1993 Canadian federal election explained

Election Name:1993 Canadian federal election
Country:Canada
Type:parliamentary
Ongoing:no
Party Colour:no
Party Name:no
Previous Election:1988 Canadian federal election
Previous Year:1988
Next Election:1997 Canadian federal election
Next Year:1997
Seats For Election:295 seats in the House of Commons
Majority Seats:148
Turnout:70.9%[1] (4.4pp)
Opinion Polls:Opinion polling for the 1993 Canadian federal election
Leader1:Jean Chrétien
Leader Since1:June 23, 1990
Leaders Seat1:Saint-Maurice
Last Election1:83 seats, 31.92%
Seats Before1:81
Seats1:177
Seat Change1:96
Popular Vote1:5,647,952
Percentage1:41.24%
Swing1:9.32pp
Map2 Image:Canada 1993 Federal Election seats.svg
Map2 Size:380px
Map2 Caption:The Canadian parliament after the 1993 election
Prime Minister
Before Election:Kim Campbell
Posttitle:Prime Minister after election
After Election:Jean Chrétien
Previous Mps:34th Canadian Parliament
Elected Mps:35th Canadian Parliament
Leader2:Lucien Bouchard
Leader Since2:July 25, 1990
Leaders Seat2:Lac-Saint-Jean
Last Election2:pre-creation
Seats Before2:10
Seats2:54
Seat Change2:44
Popular Vote2:1,846,024
Percentage2:13.52%
Swing2:pre-creation
Leader3:Preston Manning
Leaders Seat3:Calgary Southwest
Last Election3:0 seats, 2.09%
Seats Before3:1
Seats3:52
Seat Change3:51
Popular Vote3:2,559,245
Percentage3:18.69%
Swing3:16.60pp
Leader4:Audrey McLaughlin
Leader Since4:December 5, 1989
Leaders Seat4:Yukon
Last Election4:43 seats, 20.38%
Seats Before4:44
Seats4:9
Seat Change4:35
Popular Vote4:939,575
Percentage4:6.88%
Swing4:13.50pp
Leader5:Kim Campbell
Leader Since5:June 13, 1993
Leaders Seat5:Vancouver Centre
(defeated)
Last Election5:169 seats, 43.02%
Seats Before5:156
Seats5:2
Seat Change5:154
Popular Vote5:2,186,422
Percentage5:16.04%
Swing5:26.98pp

The 1993 Canadian federal election was held on October 25, 1993, to elect members to the House of Commons of the 35th Parliament of Canada. Considered to be a major political realignment, it was one of the most eventful elections in Canada's history. Two new regionalist parties emerged, finishing second and third in seat count. Most notably, the election marked the worst defeat for a governing party at the federal level and the worst ever suffered by a governing party in the Western democratic world. The Liberal Party, led by Jean Chrétien, won a majority government, defeating the governing Progressive Conservative Party in a landslide.

The election was called on September 8, 1993, by the new Progressive Conservative Party (PC) leader, Prime Minister Kim Campbell, near the end of her party's five year mandate. When she succeeded longtime Prime Minister Brian Mulroney and assumed office on 25 June, the party was deeply unpopular due to the failure of the Meech Lake and Charlottetown Accords in 1990 and 1992, respectively, the introduction of the Goods and Services Tax in 1991, and the early 1990s recession. The PCs were further weakened by the emergence of new parties that were competing for its core supporters, including a Western-based party and a political party advocating for Quebecois sovereignty and separatism (both of which ended up heavily splitting the PC vote).

Campbell's initial efforts helped the party recover somewhat in pre-election polls before the writs were issued on 8 September. However, this momentum did not last, and the Progressive Conservatives suffered the most lopsided defeat for a Canadian governing party at the federal level and the worst ever suffered by a governing party in the Western democratic world, losing 154 seats and official party status in the House of Commons and more than half of their vote from 1988. The Progressive Conservatives also launched a controversial attack ad during the campaign.

The Western-based Reform Party won over many traditional PC voters, particularly social conservatives, alienated Western Canadians, and fiscal conservatives who opposed the Mulroney government's deficit spending and tax increases. The popularity of Preston Manning, and profound Western discontent with the PCs, led the Reform Party to replace the PCs as the major right-wing party in the Commons, although it won only one seat east of Manitoba. Though the Progressive Conservatives recovered slightly in the 1997 election, they lost seats in 2000 and would never be a major force in Canadian politics again. In 2003, the Progressive Conservative Party ceased to exist when it merged with the larger Canadian Alliance (the successor of the Reform Party) to create the new Conservative Party of Canada.

The sovereigntist Bloc Québécois won almost half of the popular vote in Quebec and became the Official Opposition. To date, this is the only time that a party committed to the political secession of a region of Canada has become the Official Opposition of Canada. The traditional third party, the New Democratic Party (NDP), collapsed to nine seats only one election after having what was then its best performance. It remains the NDP's worst result in a federal election since its formation and the only election where the party polled fewer than one million votes. The turnover of MPs was stark and unprecedented for Canadian politics, with 132 MPs losing their seats. In total, 194 out of 295 ridings changed hands.

Background

The Liberal Party had dominated Canadian politics for much of the 20th century. The party had been in office for all but 22 years between 1896 and 1984, with the Conservatives/Progressive Conservatives only forming government seven times during this period: in 1911, 1917, 1921 and 1926 (both under Arthur Meighen, without election), 1930, 1957, and 1979.

Mulroney era

In 1984, Brian Mulroney led the Progressive Conservatives to a majority government with the most seats in Canadian history, winning a majority of the seats in every province and a majority of votes cast. The Liberals lost 95 seats in the worst defeat for a governing party at the federal level at the time.

The PCs made a strong showing in Quebec, a province where they had held few seats for much of the century. Between 1896 and 1984, they had only taken a majority of seats in that province once, in their 1958 landslide—the only other time besides 1984 that a party won more than 200 seats in an election. After winning only one seat in Quebec (out of 75) in 1980, the Tories won 58 seats in 1984, leaving the Liberals with almost no seats outside of Montreal.

Mulroney's government was based on a coalition of socially conservative populists from the West, fiscal conservatives from Atlantic Canada and Ontario, and Quebec nationalists. This coalition helped him win reelection in 1988 (an election almost wholly focused on the proposed Canada–United States Free Trade Agreement) but with only a minority of the votes cast this time. Over the next five years, the popularity of Mulroney and his party collapsed further. The late 1980s recession badly harmed the Canadian economy, as both unemployment and the federal debt grew. Despite the government's pledges to reduce the annual federal deficit, it grew from $34.5 billion in 1984, when Mulroney took power, to more than $40 billion by the time Mulroney stepped down in 1993. The federal debt was at $500 billion in 1993.[2] Mulroney brought in the unpopular Goods and Services Tax (GST) in 1991 and the governing policies were broadly unpopular by early 1993.[3] [4]

While Mulroney had railed against Pierre Trudeau's patronage appointments in 1984, he permitted a series of patronage appointments just as he left the PM's office in 1993.https://nationalpost.com/news/canada/is-patronage-the-oil-that-keeps-our-democracy-turning

Quebec constitutional status

Mulroney had also promised to change the constitutional status quo in favour of increasing provincial autonomy; this was one of the most important reasons for his party's support in Quebec. He attempted to amend the constitution twice, but both reform proposals failed. The Meech Lake Accord collapsed in 1990 when the provincial legislatures of Newfoundland and Manitoba adjourned without bringing the issue to a vote; all 10 provincial legislatures had to ratify the accord for it to become law. The Charlottetown Accord was defeated by the Canadian people in an October 1992 referendum. In the case of the Charlottetown Accord, the majority of Canada's population voted against an agreement endorsed by every First Minister and most other political groups. This stinging rebuke against the "political class" in Canada was a preview of things to come, as the upcoming election would be held on October 25, 1993, a year less a day after the Charlottetown referendum. Additional polls in January 1993 concerning the cost-of-living crisis in the country showed that public opinion was broadly against the unpopular PCs.[5]

Campbell replaces Mulroney

These factors combined to make Mulroney the least popular leader since opinion polling began in the 1940s.[6] The Progressive Conservative Party's popularity reached a low of just over 15% in 1991.[7] With polls showing him facing almost certain defeat in the next election, Mulroney announced his retirement from politics (which had been speculated since early February)[8] on 24 February 1993.[9] [10] While several senior Cabinet members had passed over contesting the leadership, Minister of Defence Kim Campbell[11] quickly emerged as the leading candidate to replace Mulroney as party leader and prime minister. Despite a vigorous challenge from Environment Minister Jean Charest, Campbell emerged victorious in the June leadership election and became Canada's first female prime minister.

Campbell enjoyed a brief period of high popularity upon being sworn in, becoming the eponym of "Campbellmania", just as Pierre Trudeau had been the subject of late-1960s Trudeaumania.[12] and was polling favorably by mid-March of that year.[13] Campbell campaigned extensively during the summer, touring the nation and attending barbecues and other events.

Opposition parties

The other traditional parties were also not faring well. While John Turner and the Liberal leadership supported the Meech Lake Accord, there was significant internal disagreement, with Trudeau returning from retirement to speak out against it. After the Liberals' disappointing showing in the 1988 election, Turner stayed on for a couple of years before resigning. The party then selected veteran politician Jean Chrétien over Paul Martin as party leader after a divisive battle, but Chrétien was unpopular, especially in his native Quebec, after declaring his opposition to the Meech Lake Accord, being rocked by caucus defections. The federal Liberals were disorganized, near bankruptcy, and dropped in the polls from 50 to 32 per cent, so Chrétien appointed Jean Pelletier as chief of staff to reinvigorate his leadership and reorganize his office.[14] As the ruling Tories suffered the most backlash from the unsuccessful constitutional amendments in 1990 and 1992, the Liberals rapidly picked up support and surged to a wide lead in opinion polling.

The New Democratic Party (NDP) had won a record 43 seats in 1988 under Ed Broadbent, who retired the next year. In the following few years, their support continued to grow, at one point leading in the opinion polls. This helped the NDP win a series of victories at the provincial level. In a surprise victory in 1990, Bob Rae led the party to office in Ontario–the first time the NDP had formed a provincial government east of Manitoba. That same year, the NDP won a by-election in Quebec to take its first-ever seat in that province. The next year, under Mike Harcourt, the New Democrats were elected in British Columbia. Within a few years, however, the NDP provincial ministries in both Ontario and British Columbia became deeply unpopular, and support for the federal NDP also began to fall. In a deviation from their traditional position as staunch federalists, the NDP chose to align itself with the Liberals and PCs on the "yes" side of the 1992 Charlottetown Accord. As well, new leader Audrey McLaughlin made efforts to expand party support into Quebec instead of focusing on Western alienation, having defeated Dave Barrett, who had campaigned for the opposite policies. These positions gained the NDP little headway in Quebec and hurt the party's standing as the traditional voice of Western protest.

New parties

The greatest difference from 1988 was the rise of two new parties that cut into the Progressive Conservatives' support and caused Mulroney's "grand coalition" to implode.

After the failure of the Meech Lake Accord, Lucien Bouchard led a group of Progressive Conservative and Liberal MPs to form the Bloc Québécois. This party quickly gained the support of Quebec sovereigntists and access to the networks of the provincial Parti Québécois. Gilles Duceppe won a 1990 by-election, and throughout the period leading up to the election, the Bloc polled as the most popular party in Quebec.

The Reform Party of Canada was a Western-based populist party led by Preston Manning, the son of former Alberta Premier Ernest Manning. Originally broadly focused on Western Canadian interests, it had quickly moved far to the right after its formation. It originally campaigned under the slogan "the West wants in". Reform had nominated candidates in the 1988 election, but had failed to win any seats, and garnered only 2.5 per cent of the popular vote. Many Western voters had never forgiven the Liberals for the National Energy Program in the 1980s, and Mulroney's attempt to pacify Quebec caused them to rethink their support for the Tories. In early 1989, Deborah Grey won a by-election in an Edmonton-area riding to become the first Reform MP. This came as a considerable shock to the Tories, who had dominated Alberta's federal politics for a quarter-century, and as Grey had finished a distant fourth in the general election held a few months earlier. As Conservative support collapsed over the next four years, Reform party support increased. Reform also picked up support from many longtime NDP voters. The NDP (and its predecessor, the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation) had been the traditional Western protest party for most of the last 40 years, but since the 1990s, they had attempted to make inroads in Quebec and had joined the Progressive Conservatives and Liberals in supporting the Charlottetown Accord. Despite sharp ideological differences, Reform's populism struck a responsive chord in disaffected NDP supporters.

