Summary of Results
The third, fourth, and fifth parties' results are included in "Other" if the party did not win at least four seats in an election at some point in its history. Results for parties placing sixth or lower (as in the 1926 election) are also included in "Other", as are Independent seats.
| Election Year |
Summary | Government | Official opposition |
Third party |
Fourth party |
Fifth party |
Other | Total seats |
||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | 1867 | Liberal-Conservative Party (commonly known as the Conservative Party), led by John A. Macdonald, is elected to form Canada's first majority government, defeating the Liberal Party and its de facto leader George Brown. In Nova Scotia, Anti-Confederates under Joseph Howe win 18 of 19 seats after campaigning against confederation, but later sit with the Liberals. | 100 | 62 | 18 | - | - | 0 | 180 | |||||
| 2nd | 1872 | Conservatives under Macdonald are re-elected with a minority, defeating Liberals and their de facto leader Edward Blake. | 100 | 95 | - | - | - | 5 | 200 | |||||
| 3rd | 1874 | Liberals, led by Alexander Mackenzie, retain power with a majority after having formed a government after Conservatives under Macdonald lose the confidence of the House in 1873. The Conservatives drop the word "Liberal" from "Liberal-Conservative Party" in 1873, but Macdonald and some other members continue to run under the original party name. | 129 | 65 | - | - | - | 12 | 206 | |||||
| 4th | 1878 | Conservative Party, led by Macdonald, defeat Mackenzie's Liberals, returning Macdonald to power with a second majority. | 134 | 63 | - | - | - | 9 | 206 | |||||
| 5th | 1882 | Conservatives, led by Macdonald, are re-elected with a third majority, defeating Blake's Liberals. | 134 | 73 | - | - | - | 4 | 211 | |||||
| 6th | 1887 | Conservatives, led by Macdonald, are re-elected with a fourth majority, defeating Blake's Liberals. | 124 | 80 | - | - | - | 11 | 215 | |||||
| 7th | 1891 | Conservatives, led by Macdonald, are re-elected with a fifth majority, in Macdonald's final election before his death shortly after. Macdonald defeated rookie Liberal opposition leader Wilfrid Laurier. | 118 | 90 | - | - | - | 7 | 215 | |||||
| 8th | 1896 | Liberals, led by Laurier, are elected with a majority, defeating Conservatives of Prime Minister Charles Tupper. | 117 | 86 | - | - | - | 10 | 213 | |||||
| 9th | 1900 | Liberals, led by Laurier, are re-elected with a second majority, defeating Tupper's Conservatives. | 128 | 79 | - | - | - | 6 | 213 | |||||
| 10th | 1904 | Liberals, led by Laurier, are re-elected with a third majority, defeating Robert Borden's Conservatives. | 137 | 75 | - | - | - | 2 | 214 | |||||
| 11th | 1908 | Liberals, led by Laurier, are re-elected with a fourth majority, defeating Borden and his Conservatives. | 133 | 85 | - | - | - | 3 | 221 | |||||
| 12th | 1911 | Conservatives, led by Borden, defeat Laurier's Liberals with a majority. | 132 | 85 | - | - | - | 4 | 221 | |||||
| 13th | 1917 | Unionist Party, a pro-conscription coalition of Conservatives and former Liberals, are elected with a majority under Borden. Both former Conservatives and former Liberals are appointed to the cabinet. The coalition defeats Laurier's anti-conscription Liberals in the most bitter campaign in Canadian history. | 153 | 82 | - | - | - | 0 | 235 | |||||
| 14th | 1921 | Liberals, led by William Lyon Mackenzie King, win a minority government, defeating Conservatives under Prime Minister Arthur Meighen. The Conservatives are reduced to third place in the House, but the Progressive Party under Thomas Crerar declines the title of official opposition so Meighen becomes opposition leader. | 118 | 49 | 58 | 3 | - | 7 | 235 | |||||
| 15th | 1925 | Mackenzie King's Liberals hold on to power with a minority with the help of Progressives under Robert Forke, despite Meighen's Conservatives winning more seats. Labour Party leader and future CCF leader J.S. Woodsworth bargains his votes in the House to the Liberals in exchange for a promise to enact an old age pension plan. The Progressives soon withdraw support from the scandal-plagued Liberals but also refuse to support the Conservatives. The Governor General controversially gives Meighen the Prime Minister's post in the King-Byng Affair, but the Conservatives soon fall in a non-confidence vote. | 100 | 115 | 22 | 2 | - | 6 | 245 | |||||
