Elections in Canada
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The Parliament of Canada (French: Parlement du Canada) has two chambers. The House of Commons (French: Chambre des Communes) has 308 members, elected for a maximum five-year term in single-seat constituencies. The Senate (French: Sénat) has 105 appointed members.
Although four parties are currently represented in Parliament, Canada has two dominant political parties, the Conservatives and Liberals, that have governed the country since its formation in 1867.
The Prime Minister may ask the Governor General to call an election at virtually any time, although one must be called no later than five years after the return of the writs the last election under section 4 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The same provision applies in all provinces and territories, although some provinces have local laws that require elections to be even earlier.
The time limitation is strictly applied to the life of the Parliament or Assembly in question - this body is not deemed to have been "formed" until the return of the writs and ceases to exist the moment it is dissolved. It is therefore possible to run slightly longer than five years between election days, as was the case between 1930 and 1935.
It is also possible for a general election to be delayed should Canada be embroiled in a war or insurrection. This provision was enacted to allow Prime Minister Robert Borden to delay a federal election for about a year during World War I. Since then, the provision has only been used twice, both times by provincial governments - Ontario delayed an election for a few weeks in the year following the Armistice in 1918. Saskatchewan was the only jurisdiction to delay a general election by more than five years due to World War II, but held an election in 1944 (six years after the previous vote).
Traditionally, governments have waited four years between elections, but under Jean Chrétien's Liberal government in the 1990s, elections were held on average every three and half years. Parties generally only wait the maximum of five years between elections if they expect to lose, and hope (usually in vain) that a postponement will allow more time for things to change in their favour.
Elections are generally held in either the fall or spring. This avoids the problems of a winter campaign, where outdoor events are harder to hold. It also avoids the problems of the summer, when many Canadians are on holiday.
Using the plurality voting system, Canadians vote for their local Member of Parliament (MP), who sits in the House of Commons. Canadians do not vote directly for the Prime Minister, nor do they vote for senators.
By-elections can be held between general elections when seats become vacant. It is at the discretion of the Prime Minister to call by-elections. The federal government can also hold nation-wide referendums on major issues. The last referendum was held in 1992 on proposed constitutional changes in the Charlottetown Accord. On occasion, one particular issue will dominate an election, and the election will in a sense be a virtual referendum. The most recent instance of this was the 1988 election, which was considered by most parties to be a referendum on free trade with the United States.
Every person who is Canadian citizen 18 years of age or older is allowed to vote except for the Chief Electoral Officer and the Assistant Chief Electoral Officer. In the Canada Elections Act, inmates serving a sentence of at least two years are also prohibited from voting, but on October 31, 2002, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled that such a law violated the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, and was rendered of no force or effect.
Election turn-out has been steadily falling for many decades, although turnout rose by four percent in the last election. Currently, about sixty percent of registered voters vote in federal elections, but this amounts to less than 50% of the eligible, adult population.
The most recent election was held on January 23, 2006.
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[edit] Length of election campaigns
The length of election campaigns can vary, but under the Canada Elections Act the minimum length of a campaign is 36 days. There is no explicit maximum length for a campaign, although section 5 of the Charter requires that the Parliament sit at least once every twelve months, and thus a campaign would have to conclude in time for returns to be completed and parliament to be called into session within twelve months of the previous sitting. The federal election date must be set on a Monday (or Tuesday if the Monday is a statutory holiday).
The longest election campaign was the 1926 election following the King-Byng Affair which lasted 74 days. Prior to the adoption of the minimum of 36 days in law, there were six elections that lasted shorter periods of time. The last of these was the 1904 election which occurred many decades before the time limit was imposed.
In practice, the Prime Minister will generally keep a campaign as brief as is legal and/or feasible, because spending by parties is strictly limited by the Elections Act, a law which contains no provisions that would allow for increased spending in a lengthy campaign. The 1997, 2000 and 2004 elections were all of the minimum 36 days in length which has led to a common misconception that elections must be 36 days long. However, prior to 1997, elections averaged much longer: aside from the 47 day campaign in 1993, the shortest election period after World War II was 57 days and many were over 60 days in length.