Opinion polling

See main article: Opinion polling for the 1993 Canadian federal election.

Campaign

Pre-campaign

An election had to be called in the fall of 1993, since Parliament's term would expire some time in September. By the end of the summer, Campbell's personal popularity was far ahead of that of Chrétien.[15] Support for the Progressive Conservative Party had also increased after Campbell won the leadership, and their polling numbers were roughly equal to the Liberals, while Reform had been reduced to single digits. It was nevertheless thought likely that Reform would hold the balance of power in the event of neither the Progressive Conservatives nor Liberals winning a majority, as the NDP were polling even worse than Reform, while the Bloc were considered unlikely to enter into a confidence and supply agreement with either of the two largest parties. Campbell was therefore seen as having a good chance of remaining in power if the Progressive Conservatives could at least finish with a similar number of seats to the Liberals, and that Reform would support a continuation of her government (likely in return for some concessions on fiscal policy) over one led by Chrétien.

With this in mind, Campbell asked Governor General Ray Hnatyshyn to dissolve parliament on September 8, only a few weeks before Parliament was due to expire. The election date was set for October 25. Under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, this was the last day that the election could legally be held with the then-current enumeration still valid. In accordance with Canadian constitutional practice, Hnatyshyn granted the dissolution, beginning the seven-week campaign.

At the ceremony at Rideau Hall, Campbell made the first of a series of remarks that would dog the Conservative campaign. When she was running for the party leadership, Campbell's frank honesty was seen as an important asset and a sharp contrast from Mulroney's highly polished style (Mulroney was criticized for waiting until the last year of his mandate before resigning, leaving office only months before the Tories' five-year term ended, as well as for his international farewell tour devoid of any official business). During the campaign, however, Campbell repeatedly made statements that caused problems for the party. At the Rideau Hall event, she told reporters that it was unlikely that the deficit or unemployment would be much reduced before the "end of the century". Later in the campaign, a reporter claimed she stated "an election is no time to discuss serious issues." Campbell denied the report and declared her sentence was distorted; her actual quote meant that 47 days were not enough to discuss the overhaul in social policy that she thought Canada needed.[16]

Liberal

The Liberals had long prepared for the campaign. They had amassed a substantial campaign war chest, almost as large as that of the Tories. On September 19, the Liberals released their entire platform, which the media quickly named the Red Book. This document gave a detailed account of exactly what a Liberal government would do in power. Several years of effort had gone into the creation of the document, which was unprecedented for a Canadian party.[17] Several days later, the Progressive Conservatives released the hastily assembled A Taxpayer's Agenda, but the Liberals had captured the reputation of being the party with ideas. The Liberals were also consistently well organized and on message, in contrast to the PC campaign, which the Globe and Mail on September 25 stated was "shaping up to be the most incompetent campaign in modern political history."[18]

Bloc Québécois

The Bloc Québécois benefited from a surge in support for Quebec nationalism after the failure of the Meech Lake Accord in 1990, which resulted in a number of Liberal and Progressive Conservative Members of Parliament (MPs) organizing the Bloc. The Bloc's leader, Lucien Bouchard, campaigned on promising that the Bloc would represent Quebec's interests at the federal level, with the party running candidates exclusively in Quebec while endorsing and supporting Quebec sovereignty (political independence from Canada).

Reform

The Reform Party developed an extensive grassroots network in much of western Canada and Ontario. Reform's support for populist policies, such as a democratically elected and regionally equal Senate and more plebiscites and referendums in the political process, was very popular in Western Canada. In addition, Reform's backing of smaller government, lower taxes, the North American Free Trade Agreement, and social conservative policies as well as its opposition to the Goods and Services Tax won over many conservatives in the West and Ontario.

Small-"c" conservatives in the West and Ontario who traditionally supported the Progressive Conservatives were drawn to Reform for several reasons. These conservative voters were disenchanted with the PCs for imposing the Goods and Services Tax and failing to reduce Canada's growing deficit and national debt. There was also the PC government's failure to deliver a democratically elected Senate as it had promised (while appointing unelected Senators in 1990, as it was obligated to do), its socially progressive policies, and its repeated failed attempts to officially bring Quebec into the Constitution, a focus that was seen as coming at the expense of attention to the concerns of other regions, especially the West.

Reform had little money and few resources, with its candidates and campaign staff flying economy class, staying in cheap hotels, and relying on pre-packaged lunches, all which helped endear them to money-conscious fiscal conservatives.[19] The campaign was managed by seasoned political strategist Rick Anderson. Some Reformers had been annoyed that a moderate former Liberal and Ottawa insider had been made campaign manager, but he soon proved his political ability.[20]

Reform found itself embroiled in controversy when Toronto-area candidate John Beck made a series of anti-immigrant remarks in an interview with Excalibur, the York University student paper. York students confronted Manning with the remarks, who immediately denounced them. Within an hour, Beck was forced to withdraw his candidacy.[21]

New Democrat

The New Democratic Party suffered badly in the election. With the rising unpopularity of the Ontario NDP government of Bob Rae, many traditional NDP voters were disenchanted and moved to the Liberal Party. In Western Canada, a portion of the NDP vote was attracted to the right-wing Reform party as a protest vote, as that party's populism struck a chord despite the sharp ideological differences between the two parties (as the centre-left NDP and right-wing Reform were on completely opposite sides of the political spectrum), and some went to the Liberals as well. Nationally, frustration with the PC party was also so high that some traditional NDP voters moved to the Liberals as a strategic vote. Although McLaughlin was returned in her own seat (Yukon), elsewhere the NDP was only truly competitive in Saskatchewan - even there, they finished third place in the popular vote although it was still enough to tie the Liberals for a plurality of seats at five (one more than the Reform Party).

Progressive Conservative

The PC campaign was headed by chair John Tory and chief strategist Allan Gregg, both experienced Mulroney loyalists. It was the best-funded campaign, but it quickly ran into organizational problems. The party failed to get literature distributed to the local campaigns, forcing all the PC candidates to print their own material and thus preventing the party from putting forth a unified message.[22] The Progressive Conservative campaign was focused on three issues: job creation, deficit reduction, and improving quality of life; the party, however, had little credibility on the first two, as over their time in office both unemployment and the deficit had increased dramatically. The party was also reluctant to propose new fiscal or social programs, as in Quebec they had to appeal to nationalists who opposed federal government intervention, and in the West had to appeal to Reform supporters who opposed government intervention in general.

In addition, what remained of the initial euphoria over Campbell quickly wore off as the campaign progressed. Her style was initially seen as frank and honest, but as her numbers dropped she was seen as condescending and pretentious. The Tories also continued to be dogged by the long shadow of the unpopular Mulroney.

Following their devastating defeat, Campbell joked "Gee, I'm glad I didn't sell my car" during her concession speech.[23] She resigned as party leader in December.

Leaders debates

Polls during the campaign
FirmDatePCLPCNDPBQRefLead
Angus Reid[24] September 9353788102
Comquest ResearchSeptember 143633810113
Angus ReidSeptember 16353561111Tie
CBCSeptember 223136711135
GallupSeptember 253037810137
Compass ResearchSeptember 2626388121412
EnvironicsSeptember 263136711135
Leger & LegerSeptember 262834712156
EkosSeptember 2825396121714
Angus ReidOctober 622378121815
Compass ResearchOctober 1622407131618
Leger & LegerOctober 1921396141718
Angus Reid[25] October 2218437141825
GallupOctober 2216447121925
Election resultOctober 2516.041.26.913.518.722.5
Over the course of the campaign, Progressive Conservative support steadily bled away to the other parties. The leaders debates were held October 3 and 4, and were generally regarded as inconclusive, with no party gaining a boost from them. The most memorable moment involved Lucien Bouchard continuously questioning Campbell about the real deficit in the 1993 budget and Campbell dodging the question. The French debates were held on the first night. Manning, who did not speak French, read prepared opening and closing remarks, but did not participate in the debate itself.

Chrétien ad

See main article: 1993 Chrétien attack ad. By October, the Progressive Conservatives were considerably behind the Liberals in the polls, and it was obvious that they would not be reelected. The consensus was that the Liberals were on their way to at least a minority government, and would probably win a majority without dramatic measures. Despite this, Campbell was still far more personally popular than Chrétien. Polling found that a considerable number of potential Liberal voters held negative opinions about Chrétien.

Believing they had no other way to keep the Liberals from winning a majority, Gregg and Tory decided to launch a series of commercials attacking Chrétien. While the ad's creators claim they had meant for the line "I would be very embarrassed if he became Prime Minister of Canada" to refer to Chrétien's policies and ethics, the intercutting with images of his face and its facial deformity (caused by Bell's palsy) were interpreted by many as an attack on Chrétien's appearance. The ad quickly received widespread attention as the Liberal war room under Roméo LeBlanc immediately contacted media outlets. This generated a severe backlash from all sides of the spectrum, including some PC candidates, and Campbell ordered them off the air.[26]

Chrétien turned the situation to his advantage, comparing his opponents to the children who teased him when he was a boy. "When I was a kid people were laughing at me. But I accepted that because God gave me other qualities and I'm grateful." Chrétien's approval ratings shot up, nullifying the only advantage the Progressive Conservatives still had over him. The Tories also pointed out that Chrétien himself had used his half-paralyzed face in the campaign, with Liberal signs in Quebec that translated as "Strange-looking face, but reflect on what's inside." Furthermore, most newspapers and magazines had used similar photos that highlighted Chrétien's facial deformity.

Aside from raising Chrétien's personal popularity, it is unclear what effect the ad had on the election. Prior to the controversy, the Campbell Tories were already beset by many problems; notably the recession, the unpopular GST, and their support bases moving to Reform and the Bloc. Nonetheless, the negative backlash over the television spot proved to be the final nail in the Tories' coffin. Their support plummeted into the teens, all but assuring that the Liberals would win a majority government.

Issues

The most important issue of the 1993 election was the economy.[27] The nation was mired in the early 1990s recession, and unemployment was especially high. The federal deficit was also extremely high, and both the Reform and Progressive Conservatives focused on cutting it as the path to economic health. Reform proposed deep cuts to federal programs in order to do this, while the Progressive Conservatives were less specific. The Liberals also promised cuts, focusing on the unpopular and expensive plan to buy new military helicopters to replace the aging Sea Kings. They also promised new programs such as a limited public works programme and a national child care program. The Reform Party called for a "Zero in Three" plan that would reduce the deficit to zero in three years. The Liberals had a far more modest plan to reduce the deficit to 3% of GDP by the end of their first term. All opposition parties pledged to repeal the Goods and Services Tax. Once elected, however, the Liberals reneged on this pledge to much outcry, stating the Conservatives had understated the size of the deficit. Instead the GST remained. In some provinces it was Harmonized with the Provincial sales tax, while in other provinces the GST and the Provincial Sales Tax remained separate.

The 1988 election had been almost wholly focused on the issue of the Free Trade Agreement with the United States, and similarly, the 1993 election was preceded by the agreement on the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).[28] The Liberals opposed NAFTA and promised to try to renegotiate the FTA, but this was not a central campaign theme. The NDP did focus on opposition to NAFTA, but the Canadian people mostly felt that the free trade debate was over. When in office, the Liberals signed on to NAFTA with little opposition. Similarly, while constitutional issues had dominated the national debate for several years, two failed reform proposals led most to support giving the issue a rest. Chrétien promised not to reopen the constitution, and that under the Liberals any change would be incremental in nature. In Quebec the election was seen as a prelude to the next Quebec election and the referendum on secession that was sure to follow.

The Reform Party advanced proposals in a number of areas that challenged the status quo. It proposed extensive reform to Canada's parliamentary system, including more free votes, recall elections, and change to the Senate. The party also advocated a reduction in immigration levels and a retreat from official bilingualism.

