Canadian federal election, 2000
Encyclopedia
The 2000 Canadian federal election was held on November 27, 2000, to elect 301 Members of Parliament
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...

 of the Canadian House of Commons
Canadian House of Commons
The House of Commons of Canada is a component of the Parliament of Canada, along with the Sovereign and the Senate. The House of Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 308 members known as Members of Parliament...

 of the 37th Parliament
37th Canadian Parliament
The 37th Canadian Parliament was in session from January 29, 2001, until May 23, 2004. The membership was set by the 2000 federal election on November 27, 2000, and it changed only somewhat due to resignations and by-elections until it was dissolved prior to the 2004 election.It was controlled by...

 of Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

.

Since the previous election of 1997, small-"c" conservatives had begun attempts to merge the Reform Party of Canada
Reform Party of Canada
The Reform Party of Canada was a Canadian federal political party that existed from 1987 to 2000. It was originally founded as a Western Canada-based protest party, but attempted to expand eastward in the 1990s. It viewed itself as a populist party....

 and Progressive Conservative Party of Canada
Progressive Conservative Party of Canada
The Progressive Conservative Party of Canada was a Canadian political party with a centre-right stance on economic issues and, after the 1970s, a centrist stance on social issues....

 as part of the United Alternative agenda. During that time, Jean Charest
Jean Charest
John James "Jean" Charest, PC, MNA is a Canadian politician who has been the 29th Premier of Quebec since 2003. He was leader of the federal Progressive Conservative Party of Canada from 1993 to 1998 and has been leader of the Quebec Liberal Party since 1998....

 stepped down as leader of the Progressive Conservatives and former Prime Minister
Prime Minister of Canada
The Prime Minister of Canada is the primary minister of the Crown, chairman of the Cabinet, and thus head of government for Canada, charged with advising the Canadian monarch or viceroy on the exercise of the executive powers vested in them by the constitution...

 Joe Clark
Joe Clark
Charles Joseph "Joe" Clark, is a Canadian statesman, businessman, and university professor, and former journalist and politician...

 took over the party and opposed any union with the Reform Party. In spring of 2000, the Reform Party became the Canadian Alliance
Canadian Alliance
The Canadian Alliance , formally the Canadian Reform Conservative Alliance , was a Canadian conservative political party that existed from 2000 to 2003. The party was the successor to the Reform Party of Canada and inherited its position as the Official Opposition in the House of Commons and held...

, a political party dedicated to uniting right-wing conservatives together into one party. Former Reform Party leader Preston Manning
Preston Manning
Ernest Preston Manning, CC is a Canadian politician. He was the only leader of the Reform Party of Canada, a Canadian federal political party that evolved into the Canadian Alliance...

 lost in a leadership race to Stockwell Day
Stockwell Day
Stockwell Burt Day, Jr., PC, MP is a former Canadian politician, and a member of the Conservative Party of Canada. He is a former cabinet minister in Alberta, and a former leader of the Canadian Alliance. Day was MP for the riding of Okanagan—Coquihalla in British Columbia and the president of...

 who became leader of the new Canadian Alliance party.

The federal government called an early election
Snap election
A snap election is an election called earlier than expected. Generally it refers to an election in a parliamentary system called when not required , usually to capitalize on a unique electoral opportunity or to decide a pressing issue...

 after being in office for just over three years (with a maximum allowed mandate of five years). The governing Liberal Party of Canada
Liberal Party of Canada
The Liberal Party of Canada , colloquially known as the Grits, is the oldest federally registered party in Canada. In the conventional political spectrum, the party sits between the centre and the centre-left. Historically the Liberal Party has positioned itself to the left of the Conservative...

 won a third consecutive majority government
Majority government
A majority government is when the governing party has an absolute majority of seats in the legislature or parliament in a parliamentary system. This is as opposed to a minority government, where even the largest party wins only a plurality of seats and thus must constantly bargain for support from...

, winning more seats than the previous election. The Canadian Alliance made some minor gains, such as electing two Members of Parliament (MPs) from the province of Ontario
Ontario
Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....

. The Bloc Québécois
Bloc Québécois
The Bloc Québécois is a federal political party in Canada devoted to the protection of Quebec's interests in the House of Commons of Canada, and the promotion of Quebec sovereignty. The Bloc was originally a party made of Quebec nationalists who defected from the federal Progressive Conservative...

, New Democratic Party
New Democratic Party
The New Democratic Party , commonly referred to as the NDP, is a federal social-democratic political party in Canada. The interim leader of the NDP is Nycole Turmel who was appointed to the position due to the illness of Jack Layton, who died on August 22, 2011. The provincial wings of the NDP in...

 and the PC Party all lost seats. As the 1993 and 1997 federal elections involved vote-splitting between the Reform Party and the PC Party, the situation was repeated again between the Alliance and the PC Party, which in Canada's First Past the Post system allowed many Liberal candidates with a plurality of votes to win.