Much speculation had surrounded how long of the campaign for the 39th federal election would be in 2006, especially as it became certain the election would be called in the weeks preceding Christmas 2005. The government of Joe Clark, which fell on December 12, 1979, recommended a campaign of 66 days for the resulting election, and nothing legal barred a similarly lengthened campaign. In the end, the 2006 election was called on November 29, 2005, for January 23, 2006 — making a 55-day long campaign.
[edit] Provincial elections
The following table lists the results of the most recent provincial and territorial elections. A link to complete lists for each province and territory is below. The winning party is indicated in bold and by the coloured bar at the left of the table. The table does not show the current state of the parties within the legislative bodies; refer to the articles on the individual houses for the current state.
In some cases the provincial parties are not associated with their federal equivalents. Most notably, in British Columbia and Quebec the provincial Liberals are wholly emancipated from the federal Liberals though are ideologically the same. Both the Saskatchewan and Yukon parties are closely tied to the Conservative party. Thus, names of provincial parties are sometimes misleading when associating a provincial party with a national party.
| Province | Date | Total Seats | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Progressive Conservative | Liberal | New Democrat | Other | ||||
| Yukon | 2006-10-10 | 5 | 3 | 10 (Yukon Party) | 18 | ||
| New Brunswick | 2006-09-18 | 26 | 29 | 55 | |||
| Nova Scotia | 2006-06-13 | 23 | 9 | 20 | 52 | ||
| British Columbia | 2005-05-17 | 46 | 33 | 79 | |||
| Alberta | 2004-11-22 | 62 | 16 | 4 | 1 (Alberta Alliance) | 83 | |
| Saskatchewan | 2003-11-05 | 30 | 28 (Saskatchewan Party) | 58 | |||
| Newfoundland & Labrador | 2003-10-21 | 34 | 12 | 2 | 48 | ||
| Ontario | 2003-10-02 | 24 | 72 | 8 | 103 | ||
| Prince Edward Island | 2003-09-29 | 23 | 4 | 27 | |||
| Manitoba | 2003-06-03 | 20 | 2 | 35 | 57 | ||
| Quebec | 2003-04-14 | 76 | 45 (Parti Québécois) 4 (A.D.Q.) | 125 | |||
Nunavut does not have political parties; political parties in the Northwest Territories were disbanded in 1905. For lists of general elections in each province and territory, see the infobox at the bottom of the article.
[edit] Municipal
- Ontario municipal elections, 2003
- Ontario municipal elections, 2006
- List of Toronto municipal elections
- List of Ottawa municipal elections
- Results of mayoral elections in Winnipeg
[edit] Senate nominee (Alberta)
- Alberta Senate nominee election, 1989
- Alberta Senate nominee election, 1998
- Alberta Senate nominee election, 2004
[edit] See also
- List of elections in the Province of Canada (pre-Confederation)
- Canadian federal election results since 1867
- Electronic voting in Canada
- Electoral calendar
- Electoral system
- Canadian electoral calendar
- List of Canadian federal electoral districts
- Past Canadian electoral districts
[edit] External links
- Maple Leaf Web - Political Education Website
- Adam Carr's Election Archive
- Pollingreport.ca
- Nodice Elections: Canada
- Predicting the 2006 Canadian Election by Elmer G. Wiens
- Undecided in 2006 - Join the confusion
- CBC Digital Archives - Voting in Canada: How a Privilege Became a Right
- CBC Digital Archives - Campaigning for Canada
[edit] Publications
The Hill Times: Canada's national newsweekly of politics and government
The Tyee's Election Blog: Canada's Daily Election Blog based in British Columbia
The Tyee: Daily Election stories from this daily independent BC-based online news source
Federal Elections in Canada
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