Finances

The election was held under the Election Expenses Act of 1974. This forced parties to disclose most donations, but put few limits on who could donate and how much could be given. Individual donations up to $1,150 were given a tax credit, encouraging such pledges. The Conservatives had the largest budget, spending $10.4 million on their national campaign; the Liberals spent $9.9 million, while the NDP spent $7.4 million. The Bloc and Reform both spent less than $2 million on their national campaigns.[29] Actual election spending is far larger than these numbers indicate: each candidate raised substantial amounts of money independently of the national campaign. In this era there were also large expenses, such as polling and fundraising costs, that did not need to be disclosed.

In the year of the election, two traditional parties, the Liberals and Conservatives, each received about 60% of their funding from corporations and the rest from individuals. For the NDP half of the funding came from individuals, and a third came from trade unions. The Reform Party relied almost wholly on individual donations, with only some 12% coming from corporations. The Bloc relied almost solely on individual donations, as its party charter barred donations from corporations. The NDP had by far the most donors, with over 65,000, but the average donation was only $80. By contrast the 45,000 Conservative donors gave more than $200 on average.[30]

The NDP and Conservatives had more problems after the vote. The NDP found itself deeply in debt, but recouped some of it by selling their Ottawa headquarters to the new Ukrainian Embassy. The Conservatives, despite cutting back on spending late in the campaign, were some $7.5 million in debt by the end of the election, and it took years to clear this burden. The heavy debt load would hamper the party's ability to campaign in subsequent elections, and this would lead to its eventual merger with Reform's successor, the Canadian Alliance.

Minor parties

Fourteen registered political parties contested the election, a Canadian record. Jackson and Jackson, in their book Politics in Canada, argue that the proliferation of minor parties was an outgrowth of the single-issue political movements that had come to prominence in Canada in the 1980s.[31] For instance, the environmentalist, anti-abortion, and anti-free trade movements all had closely associated parties. Each candidate required a $1000 deposit, an increase from $200 in the last election. If the candidate did not win 15% of the vote, which none of the minor parties did, these deposits would be forfeit. Parties that nominated 50 candidates qualified as official parties and, most importantly, received government subsidies for advertising.[32] The smaller parties were not invited to the main leaders debate,[33] something Mel Hurtig of the National Party complained vehemently about. The Green Party of Canada Chief Agent Greg Vezina organized a debate between the leaders of seven of the minor parties on October 5, which was broadcast on CBC Newsworld and CPAC. The National Party did not attend.

Few of these parties were expected to win a seat. One exception was the National Party. Founded by Mel Hurtig, a prominent nationalist, it campaigned on a strongly economically nationalist, broadly centre-left platform focusing on opposition to the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). The party ran 171 candidates, and for a time polling indicated it could potentially have an impact. However, the party failed to make a significant impression and imploded due to internal party turmoil. Some time after the election it applied to Canada's Chief Election officer to de-register the party. Another prominent minor party was the Natural Law Party. Linked to Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, it advocated yogic flying as the solution to most of Canada's ills. It ran 231 candidates, more than some major parties. Its campaign was also accompanied by several million dollars of advertising, and it was successful in attracting media attention. Some accused its efforts of actually being government-subsidized marketing for yogic flying centres,[34] which are non-profit, non-religious meditation centres. Other minor parties included the Green Party of Canada which ran 79 candidates, Libertarian Party of Canada, the Marxist–Leninist Party of Canada and the Christian Heritage Party, which was mainly dedicated to opposing abortion. The election saw three minor parties focused on radical reform to the monetary system: the Canada Party, the Abolitionist Party, and the Party for the Commonwealth of Canada, which was formed by supporters of U.S. fringe politician Lyndon LaRouche.[32]

This election was also the last time that the Social Credit Party attempted to run candidates in an election. The party had been in headlong decline since losing its last Member of Parliament in 1980, and was now led by fundamentalist Christian preacher Ken Campbell. Campbell briefly changed the party's name to the "Christian Freedom Party" in an attempt to appeal to social conservatives. However, the party failed to nominate the minimum 50 candidates and was deregistered by Elections Canada.

The satirical Rhinoceros Party was likewise deregistered after they declined to contest the election, in protest of new electoral laws that required parties to run 50 candidates at a cost of $1,000 per riding. Unlike the Socreds, however, the Rhinos would eventually reform in 2006, once the 50-candidate requirement had been dropped, and began contesting federal elections again beginning with the 2008 election.

Several unrecognized parties also contested the election, including the Canadian Party for Renewal (which was closely aligned with the Communist Party of Canada (Marxist–Leninist)).

Candidates

See main article: List of MPs who stood down at the 1993 Canadian federal election.

Results

See main article: Results of the 1993 Canadian federal election. This election, like all previous Canadian elections, was conducted under a single-member plurality (or first past the post) system in which the country was carved into 295 electoral districts, or ridings, with each one electing one representative to the House of Commons. Those eligible to vote cast their ballot for a candidate in their electoral district and the candidate with the most votes in that district became that riding's Member of Parliament. The party that has the confidence of the House (ie. that can rely on the votes of the most MPs) forms the government. By convention, its leader is appointed Prime Minister and its Members of Parliament to the Cabinet of Canada by the Governor General.

For a complete list of MPs elected in the 1993 election, see 35th Canadian parliament.

PartyParty leader
  1. of
    candidates
SeatsPopular vote
1988Elected% Change%ChangeLiberalJean Chrétien2958379177+113.3%5,647,95241.24%+9.32%Bloc QuébécoisLucien Bouchard7510541,846,02413.52%ReformPreston Manning207align=right-152 2,559,24518.69%+16.59%New Democratic PartyAudrey McLaughlin29443449-79.1%939,5756.88%-13.50%Progressive ConservativeKim Campbell2951691542-98.8%2,186,42216.04%-26.97%Independent129align=right-31 60,4340.73%+0.56%NationalMel Hurtig170align=right-align=right-187,2511.38%Natural LawNeil Paterson231align=right-align=right-84,7430.63%No affiliation23align=right-align=right-align=right--48,9590.09%−0.10%Chris Lea79align=right-align=right-align=right--32,9790.24%-0.12%Christian HeritageHeather Stilwell59align=right-align=right-align=right--30,3580.22%-0.55%LibertarianHilliard Cox52align=right-align=right-align=right--14,6300.11%-0.14%AbolitionistJohn Turmel80align=right-align=right-9,1410.07%Joseph Thauberger56align=right-align=right-7,5060.06%CommonwealthGilles Gervais59align=right-align=right-align=right--7,3160.06%align=right-Marxist–LeninistHardial Bains51align=right-align=right-align=right--5,1360.04%+0.04%
    Vacant4 
Total2,155295295295±0.0%13,667,671100% 
Notes: *Party did not nominate candidates in the previous; "% change" refers to change from previous election.
Sources: http://www.elections.ca History of Federal Ridings since 1867

Vote and seat summaries


Synopsis of results

= Open seat

= Turnout is above national average

= Winning candidate held seat in previous House

= Incumbent had switched allegiance

= Previously incumbent in another riding

= Not incumbent; was previously elected to the House

= Incumbency arose from byelection gain

= Other incumbents renominated

= Previously a member of one of the provincial legislatures

= Multiple candidates

Results by riding — 1993 Canadian federal election[35]
RidingWinning partyTurnout
[36]
Votes[37]
19881st placeVotesShareMargin
#
Margin
%
2nd placeLibPCBQNDPNatlGreenOtherTotal
 
