List of Canadian federal general elections

This article provides a summary of results for the general elections to the Canadian House of Commons, the elected lower half of Canada's federal bicameral legislative body, the Parliament of Canada. The number of seats has increased steadily over time, from 180 for the first election, to the current total of 308. The current federal government structure was established in 1867 by the Constitution Act. For the eight general elections of the Province of Canada prior to 1867, see List of elections in the Province of Canada.

Two parties have dominated politics in Canada: the Liberal party and the historic Conservative party (known as the Progressive Conservative party from 1943). If one regards the modern Conservative party as the successor to the historic one, then these are the only two parties to have formed a government. (The 1917 win was by a pro-conscription Unionist coalition, between former Liberals and Conservatives).

Although government has been a two-party system, Canadian federal politics has been a multi-party affair since the 1920s, which saw significant parliamentary presence from the Progressive party and the United Farmers movement. They were supplanted by the Social Credit party and the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF) in the 1930s. The CCF evolved into the New Democratic Party (NDP) in 1961. The Social Credit party and the CCF/NDP occupied the 3rd and 4th party slots between them from the 1930s, until the Social Credit party failed to win any seats in the 1980 election.

Since 1980, the NDP have remained a presence in the Canadian parliament, but the situation amongst other non-government parties has been more complex. The historic Conservative party never recovered from its spectacular defeat in the 1993 election (when it went from being the majority government with 169 seats, to just two seats and the loss of official party status). Right-wing politics has since seen the rise and fall of the Reform party and the Canadian Alliance, followed by the rise to government of the new Conservative party. Further, 1993 saw the first seats won by the separatist Bloc Québécois, who have been a constant presence in the Canadian parliament since then.

ummary of results

The third, fourth and fifth parties' results are included under "other" if the party did not achieve at least four seats at some point in its history. Independent candidates are listed under "Others."

Notes

: ^"A" note label|libcon|A|1 note label|libcon|A|2 note label|libcon|A|3 note label|libcon|A|4 note label|libcon|A|5 note label|libcon|A|6 note label|libcon|A|7 note label|libcon|A|8 Includes results for the Liberal-Conservative Party.: note label|1867_anti|B|B The Anti-Confederates campaigned against confederatation, but later sat with the Liberals.: note label|1872|C|C Includes results for the Liberal-Conservative Party, and one "Conservative Labour" candidate.: ^"D" note label|natlibcon|D|1 note label|natlibcon|D|2 note label|natlibcon|D|3 Includes results for the Liberal-Conservative and Nationalist Conservative parties.: ^"E" note label|Farmer|E|1 note label|Farmer|E|2 Combined total for United Farmers of Alberta and United Farmers of Ontario.: ^"F" note label|FarmerAB|F|1 note label|FarmerAB|F|2 Seats won by the United Farmers of Alberta.: note label|1940con|G|G Includes results for National Government party.: note label|1940social|H|H Includes results for New Democracy party.: ^"I" note label|liblab|I|1 note label|liblab|I|2 note label|liblab|I|3 note label|liblab|I|4 note label|liblab|I|5 note label|liblab|I|6 note label|liblab|I|7 Includes one seat won by a Liberal-Labour candidate in Kenora—Rainy River who sat in the House as a Liberal.: note label|rallie1|J|J Includes 10 seats won by the Ralliement créditiste party.: note label|rallie2|K|K All 14 seats were won by the Ralliement créditiste party.: note label|cons|M|M In the 1921 election, the Conservatives ran under the name "National Liberal and Conservative Party", and in 1940 under the name "National Government". In both cases the Conservatives lost the election and the new name was soon abandoned.: note label|pc1|N|N Includes 20 seats won by the Progressive Conservative party.: note label|pc2|O|O All 12 seats were won by the Progressive Conservative party.

Graph of results

ee also

*Lists of general elections in Canada
*Canadian federal election
*List of political parties in Canada
*List of elections in the Province of Canada (pre-Confederation)
*List of federal by-elections in Canada
*Canadian federal election, 2008

References

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