| 16th | 1926 | Liberals, led by Mackenzie King, defeat Meighen's Conservatives, winning a minority supported by the eight Liberal-Progressives under Forke. United Farmers parties take 12 seats and Labour four, giving Canada a rare Parliament with six parties in the House each with four or more seats. | 116 | 91 | 11 | 12 | 8 | 7 | 245 | |||||
| 17th | 1930 | Conservatives, led by R.B. Bennett, win a majority, defeating Liberals under Mackenzie King. | 134 | 90 | 9 | 3 | 2 | 7 | 245 | |||||
| 18th | 1935 | Liberals, led by Mackenzie King, defeat Bennett's Conservatives with a majority. The new Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF) from the West, under Woodsworth, wins seven seats on a platform of social reform. The new Social Credit Party under John Blackmore, also from the West, wins 17 seats with its platform of monetary reform. Progressive Party and United Farmers of Alberta pass into the history books. | 173 | 39 | 17 | 7 | 4 | 5 | 245 | |||||
| 19th | 1940 | Liberals, led by Mackenzie King, are re-elected with a majority, defeating Robert Manion's National Government party, a failed attempt to recreate Robert Borden's World War I-era Unionists. | 179 | 39 | 10 | 8 | 3 | 6 | 245 | |||||
| 20th | 1945 | Liberals, led by Mackenzie King, are re-elected with a minority, defeating the newly renamed Progressive Conservatives, led by John Bracken. Foreshadowing the Bloc Québécois, Bloc populaire Canadien wins two seats in Quebec on an anti-conscription and Quebec nationalism platform; future Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau and future mayor of Montreal Jean Drapeau are young party members. | 118 | 66 | 28 | 13 | - | 20 | 245 | |||||
| 21st | 1949 | Liberals, led by Liberal Prime Minister Louis St-Laurent, are re-elected with a majority, defeating Progressive Conservatives led by George Drew. | 191 | 41 | 13 | 10 | 1 | 6 | 262 | |||||
| 22nd | 1953 | St. Laurent's Liberals are re-elected with a majority, defeating Drew's Progressive Conservatives. | 169 | 51 | 23 | 15 | 1 | 6 | 265 | |||||
| 23rd | 1957 | Progressive Conservatives, led by John Diefenbaker, defeat Liberals led by St. Laurent with an upset minority victory. | 111 | 104 | 25 | 19 | - | 6 | 265 | |||||
| 24th | 1958 | Progressive Conservatives, led by Diefenbaker, are re-elected with the largest majority to date in Canadian history, defeating Liberals and their new leader Lester Pearson. | 208 | 48 | 8 | - | - | 1 | 265 | |||||
| 25th | 1962 | Progressive Conservatives, led by Diefenbaker, are re-elected, but with a minority. Under "father of Canadian medicare" Tommy Douglas, New Democratic Party, evolved from the CCF, wins 19 seats but fails to achieve a hoped for breakthrough. | 116 | 99 | 30 | 19 | - | 1 | 265 | |||||
| 26th | 1963 | Liberals, led by Lester Pearson, defeat Diefenbaker's Progressive Conservatives, winning a minority. | 128 | 95 | 24 | 17 | - | 1 | 265 | |||||
| 27th | 1965 | Liberals, led by Pearson, are re-elected with a second minority, defeating Diefenbaker's Progressive Conservatives. | 131 | 97 | 21 | 14 | - | 2 | 265 | |||||
| 28th | 1968 | Liberals, led by new Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, are re-elected with a majority, defeating Progressive Conservatives led by Robert Stanfield. | 154 | 72 | 22 | 14 | - | 2 | 264 | |||||
| 29th | 1972 | Liberals, led by Trudeau, are re-elected, but with a minority, defeating Stanfield's Progressive Conservatives by only two seats. The NDP pick up several seats under new leader David Lewis. | 109 | 107 | 31 | 15 | - | 2 | 264 | |||||
| 30th | 1974 | Liberals, led by Trudeau, defeat Stanfields's Progressive Conservatives with a majority. | 141 | 95 | 16 | 11 | - | 1 | 264 | |||||
| 31st | 1979 | Progressive Conservatives, led by Joe Clark, defeat Liberals, led by Trudeau, and win a minority, despite winning a significantly smaller share of the vote than the Liberals. PCs win the most votes in seven provinces, but the Liberals capture an enormous lead in Quebec. Ed Broadbent makes his debut as leader of the NDP, which wins 10 more seats than in 1974 in a Parliament enlarged by 18 seats. | 136 | 114 | 26 | 6 | - | 0 | 282 | |||||