AB  PC  Ref15,350 47.07% 7,330 22.48%  Lib% 8,020 15,350 6,248 2,489 195 312 32,614
AB  PC  Ref17,725 58.00% 10,183 33.32%  Lib% 7,542 17,725[38] 3,854 1,050 294 94 30,559
AB  PC  Ref22,600 45.08% 7,443 14.85%  Lib% 15,157 22,600 7,466 2,149 1,743 355 484 183 50,137
AB  PC  Ref35,508 52.45% 17,609 26.01%  Lib% 17,899 35,508 10,424 1,592 1,361 308 343 268 67,703
AB  PC  Ref20,602 44.35% 5,591 12.04%  Lib% 15,011 20,602 5,229 1,310 853 175 134 3,136 46,450
AB  PC  Ref33,564 59.85% 22,277 39.72%  PC% 7,642 33,564 11,287 1,888 1,111 443 148 56,083
AB  PC  Ref41,630 61.22% 28,988 42.63%  PC% 11,087 41,630 12,642 1,099 910 249 301 85 68,003
AB  PC  Ref30,209 52.25% 14,895 25.76%  Lib% 15,314 30,209 9,090 1,194 1,068 483 347 116 57,821
AB  PC  Ref23,611 65.98% 17,180 48.01%  PC% 4,506 23,611 6,431 860 263 114 35,785
AB  NDP  Lib11,922 32.96% 115 0.32%  Ref% 11,922 11,807 2,672 7,976 1,049 212 171 231 51 80 36,171
AB  PC  Lib19,536 39.47% 202 0.41%  Ref% 19,536 19,334 4,592 3,427 2,174 256 77 103 49,499
AB  PC  Lib12,599 35.80% 12 0.03%  Ref% 12,599 12,587 3,485 1,671 4,507 186 119 41 35,195
AB  PC  Lib23,129 46.16% 3,219 6.42%  Ref% 23,129 19,910 3,203 1,988 1,457 194 149 78 50,108
AB  PC  Ref26,582 45.45% 7,012 11.99%  Lib% 19,570 26,582 9,385 2,148 447 269 81 58,482
AB  PC  Ref19,541 39.33% 404 0.81%  Lib% 19,137 19,541 5,617 2,513 2,129 284 286 92 83 49,682
AB  PC  Ref25,726 56.04% 14,137 30.80%  Lib% 11,589 25,726 5,714 1,296 1,222 242 117 45,906
AB  PC  Ref24,530 52.63% 12,660 27.16%  Lib% 11,870 24,530 7,092 1,283 1,586 247 46,608
AB  PC  Ref23,828 63.27% 17,316 45.98%  PC% 6,196 23,828 6,512 712 200 213 37,661
AB  PC  Ref22,439 54.71% 13,884 33.85%  Lib% 8,555 22,439 6,934 1,832 989 262 41,011
AB  PC  Ref25,761 60.22% 19,132 44.73%  Lib% 6,629 25,761 6,144 2,344 1,656 241 42,775
AB  PC  Ref31,876 64.81% 23,870 48.54%  PC% 6,614 31,876 8,006 1,313 1,074 297 49,180
AB  PC  Ref24,964 50.94% 11,104 22.66%  Lib% 13,860 24,964 5,884 1,435 2,219 257 294 90 49,003
AB  PC  Ref19,732 54.74% 11,552 32.05%  PC% 5,610 19,732 8,180 1,175 562 191 597 36,047
AB  PC  Ref26,210 63.41% 19,296 46.69%  Lib% 6,914 26,210 6,124 1,475 274 335 41,332
AB  PC  Ref30,986 63.75% 23,444 48.23%  PC% 6,902 30,986 7,542 1,067 809 204 457 642 48,609
AB  PC  Ref22,790 55.04% 13,826 33.39%  Lib% 8,964 22,790 5,799 1,811 1,147 251 441 202 41,405
BC  NDP  NDP18,273 34.15% 4,217 7.88%  Lib% 14,056 13,389 5,327 18,273 1,493 270 170 534 53,512
BC  PC  Ref19,259 41.95% 4,653 10.14%  Lib% 14,606 19,259 8,130 1,529 1,467 274 448 105 92 45,910
BC  PC  Ref11,510 36.44% 3,049 9.65%  Lib% 8,461 11,510 7,050 3,286 537 222 206 315 31,587
BC  NDP  Ref25,000 44.17% 13,466 23.79%  Lib% 11,534 25,000 5,461 9,365 3,283 299 1,313 276 72 56,603
BC  PC  Ref18,289 38.20% 3,680 7.69%  Lib% 14,609 18,289 10,054 2,725 1,254 190 172 354 213 12 47,872
BC  NDP  Ref16,352 35.29% 3,752 8.10%  NDP% 9,970 16,352 4,582 12,600 2,214 426 98 97 46,339
BC  PC  Ref23,494 45.91% 7,712 15.07%  Lib% 15,782 23,494 6,648 2,724 851 205 243 1,158 67 51,172
BC  PC  Ref30,667 49.10% 12,220 19.56%  Lib% 18,447 30,667 7,135 3,237 1,281 336 1,036 79 245 62,463
BC  NDP  NDP16,063 36.28% 4,216 9.52%  Ref% 10,776 11,847 3,857 16,063 1,399 133 41 154 44,270
BC  NDP  Ref17,050 48.42% 9,135 25.94%  Lib% 7,915 17,050 3,840 5,107 582 158 293 194 71 35,210
BC  NDP  Ref11,348 32.46% 728 2.08%  Lib% 10,620 11,348 3,111 5,483 2,983 191 809 336 79 34,960
BC  NDP  Ref20,168 36.71% 5,394 9.82%  Lib% 14,774 20,168 6,445 9,210 2,739 294 397 479 202 228 54,936
BC  NDP  Ref25,339 41.22% 11,499 18.71%  Lib% 13,840 25,339 5,614 12,018 3,470 507 323 361 61,472
BC  NDP  Ref16,262 29.33% 814 1.47%  Lib% 15,448 16,262 6,419 14,441 1,766 371 314 73 344 55,438
BC  NDP  Ref18,256 39.28% 6,376 13.72%  Lib% 11,880 18,256 3,673 7,823 3,418 254 1,015 158 46,477
BC  PC  Ref20,213 39.97% 4,279 8.46%  Lib% 15,934 20,213 7,765 3,220 2,220 448 493 147 134 50,574
BC  PC  Ref30,703 46.62% 15,015 22.80%  Lib% 15,688 30,703 12,629 4,562 1,082 211 666 134 179 65,854
BC  NDP  Ref20,930 42.44% 9,227 18.71%  NDP% 9,082 20,930 4,865 11,703 2,009 130 312 213 78 49,322
BC  NDP  Ref21,151 43.59% 9,268 19.10%  Lib% 11,883 21,151 6,150 7,201 1,181 267 472 217 48,522
BC  NDP  Ref20,257 33.97% 3,711 6.22%  Lib% 16,546 20,257 7,641 12,616 1,556 333 329 64 283 59,625
BC  NDP  Ref14,757 40.29% 6,231 17.01%  NDP% 8,147 14,757 4,463 8,526 176 203 351 36,623
BC  PC  Ref20,775 56.39% 13,584 36.87%  Lib% 7,191 20,775 4,153 4,051 295 199 63 116 36,843
BC  PC  Lib21,457 37.05% 3,557 6.14%  Ref% 21,457 17,900 11,033 3,633 2,271 333 336 282 512 155 57,912
BC  NDP  Ref26,480 37.21% 8,038 11.29%  Lib% 18,442 26,480 8,222 13,414 3,817 524 217 53 71,169
BC  NDP  Ref11,994 37.90% 4,408 13.93%  Lib% 7,586 11,994 2,137 6,535 2,420 150 178 647 31,647
BC  NDP  Ref22,390 36.94% 6,413 10.58%  Lib% 15,977 22,390 8,381 10,355 2,014 376 907 128 84 60,612
BC  PC  Ref32,198 44.11% 7,515 10.30%  Lib% 24,683 32,198 8,885 3,029 2,387 251 464 877 59 158 72,991
BC  PC  Lib20,095 31.09% 3,821 5.91%  PC% 20,095 11,235 16,274 9,830 5,144 670 616 254 232 279 64,629
BC  NDP  Lib14,237 35.98% 1,898 4.80%  NDP% 14,237 4,671 3,484 12,339 2,419 383 571 575 886 39,565
BC  Lib  Lib20,364 39.46% 8,919 17.28%  Ref% 20,364 11,445 9,002 5,552 3,331 376 594 208 190 549 51,611
BC  PC  Lib17,215 35.61% 4,923 10.18%  Ref% 17,215 12,292 11,359 3,625 2,113 287 418 427 601 48,337
BC  NDP  Lib21,557 37.21% 5,579 9.63%  Ref% 21,557 15,978 6,049 8,182 4,072 505 1,135 215 244 57,937
MB  PC  Lib12,130 33.00% 967 2.63%  Ref% 12,130 11,163 8,236 4,359 336 112 339 82 36,757
MB  NDP  Lib9,658 40.73% 907 3.83%  NDP% 9,658 2,275 2,438 8,751 590 23,712
MB  PC  Lib10,600 31.73% 735 2.20%  Ref% 10,600 9,865 5,267 7,412 260 33,404
MB  PC  Ref13,385 41.02% 4,653 14.26%  Lib% 8,732 13,385 7,833 1,808 355 399 115 32,627
MB  PC  Lib14,506 40.68% 4,705 13.19%  Ref% 14,506 9,801 7,036 3,029 935 179 175 35,661
MB  PC  Lib16,119 44.04% 2,656 7.26%  Ref% 16,119 13,463 3,765 1,818 1,212 157 69 36,603
MB  PC  Lib16,003 32.88% 3,488 7.17%  NDP% 16,003 12,412 5,687 12,515 1,402 179 400 79 48,677
MB  Lib  Lib30,042 63.36% 22,082 46.57%  Ref% 30,042 7,960 3,404 3,364 2,008 251 388 47,417
MB  Lib  Lib22,220 51.27% 8,480 19.57%  NDP% 22,220 4,150 2,001 13,740 772 212 110 135 43,340
MB  Lib  Lib13,905 50.17% 4,972 17.94%  NDP% 13,905 2,275 1,307 8,933 908 176 117 97 27,718
MB  PC  Lib25,950 49.60% 11,128 21.27%  Ref% 25,950 14,822 6,432 2,180 2,512 197 113 112 52,318
MB  Lib  Lib25,881 61.44% 20,593 48.88%  Ref% 25,881 5,288 3,903 3,512 3,099 225 76 143 42,127
MB  Lib  Lib21,613 54.95% 13,367 33.99%  Ref% 21,613 8,246 5,094 2,596 1,487 155 58 83 39,332
MB  NDP  NDP16,074 38.86% 219 0.53%  Lib% 15,855 5,829 2,112 16,074 900 150 362 81 41,363
NB  Lib  Lib26,843 66.41% 15,681 38.80%  PC% 26,843 11,162 2,413 40,418
NB  Lib  Lib30,117 76.15% 24,113 60.97%  PC% 30,117[39] 6,004 2,246 740 443 39,550
NB  PC  Lib13,970 43.11% 811 2.50%  PC% 13,970 3,831 13,159 1,016 431 32,407
NB  PC  Lib21,771 46.62% 8,152 17.45%  PC% 21,771 7,985 13,619 2,348 383 226 371 46,703
NB  PC  Lib21,777 46.49% 8,503 18.15%  PC% 21,777 8,283 13,274 2,254 1,256 46,844
NB  PC  Lib16,059 48.80% 1,017 3.09%  PC% 16,059 955 15,042 854 32,910
NB  Lib  Lib18,839 61.13% 11,803 38.30%  PC% 18,839 3,063 7,036 1,570 309 30,817
NB  Lib  Lib33,654 66.30% 26,403 52.02%  PC% 33,654 6,310 7,251 2,500 491 553 50,759
NB  Lib  Lib21,004 70.53% 15,091 50.67%  PC% 21,004 5,913 2,060 804 29,781
NB  PC  PC15,123 43.32% 3,388 9.70%  Lib% 11,735 2,201 15,123 1,433 146 226 3,687 359 34,910
NL  Lib  Lib26,230 74.77% 18,751 53.45%  PC% 26,230 7,479 1,003 370 35,082
NL  Lib  Lib24,912 80.30% 19,977 64.40%  PC% 24,912 4,935 757 418 31,022
NL  Lib  Lib24,202 78.08% 18,139 58.52%  PC% 24,202 6,063 530 200 30,995
NL  Lib  Lib26,879 82.21% 21,719 66.43%  PC% 26,879 5,160 658 32,697
NL  Lib  Lib8,721 77.14% 6,580 58.20%  PC% 8,721 2,141 443 11,305
NL  PC  Lib20,270 44.20% 950 2.07%  PC% 20,270 1,362 19,320 2,937 1,235 389 349 45,862
NL  PC  Lib24,023 55.06% 7,633 17.50%  PC% 24,023 1,030 16,390 1,752 432 43,627
NS  PC  Lib18,238 39.44% 8,832 19.10%  PC% 18,238 5,919 9,406 2,308 484 319 614 8,958 46,246
NS  Lib  Lib22,719 64.40% 14,841 42.07%  PC% 22,719 2,971 7,878 1,375 337 35,280
NS  Lib  Lib24,997 78.34% 22,241 69.70%  PC% 24,997 1,761 2,756 1,778 447 171 31,910
NS  Lib  Lib25,188 75.79% 21,457 64.57%  PC% 25,188 1,907 3,731 2,126 280 33,232
NS  PC  Lib16,329 43.52% 4,255 11.34%  PC% 16,329 5,897 12,074 2,446 512 266 37,524
NS  PC  Lib18,241 42.58% 2,582 6.03%  PC% 18,241 5,638 15,659 2,393 311 602 42,844
NS  Lib  Lib23,461 50.81% 12,619 27.33%  PC% 23,461 7,242 10,842 3,301 810 516 46,172
