2025. (Spencer Colby/The Canadian Press via AP)
“I have concluded that Prime Minister Mark Carney is offering the steady, practical approach we need to deliver on the priorities I hear every day while door knocking in Markham–Unionville,” Ma said in his statement.
His move puts the Liberals one seat shy of a majority government and being able to pass any bill without the support of an opposition party.
Carney joined hands and welcomed Ma at the Liberal Party Christmas party on Thursday night.
“Wow, such a big welcome,” Ma said.
Carney noted his coalition of supporters is growing.
“You are going to have a much better time spending Christmas with us than Christmas with the Kranks. We are all about Santa, not about the Grinch,” Carney joked.
The defection is a blow to Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre, who is facing a leadership review vote in January. Poilievre lost the last election in April and even his own seat in Parliament, but has since rejoined the House of Commons.
“Michael Ma was elected as a Conservative by the constituents of Markham-Unionville to fight against Liberal inflationary spending driving up the cost of living in his community,” Poilievre said in a statement on social media. “Today, he chose to endorse the very policies he was elected to oppose.”
Poilievre has lost three Conservative lawmakers in recent weeks. A third Conservative announced his resignation after talking to Carney about possibly crossing the floor.
Until this year, Poilievre was seen as a shoo-in to become Canada’s next prime minister and shepherd his Conservative Party back into power for the first time in a decade. Then, President Donald Trump declared economic war on the U.S.’s neighbor to the north and even threatened to make Canada the 51st state.
Carney has moved the Liberals to the center since replacing Justin Trudeau as prime minister and winning national elections.
“Two floor crossings in such a short period of time is rare, and other defections are always possible so the Conservative establishment must be extremely nervous right now,” said Daniel Béland, a political science professor at McGill University in Montreal.
“If another Conservative MP would cross the floor to join the Liberals, they would have a majority government, which would probably mean no federal elections any time soon and give more time to Poilievre’s adversaries within the Conservative Party of Canada to organize against him.”
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, right, shakes hands with Michael Ma, Member of Parliament for Markham-Unionville, who crossed the floor from the Conservatives to the Liberals hours earlier, as he brings him on stage at the Liberal caucus holiday party in Ottawa, Ontario, Thursday, Dec. 11, 2025. (Justin Tang/The Canadian Press via AP)
Prime Minister Mark Carney reacts as Michael Ma, Member of Parliament for Markham-Unionville, who crossed the floor from the Conservatives to the Liberals hours earlier, makes brief remarks at the Liberal caucus holiday party in Ottawa, on Thursday, Dec. 11, 2025. (Justin Tang/The Canadian Press via AP)
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre stands in the House of Commons during Question Period on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Canada, Thursday, Dec. 11, 2025. (Spencer Colby/The Canadian Press via AP)
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney arrives on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Canada, Thursday, Dec. 11, 2025. (Spencer Colby/The Canadian Press via AP)
Canada Prime Minister Mark Carney delivers remarks during the annual Equal Voice gala in Ottawa, Ontario, Wednesday, Dec. 10, 2025. (Spencer Colby/The Canadian Press via AP)
MOUNT VERNON, Wash. (AP) — Surging floodwaters turned farmland into vast pools, washed out bridges and stranded people Thursday, with evacuation orders issued for tens of thousands of Washington state residents and authorities hoping levees prevent far worse damage.
“The flooding levels we’re looking at are potentially historic in nature, so we just want to emphasize how serious the situation is,” Gov. Bob Ferguson said at a news briefing Thursday, one day after declaring a statewide emergency.
About 78,000 residents of a major agricultural region north of Seattle were ordered to evacuate the Skagit River’s floodplain, officials said.
Along the river in Mount Vernon, teams knocked on doors in low-lying areas Thursday to inform them of evacuation notices, city authorities said.
Further north near the U.S.-Canada border, Sumas, Nooksack and Everson were evacuated after being inundated by flood waters, while the border crossing at Sumas was closed, according to Whatcom County. Sumas Mayor Bruce Bosch said much of the city has been “devastated” by the high waters just four years after a similar flood.
“I am deeply sorry that our community is facing this hardship again, but I am relieved that most residents evacuated when advised,” he said in an online statement.
Over 12,000 customers in Washington were without electricity Thursday night, according to PowerOutage.us. Dozens of roads were inundated or washed out across the state, some of which had no detour or estimated time for reopening.
A mountainous section of U.S. 2 was closed due to rocks, trees and mud, while a large section of state Route 410 was closed because of water covering the roadway, according to the state transportation department.
Thursday night, California Gov. Gavin Newsom sent 150 fire and rescue crew members to help Washington.
Heavy rain and flooding washed out at least three bridges in the mountains of northwestern Montana, where an emergency shelter opened in a church in the small town of Libby.