| 32nd | 1980 | Liberals, led by Trudeau, defeat Progressive Conservatives, led by Clark. Social Credit fades into history after an almost unbroken 45 year run, leaving Canada with a three party system. | 147 | 103 | 32 | - | - | 0 | 282 | |||||
| 33rd | 1984 | Progressive Conservatives, led by Brian Mulroney, defeat Liberals, led by Prime Minister John Turner and win the most seats in Canadian history. The election is both the best showing ever for the Progressive Conservatives and the second worst showing ever for the Liberals (by total seats). | 211 | 40 | 30 | - | - | 1 | 282 | |||||
| 34th | 1988 | Progressive Conservative Mulroney is re-elected with a second majority, contending with a much stronger performance from Liberal Turner and a strong third-party showing from Broadbent's New Democrats, who score that party's second best result ever. | 169 | 83 | 43 | - | - | 0 | 295 | |||||
| 35th | 1993 | Liberals, led by Jean Chrétien, win a majority and soundly defeat Progressive Conservatives, led by new Prime Minister Kim Campbell, who are left in fifth place with just two seats, their worst ever showing. The separatist Bloc Québécois under ex-Mulroney cabinet minister Lucien Bouchard becomes the official opposition, and the right-wing Reform Party, led by Preston Manning, becomes the third party. Audrey McLaughlin's New Democrats also post their worst ever results with just nine seats. The election marks the end of the predominantly three party system of the Liberals, Progressive Conservatives, and NDP. | 177 | 54 | 52 | 9 | 2 | 1 | 295 | |||||
| 36th | 1997 | Liberals, led by Chrétien, are re-elected with a second majority. Manning's Reform Party becomes the official opposition. Bloc Québécois falls to third place under new leader Gilles Duceppe. NDP under Alexa McDonough win 21 seats, 12 more than in 1993. Progressive Conservatives under Jean Charest win nearly as many votes as Reform, but only one-third the seats. | 155 | 60 | 44 | 21 | 20 | 1 | 301 | |||||
| 37th | 2000 | Liberals, led by Chrétien, are re-elected with a third majority, defeating Stockwell Day's Canadian Alliance, the unsuccessful attempt to unite the Reform Party and the Progressive Conservatives. Progressive Conservatives, led by former Prime Minister Joe Clark, barely keep official party status in the House with the minimum 12 seats. | 172 | 66 | 38 | 13 | 12 | 0 | 301 | |||||
| 38th | 2004 | Liberals are re-elected under new Prime Minister Paul Martin to a minority government. They defeat the new Conservative party, led by Stephen Harper, ex-leader of the Canadian Alliance, who merged that party with the Progressive Conservatives. Bloc Québécois experiences a revival due to the Liberal sponsorship scandal. Jack Layton's NDP comes one seat short of being able to guarantee the survival of Martin's government. | 135 | 99 | 54 | 19 | - | 1 | 308 | |||||
| 39th | 2006 | Conservatives, led by Harper, win a minority, defeating Martin's Liberals. BQ keeps most of its seats and NDP improves its fourth-place position. | 124 | 103 | 51 | 29 | - | 1 | 308 | |||||
| 40th | 2008 | Conservatives, led by Harper, win a second minority, defeating Stéphane Dion's Liberals by larger margins than in 2006. BQ support is steady and NDP picks up several Liberal seats. Green Party under new leader Elizabeth May continues its growth, winning 6.78% of the national vote on its environmentally conscious platform, but again fails to win any seats. | 143 | 77 | 49 | 37 | - | 2 | 308 | |||||
| 41st | 2011 | Conservatives under Harper win a majority. Layton's NDP forms the Official Opposition for the first time. For the first time since Confederation, Liberals form neither government nor official opposition; leader Michael Ignatieff loses his own seat and resigns. In Quebec, BQ support drops, with NDP support rising, and Bloc leader Duceppe loses his seat and resigns. Green Party leader May wins the party's first ever seat won in a general election, but (possibly due to the leader and the party focusing more on May's local campaign than on the national campaign) the party's national support dropped to its lowest level since the year 2000, dropping to 3.91% of the popular vote. | 166 | 103 | 34 | 4 | - | 1 | 308 | |||||
Read more about this topic: List Of Canadian Federal General Elections
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