NS  Lib  Lib21,326 45.91% 11,726 25.24%  PC% 21,326 6,717 9,600 6,214 1,383 448 307 376 84 46,455
NS  PC  Lib27,089 46.00% 13,273 22.54%  PC% 27,089 11,433 13,816 5,009 1,070 472 58,889
NS  PC  Lib17,351 46.94% 5,291 14.31%  PC% 17,351 4,999 12,060 1,847 421 287 36,965
NS  Lib  Lib20,745 54.77% 12,156 32.09%  PC% 20,745 5,893 8,589 2,110 540 37,877
ON  Lib  Lib18,218 58.05% 11,595 36.94%  Ref% 18,218 6,623 3,613 2,696 235 31,385
ON  NDP  Lib17,639 40.73% 9,602 22.17%  NDP% 17,639 6,844 4,316 8,037 1,139 265 335 4,615 116 43,306
ON  PC  Lib17,675 43.26% 5,779 14.14%  Ref% 17,675 11,896 7,856 2,064 500 287 224 274 82 40,858
ON  PC  Lib35,203 51.65% 17,007 24.95%  Ref% 35,203 18,196 12,134 1,925 455 245 68,158
ON  NDP  Lib24,686 51.46% 12,823 26.73%  Ref% 24,686 11,863 5,831 3,317 1,227 192 482 112 258 47,968
ON  Lib  Lib23,558 61.07% 18,177 47.12%  NDP% 23,558 4,356 3,601 5,381 976 389 148 166 38,575
ON  PC  Lib25,689 49.07% 12,751 24.36%  Ref% 25,689 12,938 9,835 2,259 1,001 160 323 144 52,349
ON  PC  Lib22,880 44.26% 9,303 17.99%  PC% 22,880 12,035 13,577 1,511 537 301 859 51,700
ON  PC  Lib22,121 39.26% 3,231 5.73%  Ref% 22,121 18,890 9,773 2,980 1,802 372 407 56,345
ON  Lib  Lib46,830 61.60% 34,388 45.23%  Ref% 46,830 12,442 11,930 2,795 839 498 390 236 65 76,025
ON  Lib  Lib19,511 72.23% 16,921 62.64%  Ref% 19,511 2,590 2,470 2,441 27,012
ON  Lib  Lib20,217 73.78% 17,704 64.61%  NDP% 20,217 2,139 1,255 2,513 459 265 254 300 27,402
ON  PC  Lib21,630 53.70% 12,296 30.53%  PC% 21,630 6,819 9,334 1,540 403 206 349 40,281
ON  PC  Lib22,504 59.86% 15,266 40.61%  PC% 22,504 6,068 7,238 1,395 319 69 37,593
ON  PC  Lib25,874 49.77% 10,763 20.71%  PC% 25,874 7,921 15,111 1,405 1,008 252 303 83 25 51,982
ON  PC  Lib22,383 36.76% 3,840 6.31%  Ref% 22,383 18,543 14,940 2,529 1,169 271 350 707 60,892
ON  Lib  Lib28,634 71.62% 24,287 60.75%  Ref% 28,634 4,347 4,262 2,091 384 262 39,980
ON  PC  Lib17,439 43.05% 6,310 15.58%  PC% 17,439 8,302 11,129 2,164 242 1,183 51 40,510
ON  PC  Lib19,802 48.70% 8,049 19.79%  Ref% 19,802 11,753 5,894 1,842 586 197 591 40,665
ON  Lib  Lib21,974 62.14% 15,562 44.01%  Ref% 21,974 6,412 4,751 2,000 226 35,363
ON  NDP  Lib25,211 55.14% 12,556 27.46%  NDP% 25,211 6,029 1,484 12,655 196 150 45,725
ON  PC  Lib25,739 54.35% 15,254 32.21%  Ref% 25,739 10,485 9,242 1,039 499 202 154 47,360
ON  Lib  Lib28,119 61.24% 18,561 40.42%  Ref% 28,119 9,558 4,936 1,849 661 253 105 438 45,919
ON  PC  Lib19,458 42.11% 5,152 11.15%  PC% 19,458 8,673 14,306 2,316 871 284 303 46,211
ON  Lib  Lib44,775 80.22% 40,189 72.00%  PC% 44,775 4,458 4,586 1,295 456 245 55,815
ON  PC  Lib24,359 39.24% 8,876 14.30%  Ref% 24,359 15,483 12,825 2,904 2,018 255 318 3,543[40] 375 62,080
ON  Lib  Lib24,200 53.82% 13,639 30.33%  Ref% 24,200 10,561 7,300 1,657 1,248 44,966
ON  PC  Lib22,278 37.00% 3,928 6.52%  PC% 22,278 16,826 18,350 1,458 564 307 420 60,203
ON  Lib  Lib22,999 67.30% 17,185 50.29%  Ref% 22,999 5,814 2,324 2,262 425 228 123 34,175
ON  Lib  Lib27,221 57.30% 16,897 35.57%  Ref% 27,221 10,324 5,460 3,626 547 331 47,509
ON  Lib  Lib22,592 58.65% 16,735 43.45%  Ref% 22,592 5,857 5,789 3,143 606 396 134 38,517
ON  PC  Lib29,695 45.81% 13,150 20.29%  Ref% 29,695 16,545 14,539 2,555 672 353 460 64,819
ON  PC  Lib24,082 50.10% 13,119 27.29%  PC% 24,082 8,851 10,963 2,012 997 1,165 48,070
ON  PC  Lib21,845 44.11% 7,993 16.14%  PC% 21,845 10,464 13,852 2,064 243 782 272 49,522
ON  Lib  Lib22,409 64.84% 15,300 44.27%  Ref% 22,409 7,109 2,072 2,194 608 167 34,559
ON  Lib  Lib23,177 63.78% 17,559 48.32%  Ref% 23,177 5,618 5,015 1,368 1,014 146 36,338
ON  Lib  Lib32,372 56.46% 21,437 37.39%  PC% 32,372 7,175 10,935 4,051 1,768 376 663 57,340
ON  PC  Lib26,616 50.51% 14,402 27.33%  Ref% 26,616 12,214 10,413 2,373 438 475 165 52,694
ON  Lib  Lib20,314 48.63% 10,913 26.12%  PC% 20,314 8,101 9,401 1,508 438 169 1,600 245 41,776
ON  PC  Lib34,988 49.40% 18,265 25.79%  PC% 34,988 15,743 16,723 1,697 921 262 333 166 70,833
ON  Lib  Lib26,567 52.57% 12,959 25.64%  PC% 26,567 8,071 13,608 1,026 474 196 538 59 50,539
ON  PC  Lib29,048 52.19% 14,723 26.45%  Ref% 29,048 14,325 8,731 2,182 935 307 128 55,656
ON  Lib  Lib28,279 55.83% 19,042 37.59%  PC% 28,279 8,704 9,237 2,614 830 282 567 139 50,652
ON  PC  Lib31,085 48.31% 15,919 24.74%  PC% 31,085 12,900 15,166 2,547 1,220 385 403 310 113 210 64,339
ON  PC  Lib27,232 53.87% 17,406 34.43%  Ref% 27,232 9,826 9,126 2,658 563 228 238 521 161 50,553
ON  PC  Lib35,909 46.50% 16,214 21.00%  PC% 35,909 17,937 19,695 1,692 973 469 458 85 77,218
ON  Lib  Lib32,167 63.84% 22,694 45.04%  Ref% 32,167 9,473 6,427 1,382 393 323 148 73 50,386
ON  PC  Lib21,478 46.59% 9,886 21.44%  Ref% 21,478 11,592 10,763 981 452 234 124 478 46,102
ON  PC  Lib53,567 55.87% 33,349 34.78%  Ref% 53,567 20,218 18,607 2,219 487 498 283 95,879
ON  Lib  Lib36,208 59.64% 25,404 41.85%  PC% 36,208 9,798 10,804 2,078 880 263 455 220 60,706
ON  PC  Lib20,567 47.10% 9,672 22.15%  Ref% 20,567 10,895 9,707 1,470 511 169 263 82 43,664
ON  NDP  Lib25,237 57.19% 15,040 34.08%  NDP% 25,237 5,604 2,395 10,197 346 173 122 53 44,127
ON  Lib  Lib25,403 62.81% 18,583 45.95%  Ref% 25,403 6,820 6,608 1,322 220 73 40,446
ON  Lib  Lib23,986 49.54% 12,474 25.77%  Ref% 23,986 11,512 10,199 1,667 292 248 347 162 48,413
ON  PC  Lib34,124 46.56% 14,927 20.37%  PC% 34,124 17,347 19,197 1,643 544 430 73,285
ON  PC  Lib38,680 43.35% 10,583 11.86%  Ref% 38,680 28,097 16,872 2,746 869 352 402 692 521 89,231
ON  NDP  Lib15,651 38.27% 3,825 9.35%  Ref% 15,651 11,826 6,140 6,102 391 263 386 134 40,893
ON  Lib  Lib25,962 51.91% 14,724 29.44%  NDP% 25,962 4,700 6,126 11,238 796 352 595 75 165 50,009
ON  Lib  Lib36,485 65.93% 28,482 51.47%  Ref% 36,485 8,003 6,971 2,169 1,038 251 358 63 55,338
ON  Lib  Lib28,422 63.36% 22,035 49.12%  Ref% 28,422 6,387 6,344 1,836 1,082 215 340 230 44,856
ON  Lib  Lib34,224 70.47% 29,108 59.94%  PC% 34,224 3,830 5,116 3,155 532 438 652 445 172 48,564
ON  PC  Lib19,669 41.13% 7,016 14.67%  Ref% 19,669 12,653 10,857 2,380 417 214 935 471 230 47,826
ON  Lib  Lib22,358 54.36% 15,711 38.20%  Ref% 22,358 6,647 5,668 3,855 1,320 371 430 105 377 41,131
ON  PC  Lib20,427 44.22% 7,405 16.03%  Ref% 20,427 13,022 9,529 2,164 581 263 181 26 46,193
ON  PC  Lib20,125 43.26% 7,940 17.07%  Ref% 20,125 12,185 10,835 1,909 486 184 647 152 46,523
ON  PC  Lib27,575 47.60% 14,118 24.37%  Ref% 27,575 13,457 11,623 3,056 1,852 367 57,930
ON  Lib  Lib26,483 57.08% 17,465 37.64%  Ref% 26,483 9,018 8,246 1,275 640 171 561 46,394
ON  Lib  Lib25,725 50.55% 15,437 30.33%  Ind% 25,725 6,204 7,038 1,351 144 10,288[41] 145 50,895
ON  PC  Lib27,707 49.98% 15,689 28.30%  PC% 27,707 7,048 12,018 5,937 1,091 839 479 214 104 55,437
ON  PC  Lib20,331 47.57% 10,666 24.95%  PC% 20,331 9,055 9,665 2,649 178 610 255 42,743
ON  NDP  Lib21,427 52.96% 12,457 30.79%  NDP% 21,427 6,576 3,143 8,970 188 155 40,459
ON  PC  Lib21,084 52.50% 12,669 31.55%  Ref% 21,084 8,415 8,154 1,599 320 190 184 212 40,158
ON  PC  Lib20,041 50.48% 9,740 24.53%  Ref% 20,041 10,301 6,598 1,524 373 195 250 422 39,704
ON  Lib  Lib21,335 54.44% 13,021 33.23%  Ref% 21,335 8,314 5,664 2,771 578 212 276 40 39,190
ON  Lib  Lib24,710 59.72% 15,908 38.45%  PC% 24,710 6,022 8,802 942 273 201 329 94 41,373
ON  Lib  Lib33,867 66.14% 25,271 49.35%  Ref% 33,867 8,596 6,014 1,425 286 233 368 419 51,208
ON  PC  Ref25,446 37.91% 182 0.27%  Lib% 25,264 25,446 11,644 1,872 1,345 307 409 794 41 67,122
ON  PC  Lib23,116 40.61% 5,618 9.87%  Ref% 23,116 17,498 13,141 1,956 845 300 67 56,923
ON  PC  Lib23,928 48.99% 9,917 20.31%  Ref% 23,928 14,011 7,448 2,799 568 86 48,840
ON  PC  Lib27,775 54.30% 15,276 29.86%  PC% 27,775 5,727 12,499 2,641 1,259 313 481 245 211 51,151
ON  Lib  Lib27,080 63.40% 19,582 45.84%  PC% 27,080 5,901 7,498 1,153 579 424 79 42,714
ON  Lib  Lib27,951 66.08% 22,163 52.40%  Ref% 27,951 5,788 3,679 3,675 512 202 405 86 42,298
ON  NDP  Lib19,801 57.26% 13,236 38.28%  NDP% 19,801 5,378 2,836 6,565 34,580
ON  Lib  Lib24,277 65.05% 18,702 50.11%  Ref% 24,277 5,575 3,575 3,372 439 81 37,319
ON  PC  Lib17,457 59.79% 12,947 44.34%  PC% 17,457 3,870 4,510 2,582 296 483 29,198
ON  NDP  Lib17,085 55.47% 8,866 28.79%  NDP% 17,085 4,370 8,219 443 394 289 30,800
ON  NDP  Lib20,472 50.95% 9,500 23.65%  NDP% 20,472 3,143 3,242 10,972 912 398 613 425 40,177
ON  PC  Lib20,511 36.74% 4,605 8.25%  Ref% 20,511 15,906 12,378 2,046 622 200 407 3,584 178 55,832
ON  PC  Lib26,269 42.14% 10,353 16.61%  Ref% 26,269 15,916 15,109 2,822 449 942 332 493 62,332
ON  Lib  Lib25,533 53.98% 13,632 28.82%  Ref% 25,533 11,901 5,465 3,736 310 295 64 47,304
ON  PC  Lib20,415 35.80% 1,770 3.10%  PC% 20,415 15,400 18,645 2,000 563 57,023
