List of Canadian General Elections
This list provides an overview of the elections to the House of Commons , the elected chamber of the Canadian Parliament . The number of seats has increased steadily over the years, from 180 in the first election to 308 today. The existing government structure was created in 1867 with the constitutional law .
Two parties have dominated politics in Canada: the Liberal Party and the historic Conservative Party (known as the Progressive Conservative Party from 1943 ). If the modern Conservative Party is seen as the successor to the historic one, there are only two parties that have formed the government (the 1917 Unionist Party was a coalition of liberals and conservatives who advocated conscription).
Although so far only two political camps have ever formed the government and thus a two-party system seems to exist, Canada has been effectively a multi-party system since the 1920s , as various smaller parties were or are represented in the lower house and these the two major parties regularly to form Force minority governments. In the beginning these were the Progressive Party and the United Farmers Movement . This was followed in the 1930s by the Social Credit Party and the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF). In 1961 the CCF transformed into the New Democratic Party (NDP), while the Social Credit Party disappeared in 1980.
The progressive-conservative party, which dominated the 1980s, never recovered from its devastating election defeat in 1993 (when it only got two seats and even lost parliamentary group status). The right-wing part of the political spectrum was subsequently represented by the Reform Party and the Canadian Alliance . The latter merged with the Progressive Conservatives to form the new Conservative Party, which has been in government since 2006. The separatist Bloc Québécois , which for a long time held most of the seats in the French-speaking province of Québec , has also been represented since 1993 .
summary of results
The results of the third, fourth and fifth strongest parties are summarized under “Other parties” if the party did not win at least four seats at any point in its history. Independent parties are also grouped together under “Other parties”.
| choice | Summary | government | Official opposition |
Third party |
Fourth party |
Other parties |
Total seats |
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1867 | The Conservative Party , led by John A. Macdonald , beats the Liberal Party with unofficial leader George Brown and forms Canada's first majority government. | 100 | 62 | 18th | - | - | 180 | ||||
| 1872 | Macdonald's Conservative government is confirmed with a minority and beats the Liberals led by Edward Blake . | 100 | 95 | - | - | 5 | 200 | ||||
| 1874 | The Liberal Party, led by Alexander Mackenzie , regains power with a majority after Macdonald's Conservative government lost a vote of no confidence in the House of Commons in 1873 . | 129 | 65 | - | - | 12 | 206 | ||||
| 1878 | The Conservatives, led by Macdonald, defeat Mackenzie's Liberals, allowing Macdonald to regain a majority government. | 134 | 63 | - | - | 9 | 206 | ||||
| 1882 | Macdonald's Conservatives are upheld by an absolute majority after defeating Edward Blake's Liberals. | 134 | 73 | - | - | 4th | 211 | ||||
| 1887 | Macondald's Conservatives again gain an absolute majority and again beat Edward Blake's Liberals. | 124 | 80 | - | - | 11 | 215 | ||||
| 1891 | The Conservatives of Macdonald, who will run for the last time shortly before his death, are reaffirmed. The Liberals, with Wilfrid Laurier at their head, form the opposition once again. | 118 | 90 | - | - | 7th | 215 | ||||
| 1896 | The Liberals led by Wilfrid Laurier win the majority and defeat the Conservatives of Prime Minister Charles Tupper . | 117 | 86 | - | - | 10 | 213 | ||||
| 1900 | With Laurier at the helm, the liberal government is confirmed by an absolute majority, while Tupper's Conservatives are defeated. | 128 | 79 | - | - | 6th | 213 | ||||
| 1904 | For the third time in a row, Laurier and the Liberals manage to gain an absolute majority, beating Robert Borden's Conservatives . | 137 | 75 | - | - | 2 | 214 | ||||
| 1908 | Once again Laurier's Liberals succeeded in being confirmed with an absolute majority and in relegating Borden's Conservatives to second place. | 133 | 85 | - | - | 3 | 221 | ||||
| 1911 | The conservatives under Robert Borden manage to defeat the liberals led by Wilfrid Laurier and gain a majority. | 132 | 85 | - | - | 4th | 221 | ||||
