Candidates are running in three federal ridings to fill vacant seats.

There are four ridings without MPs, but only three byelections are happening. Why didn’t the Prime Minister call four?

The reason is complicated, but the Liberals want to spend more money to fight the Bloc Québecois in one riding by calling three byelections and not four.

The three byelections are in North Vancouver-Capilano, Beaches-East York, and Chicoutimi-Le Fjord. Another vacant riding is Saint Hyacinthe-Bagot-Acton.

The Liberals will easily win in North Van and Beaches, so they won’t need to spend much money to defend those seats.

The Bloc Québecois will have no trouble holding Saint Hyacinthe-Bagot-Acton whenever the byelection is held.

Chicoutimi-Le Fjord is different because the Conservative, Richard Martel, won by a small margin in 2025. Every vote will count in the August 31 byelection.

Federal election laws set spending limits for candidates and parties. The limits vary depending on the number of voters in each riding.

Parties get extra spending money based on the number of candidates they run in each riding. The Liberals, Conservatives, and New Democrats are running candidates in all three ridings.

The Liberals can take extra spending money from safe seats in North Van and Beaches and use it in the tight race in Chicoutimi.

If the Prime Minister had called byelections in all four vacant ridings, the Bloc could have transferred spending limits from its safe seat to the tight race in Chicoutimi.

By not calling a byelection in Saint-Hyacinthe, the Prime Minister denied the Bloc extra financial resources for Chicoutimi.

Elections Canada has set expense limits for parties with candidates in all three ridings: Chicoutimi, Beaches, and North Van.

The maximum amount the Bloc can spend to win Chicoutimi is about $229,000.

The Liberals, Conservatives, and NDP can spend up to $453,000 to win Chicoutimi, nearly twice as much as the Bloc.

The Conservatives might transfer all their allowed spending to defend their 2025 win in Chicoutimi, but they won’t say how they spend their election cash.

Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre needs to show he can take the Liberals down a notch, and the best chance is in North Vancouver.

The Conservative candidate in North Van, Stephen Curran, is unlikely to beat the Liberal candidate, but making it close could be seen as progress.

A governing party can remind voters of the value of voting for one of its members by announcing federal government funding for local projects.

David Akin is the chief political correspondent for Global News.

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