ON  Lib  Lib28,622 61.26% 20,779 44.48%  PC% 28,622 7,108 7,843 1,687 681 249 285 203 42 46,720
ON  Lib  Lib28,347 72.77% 23,920 61.41%  Ref% 28,347 4,427 1,783 3,579 141 406 139 132 38,954
ON  NDP  Lib22,960 55.60% 13,939 33.76%  NDP% 22,960 4,164 4,577 9,021 154 304 114 41,294
ON  Lib  Lib27,128 69.65% 23,175 59.50%  Ind% 27,128 2,140 2,684 1,559 737 236 210 3,953[42] 304 38,951
ON  Lib  Lib71,535 63.30% 51,389 45.47%  Ref% 71,535 20,146 15,484 3,006 1,247 679 915 113,012
ON  Lib  Lib25,150 70.12% 19,837 55.31%  Ref% 25,150 5,313 2,508 1,971 276 140 509 35,867
ON  Lib  Lib25,396 79.83% 22,011 69.19%  Ref% 25,396 3,385 1,506 1,074 209 243 31,813
ON  PC  Lib26,932 38.92% 4,627 6.69%  Ref% 26,932 22,305 16,114 1,709 675 406 956 95 69,192
PE  Lib  Lib10,170 61.67% 4,782 29.00%  PC% 10,170 5,388 934 16,492
PE  Lib  Lib10,687 57.61% 3,717 20.04%  PC% 10,687 6,970 893 18,550
PE  Lib  Lib11,976 60.57% 6,707 33.92%  PC% 11,976 744 5,269 1,143 350 123 167 19,772
PE  Lib  Lib10,579 60.77% 5,080 29.18%  PC% 10,579 5,499 761 249 320 17,408
QC  PC  BQ19,076 46.22% 4,525 10.96%  PC% 6,696 14,551 19,076 951 41,274
QC  PC  BQ22,686 45.06% 1,658 3.29%  Lib% 21,028 4,442 22,686 676 476 551 486 50,345
QC  PC  BQ26,163 43.10% 532 0.88%  Lib% 25,631 7,066 26,163 958 747 139 60,704
QC  PC  BQ23,360 47.25% 9,126 18.46%  Lib% 14,234 10,959 23,360 888 49,441
QC  PC  Ind20,343 40.45% 2,142 4.26%  BQ% 7,273 4,108 18,201 365 20,343 50,290
QC  PC  BQ25,873 51.40% 9,998 19.86%  Lib% 15,875 7,602 25,873 987 50,337
QC  PC  BQ31,671 57.72% 18,984 34.60%  PC% 7,899 12,687 31,671 1,174 1,138 297 54,866
QC  PC  BQ16,981 40.65% 1,150 2.75%  PC% 8,361 15,831 16,981 601 41,774
QC  PC  BQ35,952 60.88% 19,789 33.51%  Lib% 16,163 5,271 35,952 593 272 803 59,054
QC  PC  BQ48,214 59.41% 29,484 36.33%  Lib% 18,730 11,840 48,214 858 1,010 502 81,154
QC  PC  Lib12,007 43.59% 2,770 10.06%  BQ% 12,007 5,929 9,237 370 27,543
QC  PC  BQ18,238 41.99% 53 0.12%  Lib% 18,185 5,194 18,238 1,026 480 308 43,431
QC  PC  BQ17,836 40.76% 1,796 4.10%  Lib% 16,040 7,504 17,836 553 156 563 380 722 43,754
Chambly[43] QC  PC  BQ36,485 59.69% 18,682 30.57%  Lib% 17,803 4,760 36,485 1,796 277 61,121
QC  PC  BQ23,650 48.83% 10,567 21.82%  PC% 11,254 13,083 23,650 449 48,436
QC  PC  BQ38,565 59.37% 23,385 36.00%  Lib% 15,180 8,150 38,565 1,258 1,487 318 64,958
QC  PC  BQ23,617 61.97% 16,457 43.18%  Lib% 7,160 6,800 23,617 533 38,110
QC  PC  BQ34,652 58.01% 16,531 27.68%  Lib% 18,121 5,782 34,652 858 317 59,730
QC  PC  BQ29,511 63.90% 18,385 39.81%  PC% 5,000 11,126 29,511 548 46,185
QC  PC  BQ24,923 54.87% 13,999 30.82%  Lib% 10,924 8,971 24,923 605 45,423
QC  PC  BQ19,428 58.42% 11,963 35.97%  Lib% 7,465 5,431 19,428 345 379 210 33,258
QC  PC  BQ13,224 45.17% 3,096 10.57%  Lib% 10,128 5,425 13,224 209 291 29,277
QC  Lib  Lib39,283 55.49% 14,271 20.16%  BQ% 39,283 4,478 25,012 1,099 737 189 70,798
QC  PC  BQ26,170 61.37% 15,495 36.33%  Lib% 10,675 3,723 26,170 1,050 588 439 42,645
QC  Lib  Lib27,988 53.26% 13,695 26.06%  BQ% 27,988 3,244 14,293 1,346 401 468 4,583 225 52,548
QC  PC  BQ41,061 66.25% 30,953 49.94%  Lib% 10,108 8,784 41,061 745 1,285 61,983
QC  PC  BQ25,129 67.63% 18,484 49.74%  PC% 4,528 6,645 25,129 413 444 37,159
QC  PC  BQ18,510 52.86% 10,459 29.87%  PC% 7,476 8,051 18,510 440 537 35,014
QC  PC  BQ27,490 43.05% 476 0.75%  Lib% 27,014 7,750 27,490 708 699 199 63,860
QC  PC  BQ27,258 75.56% 22,086 61.22%  Lib% 5,172 3,201 27,258 443 36,074
QC  PC  Lib39,732 67.45% 27,718 47.06%  BQ% 39,732 4,717 12,014 822 559 618 441 58,903
QC  Lib  Lib30,869 59.51% 13,590 26.20%  BQ% 30,869 2,378 17,279 707 418 223 51,874
QC  PC  BQ41,822 60.68% 23,171 33.62%  Lib% 18,651 7,169 41,822 820 464 68,926
QC  Lib  BQ25,060 61.79% 15,120 37.28%  Lib% 9,940 2,156 25,060[44] 1,237 652 1,050 131 332 40,558
QC  PC  BQ31,462 55.19% 12,431 21.81%  Lib% 19,031 4,548 31,462 640 252 675 395 57,003
QC  PC  BQ31,491 51.94% 15,221 25.11%  Lib% 16,270 11,131 31,491 662 587 488 60,629
QC  PC  Lib28,449 46.24% 1,989 3.23%  BQ% 28,449 4,167 26,460 678 280 546 945 61,525
QC  PC  BQ40,487 61.52% 26,203 39.82%  Lib% 14,284 9,185 40,487 1,186 667 65,809
QC  PC  BQ38,892 65.97% 24,640 41.79%  Lib% 14,252 4,561 38,892 999 251 58,955
QC  PC  BQ26,956 53.78% 12,068 24.07%  Lib% 14,888 7,576 26,956 707 50,127
QC  PC  BQ33,879 55.68% 18,206 29.92%  Lib% 15,673 9,313 33,879 784 882 313 60,844
QC  PC  BQ14,859 54.98% 8,847 32.73%  PC% 5,706 6,012 14,859 451 27,028
QC  PC  BQ18,331 57.33% 7,921 24.77%  Lib% 10,410 2,448 18,331 218 570 31,977
QC  PC  BQ17,214 44.72% 3,612 9.38%  Lib% 13,602 6,026 17,214 494 197 750 212 38,495
QC  PC  BQ34,678 58.89% 22,866 38.83%  Lib% 11,812 2,449 34,678 682 8,930 334 58,885
QC  Lib  Lib39,598 82.94% 36,274 75.98%  BQ% 39,598 2,758 3,324 796 300 312 537 118 47,743
QC  Lib  Lib28,646 70.72% 22,913 56.56%  BQ% 28,646 2,618 5,733 1,416 661 425 673 336 40,508
QC  PC  Lib21,697 47.05% 4,439 9.63%  BQ% 21,697 4,011 17,258 2,055 695 399 46,115
QC  Lib  Lib20,064 51.98% 4,916 12.74%  BQ% 20,064 1,686 15,148 708 678 317 38,601
QC  PC  Lib39,974 64.98% 29,262 47.57%  BQ% 39,974 8,106 10,712 864 474 480 386 518 61,514
QC  PC  Lib17,313 40.27% 2,826 6.57%  BQ% 17,313 9,408 14,487 674 716 399 42,997
QC  PC  BQ24,065 53.63% 13,683 30.49%  Lib% 10,382 6,632 24,065 636 875 2,281 44,871
QC  PC  BQ27,788 53.83% 13,833 26.80%  Lib% 13,955 7,052 27,788 1,027 853 786 159 51,620
QC  PC  BQ34,594 59.59% 20,443 35.22%  Lib% 14,151 6,553 34,594 971 289 1,122 371 58,051
QC  PC  BQ31,558 66.52% 20,625 43.48%  Lib% 10,933 4,455 31,558 337 157 47,440
QC  PC  BQ22,235 52.25% 12,231 28.74%  PC% 9,159 10,004 22,235 479 676 42,553
QC  PC  BQ23,016 59.87% 13,541 35.22%  Lib% 9,475 4,619 23,016 335 400 599 38,444
QC  PC  BQ20,109 59.96% 13,246 39.50%  Lib% 6,863 6,065 20,109 500 33,537
QC  PC  BQ29,414 62.95% 16,588 35.50%  Lib% 12,826 2,519 29,414 1,037 646 282 46,724
QC  Lib  Lib21,883 52.41% 6,609 15.83%  BQ% 21,883 2,196 15,274 969 400 423 612 41,757
QC  Lib  Lib25,940 61.72% 17,990 42.80%  BQ% 25,940 4,507 7,950 1,662 581 558 125 381 325 42,029
QC  PC  BQ34,959 56.90% 15,344 24.97%  Lib% 19,615 4,520 34,959 903 339 868 240 61,444
QC  PC  BQ28,014 57.38% 17,890 36.64%  Lib% 10,124 9,834 28,014 848 48,820
QC  PC  BQ29,753 55.88% 15,410 28.94%  Lib% 14,343 7,780 29,753 497 773 100 53,246
QC  Lib  Lib32,190 70.05% 23,718 51.61%  BQ% 32,190 3,414 8,472 895 292 347 345 45,955
QC  Lib  Lib28,799 61.16% 15,920 33.81%  BQ% 28,799 4,021 12,879 583 499 309 47,090
QC  PC  Lib25,200 54.06% 6,304 13.52%  BQ% 25,200 1,909 18,896 236 372 46,613
QC  Lib  BQ27,125 55.69% 12,971 26.63%  Lib% 14,154 5,836 27,125 601 763 225 48,704
QC  PC  PC29,758 52.37% 8,210 14.45%  BQ% 4,458 29,758 21,548 446 523 86 56,819
QC  PC  BQ22,540 55.74% 13,292 32.87%  Lib% 9,248 7,819 22,540 529 299 40,435
QC  PC  BQ58,030 68.87% 42,928 50.95%  Lib% 15,102 9,825 58,030 900 403 84,260
QC  PC  BQ24,927 53.43% 13,977 29.96%  PC% 9,882 10,950 24,927 370 522 46,651
QC  PC  Lib31,148 47.76% 6,010 9.22%  BQ% 31,148 6,471 25,138 1,107 727 626 65,217
QC  PC  BQ38,633 67.31% 26,501 46.17%  Lib% 12,132 5,269 38,633 695 470 194 57,393
Verdun—Saint-Paul[45] QC  PC  Lib19,644 43.69% 549 1.22%  BQ% 19,644 3,864 19,095 860 130 432 598 115 228 44,966
SK  PC  Ref12,292 40.45% 3,836 12.62%  Lib% 8,456 12,292 4,134 4,981 392 134 30,389
SK  NDP  NDP9,438 31.14% 1,238 4.08%  Ref% 8,078 8,200 3,882 9,438 599 112 30,309
SK  NDP  Ref10,432 30.34% 310 0.90%  NDP% 9,354 10,432 4,204 10,122 158 117 34,387
SK  NDP  Lib11,601 38.61% 2,506 8.34%  NDP% 11,601 5,702 1,424 9,095 445 1,655 125 30,047
SK  NDP  NDP12,879 35.85% 1,025 2.85%  Lib% 11,854 7,665 2,668 12,879 779 80 35,925
SK  NDP  NDP11,166 34.43% 1,075 3.31%  Lib% 10,091 7,317 3,287 11,166 394 177 32,432
SK  PC  Lib19,555 44.21% 10,161 22.97%  NDP% 19,555[46] 6,934 6,943 9,394 734 228 192 189 64 44,233
SK  NDP  NDP12,266 30.85% 1,066 2.68%  Lib% 11,200 11,149 4,114 12,266 652 188 114 77 39,760
SK  NDP  Lib14,716 35.31% 3,202 7.68%  NDP% 14,716 10,281 3,726 11,514 784 205 370 81 41,677
SK  NDP  Lib12,838 34.34% 1,683 4.50%  Ref% 12,838 11,155 3,530 8,546 904 255 158 37,386
SK  PC  Lib10,917 32.43% 591 1.76%  Ref% 10,917 10,326 5,042 5,541 1,565 269 33,660
SK  PC  Ref11,486 34.88% 825 2.51%  Lib% 10,661 11,486 5,119 5,448 216 32,930
SK  NDP  NDP9,772 31.23% 729 2.33%  Ref% 7,364 9,043 4,299 9,772 609 202 31,289
SK  NDP  Ref10,605 32.68% 1,074 3.31%  Lib% 9,531 10,605 2,825 9,487 32,448
Terr  Lib  Lib6,685 69.79% 4,715 49.22%  PC% 6,685 1,970 924 9,579
Terr  Lib  Lib8,867 62.47% 6,867 48.38%  Ref% 8,867 2,000 1,893 896 213 325 14,194
Terr  NDP  NDP6,252 43.34% 2,893 20.06%  Lib% 3,359 1,891 2,566 6,252 296 61 14,425