| 1917 | The conservatives, led by Robert Borden, gain a majority as part of a unionist coalition in favor of conscription, which includes liberals. The unionists win against Wilfrid Laurier's Liberals, who reject conscription. | 153 | 82 | - | - | - | 235 | ||||
| 1921 | The Liberals, led by William Lyon Mackenzie King , form a minority government after defeating Prime Minister Arthur Meighen's Conservatives . The Conservatives fall back to third place; the progressives reject the role of the official opposition, so that Meighen becomes opposition leader. | 118 | 49 | 58 | 3 | 7th | 235 | ||||
| 1925 | Mackenzie King's Liberals stay in power with the help of the Progressive Party , although Meighen's Conservatives win more seats. The progressives later stopped supporting the scandal-ridden Liberal Party and at the same time refused to support the conservatives, which in 1926 led to early elections. | 100 | 115 | 22nd | 2 | 6th | 245 | ||||
| 1926 | The Liberals led by Mackenzie King defeat Meighen's Conservatives and, with the support of the Liberal Progressives, form a minority government. | 116 | 91 | 11 | 12 | 15th | 245 | ||||
| 1930 | The Conservatives with top candidate Richard Bedford Bennett win the majority and defeat Mackenzie King's Liberals. | 134 | 90 | 9 | 3 | 9 | 245 | ||||
| 1935 | The liberals led by Mackenzie King defeat Bennett's Conservatives and gain the majority. | 173 | 39 | 17th | 7th | 9 | 245 | ||||
| 1940 | The Liberals, led by Mackenzie King, win a majority for the second year running. They defeat Robert James Manion's National Government Movement (a failed attempt to revive Robert Borden's unionist coalition during World War I). | 179 | 39 | 10 | 8th | 9 | 245 | ||||
| 1945 | Mackenzie King's Liberals achieve a majority for the third time in a row and beat the newly renamed Progressive Conservatives of John Bracken . | 118 | 66 | 28 | 13 | 20th | 245 | ||||
| 1949 | Prime Minister Louis Saint-Laurent's liberals defeat George Alexander Drew's progressive conservatives and form a majority government for the fourth time. | 191 | 41 | 13 | 10 | 7th | 262 | ||||
| 1953 | Louis Saint-Laurent leads the liberals, who are leaving Drew's progressive conservatives behind, to the fifth consecutive majority rule. | 169 | 51 | 23 | 15th | 7th | 265 | ||||
| 1957 | The progressive conservatives, led by John Diefenbaker , succeed in defeating Saint-Laurent's liberals and forming a minority government. | 111 | 104 | 25th | 19th | 6th | 265 | ||||
| 1958 | Diefenbaker's progressive conservatives win the largest majority in Canadian history and defeat the liberals with their new chairman Lester Pearson . | 208 | 48 | 8th | - | 1 | 265 | ||||
| 1962 | Diefenbaker's progressive conservatives win again, but can only form a minority government. | 116 | 99 | 30th | 19th | 1 | 265 | ||||
| 1963 | The liberals led by Pearson manage to defeat Diefenbaker's progressive conservatives and form a minority government. | 128 | 95 | 24 | 17th | 1 | 265 | ||||
| 1965 | The Liberals with top candidate Pearson defeat Diefenbaker's progressive conservatives and form a minority government for the second time in a row. | 131 | 97 | 21st | 14th | 2 | 265 | ||||
| 1968 | Led by the new Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, the Liberals win a majority, defeating the progressive conservatives led by Robert Stanfield . | 154 | 72 | 22nd | 14th | 2 | 264 | ||||
| 1972 | Trudeau's liberals win the election again, but only leave Stanfield's progressive conservatives two seats behind and form a minority government. | 109 | 107 | 31 | 15th | 2 | 264 | ||||
| 1974 | The Liberals led by Trudeau defeat Stanfield's progressive conservatives and form a majority government. | 141 | 95 | 16 | 11 | 1 | 264 | ||||
| 1979 | Joe Clark 's Progressive Conservatives defeat Trudeau's Liberals and form a minority government, although their share of the vote is significantly lower (the Progressive Conservatives received the most votes in seven provinces, but the Liberals gained a large lead in Québec). | 136 | 114 | 26th | 6th | - | 282 | ||||
| 1980 | Clark's progressive conservatives are subject to Trudeau's liberals, who can form a majority government. | 147 | 103 | 32 | - | - | 282 | ||||
| 1984 | The Progressive Conservatives, led by Brian Mulroney , defeat John Turner's Liberals and win the most seats in Canadian history. In terms of the number of seats, these elections end on the one hand with the best result for the progressive conservatives and on the other hand with the worst result of the liberals. | 211 | 40 | 30th | - | 1 | 282 | ||||