The Snohomish River surged nearly a foot (30 centimeters) higher than its record in the picturesque city on Thursday, while the Skagit River rose just shy of the previous record in the mountain town of Concrete Thursday morning, according to the National Water Prediction Service.
Water stopped just short of getting inside Mariah Brosa's raised riverfront home in Concrete, but the raging water still slapped debris against the home and totaled her fiancé's work car, she said.
“I didn’t think it would come this high,” she said.
While updated projections are lower than previous estimates, the river was still expected to crest above the record in Mount Vernon on Friday.
Flooding from the river has long plagued Mount Vernon, the largest city in the county with some 35,000 residents. Flooding in 2003 displaced hundreds of people.
A floodwall that protects downtown passed a major test in 2021, when the river crested near record levels. Water was at the foot of the floodwall as of late Thursday morning, Donovan said.
In nearby Burlington, officials hoped dikes and other systems would protect the community from catastrophic flooding, said Michael Lumpkin, with the police department.
Some are worried that older levees could fail.
Business owners and residents stacked sandbags to protect buildings.
South of Mount Vernon, Fir Island wildlife reserve and farming area will be closed Thursday, authorities said.
Authorities across Washington state in recent days have rescued people from cars and homes after an atmospheric river soaked the region.
Crews in Snohomish had rescued 33 people and several pets since Wednesday night, including 11 residents from a home in the Tualco Valley as the nearby Skykomish river was rapidly rising, according to the Snohomish Regional Fire & Rescue. And in a football field in Snoqualmie, a herd of elk swam and waded through neck-high water.
East of Seattle, residents along Issaquah Creek used water pumps as rushing floodwaters filled yards Thursday morning. Yellow tape blocked off a hazardous area along the creek.
Issaquah resident Katy Bliss said her home’s foundation was safe for now but that a pond had formed in her backyard. “It’s still scary walking around,” she said.
Amtrak suspended trains between Seattle and Vancouver.
A landslide blocked part of Interstate 90 east of Seattle, with photos showing vehicles trapped by tree trunks, branches, mud and standing water.
Climate change has been linked to some intense rainfall. Scientists say that without specific study they cannot directly link a single weather event to climate change, but in general it’s responsible for more intense and more frequent extreme storms, droughts, floods and wildfires.
Another storm system is expected to bring more rain starting Sunday.
This story has been corrected to show that the Skagit River is expected to crest above the record in Mount Vernon, not below.
Rush reported from Portland, Oregon. Associated Press writers Gene Johnson and Hallie Golden in Seattle; Martha Bellisle in Issaquah, Washington; Mark Thiessen in Anchorage, Alaska; and Mead Gruver in Fort Collins, Colorado, contributed to this report.
Floodwaters surround barns in Abbotsford, British Columbia, on Thursday, Dec. 11, 2025. (Ethan Cairns/The Canadian Press via AP)
A semi-truck crosses a flooded street in Abbotsford, British Columbia, on Thursday, Dec. 11, 2025. (Ethan Cairns/The Canadian Press via AP)
A n aerial view of a home and a barn surrounded by floodwaters in Snohomish, Wash., Thursday, Dec. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Stephen Brashear)
A cow drinks from the flooded Snohomish River in Snohomish, Wash., Thursday, Dec. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Stephen Brashear)
An aerial view shows homes surrounded by floodwaters from the Skagit River near Lyman, Wash., Thursday, Dec. 11, 2025.. (AP Photo/Stephen Brashear)
People stand on a bridge over the Skagit River in Lyman, Wash., Thursday, Dec. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Stephen Brashear)
Volunteers load sandbags into a vehicle to prepare for major flooding expected along the Skagit River Wednesday, Dec. 10, 2025, in Mount Vernon, Wash. (AP Photo/Cedar Attanasio)
A sign is placed on the window of a vehicle after waters from a rising and muddy Issaquah Creek flood the parking lot under an evacuated apartment building near downtown Issaquah, Washington on Thursday, Dec. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Martha Bellisle)
Waters from a rising and muddy Issaquah Creek flood the parking lot under an evacuated apartment building near downtown Issaquah, Washington on Thursday, Dec. 11, 2025.(AP Photo/Martha Bellisle)
A flag ripples in the wind as snow falls in Lowville, New York, on Tuesday night, Dec. 9, 2025. The area faces a winter storm warning through Thursday. (AP Photo/Cara Anna)
Rescue workers with Chehalis Fire venture into a flooded neighborhood to pick up evacuees after heavy rains, Tuesday, Dec. 9, 2025, in Chehalis, Wash. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)
A man checks on a car caught in flooding after heavy rains Tuesday, Dec. 9, 2025, in Napavine, Wash. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)