Results by province

Party nameBCABSKMBONQCNBNSPENLNTYKTotal
    LiberalSeats:645129819911472align=right-177
Popular vote:28.125.132.145.052.933.056.052.060.167.365.423.241.3
    Bloc QuébécoisSeats:     54      54
Vote:     49.3      13.5
    ReformSeats:2422411 align=right-align=right-align=right-align=right-align=right-align=right-52
Vote:36.452.327.222.420.1 8.513.31.01.08.413.118.7
    New Democratic PartySeats:2style="text-align:right;"-51style="text-align:right;"-style="text-align:right;"-style="text-align:right;"-style="text-align:right;"-style="text-align:right;"-style="text-align:right;"-style="text-align:right;"-19
Vote:15.54.126.616.76.01.54.96.85.23.57.743.46.9
    Progressive ConservativeSeats:style="text-align:right;"-style="text-align:right;"-style="text-align:right;"-style="text-align:right;"-style="text-align:right;"-11style="text-align:right;"-style="text-align:right;"-style="text-align:right;"-style="text-align:right;"-style="text-align:right;"-2
Vote:13.514.611.311.917.613.527.923.532.026.716.217.716.0
    OtherSeats:style="text-align:right;"-style="text-align:right;"-style="text-align:right;"-style="text-align:right;"-style="text-align:right;"-1style="text-align:right;"-style="text-align:right;"-    1
Vote:0.30.41.00.10.81.11.32.1    0.8
Total seats32261414997510114721295
Parties that won no seats:NationalVote:4.12.41.03.11.20.10.31.10.50.5 2.11.4Natural LawVote:0.60.60.30.40.50.80.50.90.20.80.9 0.6Vote:0.70.3  0.30.1 0.10.3 1.4 0.2Christian HeritageVote:0.40.20.20.30.3 0.30.30.70.2 0.40.2LibertarianVote:0.3   0.20.1      0.1AbolitionistVote:    0.10.2      0.1Vote:0.10.10.30.3  0.3     0.1CommonwealthVote:     0.2      0.1Marxist–LeninistVote:    0.1       0.0

Ten closest ridings

Results analysis

Progressive Conservatives

The election was a debacle for the Tories. Their popular vote plunged from 43% to 16%, losing more than half their vote from 1988. They lost all but two of the 156 seats they held when Parliament was dissolved—far surpassing the Liberals' 95-seat loss in 1984. It was the worst defeat, both in absolute terms and in terms of percentage of seats lost, for a governing party at the federal level in Canada, and among the worst ever suffered for a governing party in a Westminster system. It is also one of the few instances of a governing party in any country going from a strong majority to being almost wiped off the electoral map.

Mulroney's "grand coalition" completely fell apart. The Tories' support in the West, with few exceptions, transferred to Reform, while their party's support in Quebec was split between the Liberals and the Bloc, and their support in Atlantic Canada and Ontario largely migrated to the Liberals. The PCs did win over two million votes, almost as many as Reform and far ahead of the Bloc or NDP. However, this support was spread out across the country. Due to the first past the post system, which awards power solely on the basis of seats won, the Tories' support was not concentrated in enough areas to translate into seats. The party was shut out of Ontario for the first time in its history. Mulroney's former riding, Charlevoix in eastern Quebec, fell to Bloc candidate Gérard Asselin in a landslide; the Tory candidate only received 6,800 votes and almost lost his deposit.[47]

Campbell was defeated in her Vancouver riding by rookie Liberal Hedy Fry[48] —only the third time in Canadian history that a sitting prime minister lost an election and was unseated at the same time (it previously happened to Arthur Meighen twice: in 1921 and 1926). All other Cabinet members lost their seats except for Jean Charest, who won re-election in Sherbrooke, Quebec; moreover, many prominent ministers such as Michael Wilson, Don Mazankowski, Joe Clark, and John Crosbie did not seek re-election. The only other Progressive Conservative besides Charest to win a Commons seat was Elsie Wayne, the popular mayor of Saint John, New Brunswick. Gilles Bernier, who had served two terms as a Progressive Conservative from Beauce, Quebec, was also re-elected, but was forced to run as an independent after Campbell barred him from running under the PC banner due to fraud charges.

In addition, 147 PC candidates failed to win 15% of the vote, losing their deposits and failing to qualify for funding from Elections Canada. The party as a whole was left deeply in debt, and came up ten seats short of official party status in the Commons. Without official party status, the Progressive Conservatives lost access to funding and had a considerably reduced role in Parliament.

Liberals

The Liberals swept Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island, with only Wayne's win in New Brunswick denying them a clean sweep of Atlantic Canada. They also won all but one seat in Ontario; only a 123-vote loss to Reform's Ed Harper in Simcoe Centre denied the Liberals the first clean sweep of Canada's most populous province by a single party. In both Ontario and Atlantic Canada, the Liberals gained support from many centre-right voters who were fed up with the Tories but found Reform too extreme for comfort. Ontario replaced Quebec (see below) as the main bastion of Liberal support for the next two decades; the party easily won a majority of the province's seats in the next four elections.

In the West, the Liberals dominated Manitoba, winning all but two seats. They also won seats in Saskatchewan for the first time since 1974 and in Alberta for the first time since 1968. In Saskatchewan, the Liberals won the popular vote for the first (and, as of 2021, only) time since 1949 and tied the NDP for a plurality of the seats. All of their Alberta seats were in the Edmonton area (Anne McLellan in Edmonton Northwest, John Loney in Edmonton North, and Judy Bethel in Edmonton East), which has historically been friendlier to the Liberals than the rest of Alberta. The Liberals also held onto Edmonton Southeast, the lone seat in Alberta they held when the writ was dropped, which they picked up in 1990 when David Kilgour crossed the floor from the Progressive Conservatives.

Despite being led by a Quebecker, the Liberals were unable to recover their dominant position in Quebec. This was in part due to the staunchly federalist Chrétien's opposition to the Meech Lake Accord, which was revealed when leadership rival Paul Martin pressed him on the issue back in 1990. Chrétien's reputation in his home province never recovered, especially when the Bloc Québécois rallied on the issue. As a result, the Liberals were unable to capitalize on the collapse of Tory support in the province. The Tories had swept to power in 1984 largely by flipping many long-time Liberal bastions in Quebec, and held onto most of them in 1988. However, with few exceptions, most of that support bled to the Bloc in 1993. While the Liberals dominated the Montreal area (home to almost 75% of the province's anglophones) and the Outaouais (home to a large number of civil servants who work across the river in Ottawa), they only won two seats elsewhere. One of them belonged to Chrétien, who won in Saint-Maurice, a strongly nationalist riding that he had previously represented from 1963 to 1986 (he had represented Beauséjour, New Brunswick as Opposition Leader from 1990 to 1993). The Liberals also did not do as well as hoped in British Columbia, winning almost no seats outside Vancouver.

Even with these disappointments, the Liberals won 177 seats — the third-best performance in party history, and their best performance since their record of 190 seats in 1949. This gave them an overwhelming majority in the Commons; no other party crossed the 60-seat mark. The Liberals were also the only party to win seats in every province.

Bloc Québécois

The Bloc won 54 seats, capturing just under half the vote in Quebec and nearly sweeping the francophone ridings there. In many cases, they pushed Tory cabinet ministers from the province into third place. This was the best showing by a third party since the 1921 election, when the Progressive Party won 60 seats. The Bloc's results were considered very impressive since the party had only been formed three years before, and because there were lingering questions about its viability.

On paper, the Bloc was in a rather precarious position. Most of the Tories' support in Quebec was built on flipping ridings that had voted Liberal for decades. However, francophone anger at Chrétien's staunch federalism caused PC support in Quebec to transfer virtually en masse to the Bloc. Most of those seats would remain in Bloc hands for two decades, until nearly all of them were lost to the NDP at an election in which the Bloc was cut down to only four seats.

Despite only running candidates in Quebec, the Bloc's strong showing in that province and the fragmentation of the national vote made them the second-largest party in the Commons and gave them Official Opposition status. As the Official Opposition, they enjoyed considerable privileges over other parties; for instance, Question Periods in the 35th Parliament were dominated by issues of national unity.

Reform

Reform had a major breakthrough, gaining a substantial portion of the Tories' previous support in the West. The party won all but four seats in Alberta and dominated British Columbia as well. Reform also finished second in the popular vote in Saskatchewan, where they won four seats, and picked up one seat in Manitoba.

While Reform was expected to win over PC support, it also won around a quarter of voters who had voted for the NDP in the previous election. They did this by raising the problem of Western alienation and rallying against the Charlottetown Accord, two issues that the NDP made unpopular stands on. In one stroke, Reform had replaced the Progressive Conservatives as the major right-wing party in Canada (despite being virtually nonexistent east of Manitoba) and supplanted the NDP as the voice of Western discontent.

Reform had built up a large base of support in rural central Ontario, which had been the backbone of past provincial Tory governments. This area is very socially conservative—in some cases, almost as socially conservative as rural Western Canada. However, this support did not translate into actual seats; massive vote splitting with the PCs allowed the Liberals to sneak up the middle and take all but one seat in the area. Reform did manage to take Simcoe Centre—their only victory east of Manitoba, ever—but even this win came by a wafer-thin 123-vote margin over the Liberals. They were also shut out of Atlantic Canada and did not run candidates in Quebec. It is not likely they would have won any seats in Quebec in any case due to Manning's inability to speak fluent French, its uncompromising federalism, and opposition to official bilingualism. Nonetheless, the election was a tremendous success for a party that had only won 2.1 per cent of the national vote in the previous election.

Reform's heavy concentration of Western support netted it 52 seats. However, the Bloc's concentration of support in Quebec was slightly larger, leaving Reform three seats short of making Manning Leader of the Opposition. Though the Bloc was the Official Opposition, the Liberals reckoned Reform as their main opposition on all other issues that were not specific to Quebec. Also, in 1995 when Bloc leader Lucien Bouchard's position as Opposition Leader granted him a meeting with visiting U.S. President Bill Clinton, Manning was also given a meeting with Clinton in order to defuse Bouchard's separatist leverage.[49]

New Democrats

The NDP won the fewest votes of any major party, and only nine seats — three short of the requirement for official party status. This was a substantial drop from its record performance in 1988. Those members who were elected were in heavily divided ridings, mostly in the party's traditional Western heartland. On average, winning NDP MPs only got 35.1% of the vote.[50] Ultimately, the NDP only retained 34.99% of the votes it received in the 1988 election, even less than the 38.58% of the vote that the Progressive Conservatives retained.

The New Democrats lost support in several directions. One factor was the unpopularity of NDP provincial governments led by Bob Rae in Ontario and Mike Harcourt in British Columbia, which reflected badly on their federal counterpart. In 1988, the peak of federal NDP support was a major asset to the success of provincial affiliates; however, by 1993, they were a considerable liability to the federal party because of recessions, social policies, and scandals. Not coincidentally, the federal NDP was decimated in both of those provinces; it lost all 10 of its Ontario MPs and all but two of its British Columbia MPs, more than half of the party's caucus in the Commons. The party also lost its only seat in Alberta, where the Alberta NDP had also been wiped out earlier in the year. Defeated Ontario MP Steven Langdon had called upon Rae to resign, having spent the 1993 election campaign disassociating himself from the provincial NDP's measures. The Ontario NDP would be heavily defeated in 1995 (in which it was reduced to third place), while the British Columbia NDP rebounded long enough to survive until it was almost wiped out in 2001.

