Canada - Politics

By the early 1990s, the economy was sliding into recession and Brian Mulroney was succeeded in 1993 by Kim Campbell, Canada’s first woman prime minister. Campbell and the Conservatives were crushingly defeated in the October 1993 elections, winning only two seats. The Liberal Party, led by Jean Chrétien, won 177 seats. The Reform Party, set up in 1987 under Preston Manning’s leadership, also did well in the elections with 52 seats, as did the recently formed party, Bloc Québécois, with 54 seats.

In an early general election in June 1997, the Liberal Party retained power with a reduced majority, winning 155 seats. The Reform Party took 60 seats, Bloc Québécois 44. The Progressive Conservative Party (PCP) recovered to 20 seats and the New Democratic Party (NDP) also won 20, up from nine in 1993.

The elections exposed the increasing regionalisation of Canadian politics, with 101 of the Liberal seats being won in Ontario and the remainder in a few large cities. The Reform Party’s seats were almost exclusively in the west of the country.

The Canadian Alliance became the official opposition in the federal House of Commons in March 2000 when the Reform Party joined it.

In a surprise early general election in November 2000, the Liberal Party gained a decisive 173 seats, including 100 of 103 seats in the largest province of Ontario and 37 of 73 in Québec and increasing their majority by 18. Chrétien continued as prime minister. The Canadian Alliance increased its share of the popular vote – largely at the expense of the PCP – but failed to challenge the Liberal Party in the east of the country.

In December 2003, Chrétien retired and was succeeded by former finance minister Paul Martin, and an early general election followed in June 2004, in which the ruling Liberal Party, taking 135 seats, was ahead of the Conservatives (99 seats, the Conservative Party was formed by a merger of PCP and Canadian Alliance), but did not achieve an overall majority in the House of Commons and depended on the support of the smaller parties.

Only 17 months into its new term, in December 2005 opposition parties challenged the government on the payment by the previous Liberal government in the late 1990s of large sums of public money to advertising agencies, and, for the first time ever, carried a vote of no-confidence in the government. Martin then had to call a new general election for January 2006. In this election, on a platform of tax cuts and measures to combat corruption, the Conservative Party won 124 seats, the Liberal Party 103, Bloc Québécois 51 and NDP 29. Conservative Party leader Stephen Harper became prime minister but, short of an outright majority, he would only be able to introduce new legislation with support from members of other parties.

In a bid to strengthen his minority government, Harper called an election in October 2008. In the contest when turnout was 59%, his Conservatives won 143 of 308 seats with 37.6% of votes. Their gain was largely at the expense of the Liberals who took 77 seats; while Bloc Québécois were also down at 49, NDP gained 37 and independents 2. Harper was returned as prime minister, once again in a minority government.