| 1988 | Mulroney's Progressive Conservatives win a majority, but Turner's Liberals can improve, and the New Democrats , led by Ed Broadbent , get their best result ever. | 169 | 83 | 43 | - | - | 295 | ||||
| 1993 | The Liberals, headed by Jean Chrétien , win the majority, while Prime Minister Kim Campbell's progressive conservatives lose 167 seats (from 169 so far) and achieve by far the worst result in their history. The New Democrats too have to accept the worst result ever. In contrast, the ex-minister Lucien Bouchard cited separatist Bloc Québécois second largest party and the Reform Party of Preston Manning 's third largest party. | 177 | 54 | 52 | 9 | 3 | 295 | ||||
| 1997 | Chrétien's Liberals can form a majority government for the second time in a row, while Manning's Reform Party is now the second strongest force. The progressive conservatives with Jean Charest achieve almost the same number of votes as the reform party, but win significantly fewer seats due to the distortion of majority voting rights. | 155 | 60 | 44 | 21st | 21st | 301 | ||||
| 2000 | With Chrétien at the helm, the Liberals win a majority of the seats for the third time in a row. The Canadian Alliance of Stockwell Day , it is not possible to combine the electoral base of the Reform Party and the Progressive Conservatives. The progressive conservatives, led by former Prime Minister Joe Clark, only barely reach parliamentary groups. | 172 | 66 | 38 | 13 | 12 | 301 | ||||
| 2004 | The Liberals can only form a minority government with the new Prime Minister Paul Martin . They defeat the new Conservative Party , led by Stephen Harper , the former leader of the disbanded Reform Party. Gilles Duceppe's Bloc Québeois has seen significant improvements following a liberal scandal in Québec. Jack Layton's New Democrats are missing a seat to prop up Martin's government. | 135 | 99 | 54 | 19th | 1 | 308 | ||||
| 2006 | Harper's Conservative Party can form a minority government after relegating Martin's Liberal Party to second place. The Bloc Québécois is losing slightly, while the NDP almost doubles its number of seats. | 124 | 103 | 51 | 29 | 1 | 308 | ||||
| 2008 | Stephen Harper's Conservatives will be the strongest party again in early elections, but will again miss an absolute majority despite winning seats. The Liberals, led by Stéphane Dion , and the Bloc Québécois lose seats, while the NDP can gain again. | 143 | 77 | 49 | 37 | 2 | 308 | ||||
| 2011 | After a vote of no confidence, there will be early elections. For the first time since 2000, a party regained an absolute majority, the Conservative Party with Prime Minister Stephen Harper. After winning big seats, the New Democrats are the second strongest force for the first time. The Liberals and the Bloc Québecois are losing significantly, their chairmen Michael Ignatieff and Gilles Duceppe are voted out of office. Elizabeth May won a seat in the lower house for the first time for the Greens . | 167 | 102 | 34 | 4th | 1 | 308 | ||||
| 2015 | With a five-fold increase in mandates from third place to an absolute majority, the Liberal Party replaced Stephen Harper's Conservative Party. With Justin Trudeau , the son of a former prime minister becomes prime minister for the first time in the history of Canada . The Conservatives lost more than a third and the New Democrats more than half of their seats. The Bloc Québecois could improve and the Greens could hold their seat. | 184 | 99 | 44 | 10 | 1 | 338 | ||||
Graphical representation of the results
Remarks
- ↑ The Conservatives competed in the 1921 elections as the National Liberal and Conservative Party and in 1940 as the National Government . But they lost the elections both times and soon returned to their original name.
- ↑ a b c d e f g h Incl. Result of the Liberal Conservative Party .
- ↑ The Anti-Confederation Party spoke out against the Canadian Confederation , but then formed a common faction with the Liberals.
- ↑ Incl. Results of the Liberal Conservative Party and a “Conservative Labor” candidate
- ↑ a b c Incl. Results of the Liberal Conservative Party and the Nationalist Conservatives
- ↑ a b Overall results for United Farmers of Alberta and United Farmers of Ontario
- ↑ a b Seats of the United Farmers of Alberta
- ↑ including results from National Government
- ↑ including results from New Democracy
- ↑ a b c d e f g including a seat of a "Liberal Labor" candidate who belongs to the Liberal parliamentary group
- ↑ including nine seats of the Ralliement créditiste
- ↑ all 14 seats go to the Ralliement créditiste
- ↑ of which 20 seats go to the progressive-conservative party
- ↑ all 12 seats go to the progressive-conservative party