A significant number of NDP voters also switched to Reform. Despite sharp differences in ideology, Reform's populism struck a chord with many NDP voters; twenty-four per cent of those who voted NDP in 1988 switched to Reform. In 1989, while running for the federal NDP leadership, former British Columbia Premier Dave Barrett argued that the party should be concerned with Western alienation rather than focusing its attention on Quebec. However, Barrett was defeated at the convention by Audrey McLaughlin, and his platform was not adopted by the party. The NDP also supported the Charlottetown Accord, which Barrett called a mistake since it was unpopular in Western Canada. In contrast, Barrett raised the issue of Western alienation and strongly opposed the Accord. Barrett's warning proved to be remarkably prescient, as the NDP was severely punished in its former Western stronghold.

The NDP had never been a force in Quebec, but they had been supported by those who would not vote for either the Liberals or Progressive Conservatives. While McLaughlin made efforts to make inroads in Quebec, this proved fruitless and likely contributed to Western discontent. These voters largely moved to the Bloc, with 14% of NDP voters supporting the Bloc in 1993. The NDP lost their only seat in the province, which it had gained in a 1990 by-election, as Phil Edmonston, a Quebec nationalist, opted not to see re-election because he disagreed with the party's support for the Charlottetown Accord.[51]

Legacy

The 1993 election is considered a political realignment election with lasting effects on Canadian politics. Prior to the 1988 election, there had been talk the Liberal party would be relegated to third place. But the Liberal party turned its luck around in 1988, and the 1993 election solidified its strength.

Since Confederation in 1867, Canada has had a two-party system with the Liberals and Conservatives alternating in government. Since the 1920s there had generally been one or more third parties in the House of Commons (small caucuses had been elected from that source even before 1920). None of these parties came close to winning power and of those parties, the CCF was the only one that achieved long-term success. The CCF was folded into the NDP in 1961, by which time it had clearly established itself as the nation's third major party. It eventually gained enough strength to wield the balance of power in the Liberal minority governments of the 1960s and 1970s. After the 1984 election the NDP only lost one seat and finished only 10 seats behind the Liberals. This led to considerable talk that Canada was headed for a UK-style Labour-Tory division, with the Liberals following their UK counterparts into third-party status.

However, the Liberals recovered enough ground in 1988 to firmly reestablish themselves as the main opposition party in opposition to the Conservatives.

The 1993 election fundamentally changed the balance of power among the parties. The Liberals emerged into strength and has been a party to be reckoned with ever since. This strength was gained by strong support in Central Canada.

Together Ontario and Quebec are guaranteed a majority of seats in the Commons under both Constitution Acts. Those two provinces constitute nearly two-thirds of the Canadian population. Thus, it is nearly impossible to form even a minority government without considerable support in one or both provinces. In the early 1990s Liberals were the only party with a strong base in both provinces, making it the only party with a realistic chance to form government. The Liberals dominated Canadian politics for the next decade, retaining almost all of its Ontario ridings while making steady gains in Quebec. They were not seriously challenged until 2004, with the sponsorship scandal and party infighting reduced them to a minority government with continued strong support from Ontario. The Liberals retained the majority of Ontario ridings, despite being defeated in 2006, finally relinquishing their lead in 2008.

In fact the Liberals were so strong in the 1990s that no party other than the Liberals had a realistic chance of forming government after 1993. Some commentators said that Canada had moved to a dominant-party system. The opposition to the Liberals in the House of Commons was divided between four parties. Many commentators said it was ironic that Her Majesty's Loyal Opposition consisted of a separatist party. The Liberals, along with several commentators, said they considered the Reform Party the de facto opposition on issues that did not pertain to Quebec and national unity.

On the other hand, some political scientists said the new five-party parliament was an example of a multi-party system. The five parties were reduced to four when the PC Party and Canadian Alliance (successor to the Reform Party) merged in 2003. From 2004 to 2006, three opposition parties—the new Conservatives, NDP, and Bloc—faced the Liberal minority government. Then three opposition parties in the House of Commons faced a Conservative minority government from 2006 to 2008.

After the Liberals' win in 1993, it was almost 20 years before the Progressive Conservatives regained power. These were bleak years for the party. In December 1993, Campbell resigned as Conservative leader and was replaced by Charest, the only surviving member of the previous Cabinet. Under Charest, they rebounded to 20 seats in 1997. Despite naming former prime minister Joe Clark as leader, in 1998 the party was were reduced to 12 seats, mostly in the Atlantic provinces and Quebec, and would win only two seats west of Quebec in the next two elections, finally ascending to majority government in 2011 with Stephen Harper at the helm.

In 1997 election, the Reform Party replaced the Bloc as the Official Opposition. Although Reform was then the major right-wing party in Canada, most Ontarians saw it as too extreme and it had little chance of dislodging the Liberals. Its chances were also hampered in Quebec because Manning could not speak French. In 2000, the party evolved into the Canadian Alliance but even then won only two seats outside its Western Canadian base (both in Ontario).

In 2003, the Canadian Alliance under Stephen Harper and the Progressive Conservatives under Peter MacKay merged, creating the Conservative Party of Canada. The new party, led by Harper, reduced the Liberals to a minority government in 2004 by capitalizing on the sponsorship scandal. It then formed its first government, a minority, in early 2006 with Harper as prime minister. Key to its victory was that it made inroads into the eastern part of Canada. In the 2008 election, the Conservatives won a stronger minority government and then won majority government in 2011. However, this was of short duration and the Liberals defeated them in 2015.

The NDP recovered somewhat, regaining official party status in 1997. However, it would take another decade for the party to reach the same level of support it enjoyed in the 1980s. The NDP supported the Liberal minority government after the 2004 election but moved towards differentiating itself from the Liberals, including uniting with the other opposition parties to bring down the Liberals and force the 2006 election in which the NDP made substantial gains in the House of Commons.[52]

The Bloc Québécois failed to propel the sovereigntist side to victory in the 1995 Quebec referendum and lost Official Opposition status in the 1997 election. It lost more seats in the 2000 election. However, bolstered by the Liberals' sponsorship scandal, it remained a significant presence in the House of Commons. The Bloc nearly tied its large 1993 vote tally in 2004 but then in 2006 it lost support to a resurgent Conservative Party. The Bloc's position continued to erode in 2008. The BQ won with 47 of Quebec's 75 seats but saw its popular vote decline, although it remained an important force in federal politics for Quebec. 2011 saw massive change in Quebec, with the Bloc losing a third of its voter support, getting just 4 seats in the Commons and losing official party status. BQ made a modest comeback in the 2015 election, increasing their seat count to 10, 2 seats short of regaining official party status. In the 2019 election, BQ took half again more votes, tripled its seat count and became the third-largest party in the House, once again becoming a strong force in Canadian politics. In the following 2021 election, it kept all its seats and its vote share.

See also

Articles on parties' candidates in this election:

References

Further reading

ng personal taxes or increasing the debt. Montréal : National Party of Canada.

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Pomfret. R.. Voter Turnout at Federal Elections and Referendums. Elections Canada. January 11, 2014.
  2. Bliss 312.
  3. Web site: McMurdy . Deirdre . FALLING EXPECTATIONS Maclean's JANUARY 5, 1993 . web.archive.org . McLeans . 11 January 2025 . 5 January 1993.
  4. 80% of Canadians disapproved of the GST in a June 1993 poll. Woolstencroft 32.
  5. Web site: Laver . Ross . HOPE IN HARD TIMES Maclean's JANUARY 5, 1993 . web.archive.org . MacLeans . 11 January 2025 . 4 January 1993.
  6. Bliss 308.
  7. Brooks 194.
  8. Web site: Wilson-Smith . Anthony . THE OTTAWA BETTING GAME Maclean's FEBRUARY 8, 1993 . web.archive.org . MacLean's . 11 January 2025 . 10 August 2020.
  9. Web site: Trueheart . Charles . MULRONEY DECLARES INTENTION TO RESIGN . The Washington Post . The Washington Post . 11 January 2025 . 25 February 1993.
  10. Web site: Newman . Peter C. . How Brian Mulroney planned his exit Maclean's MARCH 15, 1993 . web.archive.org . MacLean's . 11 January 2025 . 15 March 1993.
  11. Web site: Fulton . E. Kaye . THE RISING STAR Maclean's JANUARY 18, 1993 . web.archive.org . MacLeans . 11 January 2025 . 18 January 1993.
  12. [Peter C. Newman]
  13. Web site: Wilson-Smith . Anthony . Why Is This Woman Smiling Maclean's MARCH 22, 1993 . web.archive.org . MacLean's . 11 January 2025 . 5 August 2020.
  14. News: Canada . Jean Pelletier, 73 . The Globe and Mail . April 20, 2010 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20090121120133/http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20090110.wpelltier0110/BNStory/National/home . January 21, 2009 .
  15. Woolstencroft 15.
  16. News: Ferreira . Victor . August 12, 2015 . 'An election is no time to discuss serious issues': Five comments that sank Canadian political campaigns . National Post . March 4, 2022.
  17. Clarkson 36.
  18. "Fill in the Blanks." The Globe and Mail. September 25, 1993, pg. D6.
  19. Ellis and Archer 67.
  20. Ellis and Archer 69.
  21. "Reform Candidate Quits." The Globe and Mail. October 14, 1993, pg. A6.
  22. Woolstencroft 17.
  23. Web site: PM Kim Campbell Leads PC Party to Defeat - Wins 2 Seats Only (1993) . . June 6, 2017 .
  24. News: A Struggle to Survive . August 25, 2020 . Maclean's . October 18, 1993 . 15 . August 30, 2020 . https://web.archive.org/web/20200830232228/https://archive.macleans.ca/issue/19931018#!&pid=14 . dead .
  25. Forsythe, Frank, Krishnamurthy, and Ross 337.
  26. [Gordon Donaldson (journalist)|Gordon Donaldson]
  27. "without a doubt" the most important issue. Frizzell, Pammett, & Westell 2.
  28. http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/similar-2015-1993-election-campaigns-1.3256203 "2015 election campaign is eerily similar to the 1993 race"
  29. Ron Eade "Election Spending." The Ottawa Citizen. April 29, 1994. pg. A.1
  30. Brooks 207.
  31. Robert J. Jackson and Doreen Jackson. Politics in Canada 1998 ed. 400.
  32. Richard Mackie "Voters Find Uncommon Views on the Fringe." The Globe and Mail. October 5, 1993. pg. A6.
  33. http://www.cbc.ca/archives/entry/1993-leaders-debate "1993 leaders’ debate"
  34. Chris Cobb "Maharishi had Last Laugh over Canadian Taxpayer." Montreal Gazette October 29, 1993. pg. B.3
  35. Web site: . November 29, 2010. History of the Federal Electoral Ridings, 1867-2010 . open.canada.ca.
  36. Including spoiled ballots
  37. Minor political parties receiving less than 1% of the popular vote (other than ones which had some candidates receiving more than 1,000 votes) are aggregated under Other
  38. [Deborah Grey]
  39. [Fernand Robichaud]
  40. [Frank Maine]
  41. [Hec Clouthier]
  42. [Peter Li Preti]
  43. Riding had been won by the NDP candidate Phil Edmonston in a 1990 byelection
  44. [Gilles Duceppe]
  45. The incumbent Gilbert Chartrand, elected under the PC banner in 1988, was one of the founding members of the BQ. He decided not to stand for reelection in 1993.
  46. [Ralph Goodale]
  47. Web site: 1993 Canadian Federal Election Results (Detail) . Esm.ubc.ca . September 9, 2009 . August 30, 2017 . https://web.archive.org/web/20170830154131/http://esm.ubc.ca/CA93/results.html . dead .
  48. Book: Linda Briskin. Mona Eliasson. Women's Organizing and Public Policy in Canada and Sweden. October 25, 1999. McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP. 978-0-7735-6789-4. 189.
  49. Encyclopedia: Warren Caragata in Ottawa with Carl Mollins in Washington. Clinton visits Chrétien. https://web.archive.org/web/20090428054316/http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/index.cfm?PgNm=TCE&Params=M1ARTM0010399. April 28, 2009. Maclean's. March 6, 1995. The Canadian Encyclopedia. August 25, 2019.
  50. Whitehorn 52.
  51. Support numbers come from Pammett.
  52. Web site: Chronicle Herald . June 20, 2011 . https://web.archive.org/web/20110625033400/http://thechronicleherald.ca/Canada/1249370.html . June 25, 2011 . dead .