Campaign

The decision by Prime Minister
Prime Minister of Canada
The Prime Minister of Canada is the primary minister of the Crown, chairman of the Cabinet, and thus head of government for Canada, charged with advising the Canadian monarch or viceroy on the exercise of the executive powers vested in them by the constitution...

 and Liberal Party leader Jean Chrétien
Jean Chrétien
Joseph Jacques Jean Chrétien , known commonly as Jean Chrétien is a former Canadian politician who was the 20th Prime Minister of Canada. He served in the position for over ten years, from November 4, 1993 to December 12, 2003....

 to call a snap, early election
Snap election
A snap election is an election called earlier than expected. Generally it refers to an election in a parliamentary system called when not required , usually to capitalize on a unique electoral opportunity or to decide a pressing issue...

 in fall of 2000 has been viewed by commentators as an attempt to stem a possible rise of support to the Canadian Alliance. At the time of the election, the Canadian economy was strong and there were few immediate negative issues, as the opposition parties were not prepared for the campaign. Had the election been held later in 2001 amid an economic downturn, some observers suggested that the Canadian Alliance and Progressive Conservative parties may have merged together as a united right-wing party, or that right-wing voters would turn en masse to either the Alliance or PC Party, which would have presented a more difficult election for the Liberal Party.
The major issue in the election was health care
Health care
Health care is the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of disease, illness, injury, and other physical and mental impairments in humans. Health care is delivered by practitioners in medicine, chiropractic, dentistry, nursing, pharmacy, allied health, and other care providers...

 which had risen in public opinion polls to be the most important issue for Canadians.

The public was largely uninterested in the election, as it appeared to the public be a repeat of previous elections where the regionally-divided nature of the election would and did give the Liberal Party Ontario
Ontario
Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....

, the Alliance in Western Canada
Western Canada
Western Canada, also referred to as the Western provinces and commonly as the West, is a region of Canada that includes the four provinces west of the province of Ontario.- Provinces :...

, and the Bloc Québécois and Liberals in Quebec
Quebec
Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....

.

The Liberals’ final television advertisement, according to Stephen Clarkson
Stephen Clarkson
Stephen Clarkson, is one of Canada’s preeminent political scientists and a professor of political economy at the University of Toronto....

's The Big Red Machine
The Big Red Machine
The Big Red Machine is the nickname given to the Cincinnati Reds baseball team which dominated the National League from 1970 to 1976, recognized as among the best in baseball. Over that span, the team won five National League Western Division titles, four National League pennants, and two World...

, “emphasized the contrast between [the Liberals and the Canadian Alliance] while warning voters about [PC leader] Joe Clark’s claim that he would form a coalition with the Bloc Québécois in a minority government. The ad told Canadians not to take risks with other parties but to choose a strong, proven team.”

Liberal Party

The Liberal Party
Liberal Party of Canada
The Liberal Party of Canada , colloquially known as the Grits, is the oldest federally registered party in Canada. In the conventional political spectrum, the party sits between the centre and the centre-left. Historically the Liberal Party has positioned itself to the left of the Conservative...

 entered the election with a record of having ended the fiscal deficit, made major reductions in federal spending (such as by cuts to the civil service, privatization of crown corporations), creating new environmental regulations, and increased spending beginning on social programs beginning in 1998 after the budget deficit had ended and a surplus had been achieved. The Liberal Party came under attack by opposition parties for irregularities in the Department of Human Resources' Transition Job Fund program, but Chrétien managed to capably defend the government's actions. Chrétien was directly attacked by the opposition parties for alleged corrupt involvement from the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) in providing funding to local projects in Chrétien's riding of Saint-Maurice
Saint-Maurice (electoral district)
Saint-Maurice was a federal electoral district in Quebec, Canada, that was represented in the Canadian House of Commons from 1867 to 1892 and from 1968 to 2004....

. The Liberal Party focused its attacks on the Canadian Alliance, accusing it of being a dangerous right-wing movement that was dangerous to national unity. The Liberal Party's most tense problem was the ongoing leadership feud within the Liberal Party between Chrétien and Finance Minister Paul Martin
Paul Martin
Paul Edgar Philippe Martin, PC , also known as Paul Martin, Jr. is a Canadian politician who was the 21st Prime Minister of Canada, as well as leader of the Liberal Party of Canada....

 who wanted to replace Chrétien as Liberal leader and Prime Minister.

Strategy

Due to the regionalized nature of previous elections, the Liberal Party designed its election strategy along regional lines, aiming to take every seat in Ontario, winning seats in Quebec from the Bloc Québécois, winning seats in Atlantic Canada, while attempting to minimize losses in Western Canada
Western Canada
Western Canada, also referred to as the Western provinces and commonly as the West, is a region of Canada that includes the four provinces west of the province of Ontario.- Provinces :...

 to the Canadian Alliance.

Chrétien only spent parts of nine days campaigning in the West, including only two stops in the province of Alberta
Alberta
Alberta is a province of Canada. It had an estimated population of 3.7 million in 2010 making it the most populous of Canada's three prairie provinces...

, both in the city of Edmonton
Edmonton
Edmonton is the capital of the Canadian province of Alberta and is the province's second-largest city. Edmonton is located on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Capital Region, which is surrounded by the central region of the province.The city and its census...

 while visiting the province of British Columbia
British Columbia
British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...

 only three times, and only in the cities of Victoria and Vancouver
Vancouver
Vancouver is a coastal seaport city on the mainland of British Columbia, Canada. It is the hub of Greater Vancouver, which, with over 2.3 million residents, is the third most populous metropolitan area in the country,...

.

The Liberal Party focused its effort in regaining support in Atlantic Canada
Atlantic Canada
Atlantic Canada is the region of Canada comprising the four provinces located on the Atlantic coast, excluding Quebec: the three Maritime provinces – New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, and Nova Scotia – and Newfoundland and Labrador...

, where the party had suffered serious loses in the 1997 election to the New Democratic Party and Progressive Conservative Party due to the Liberal government's imposition of quotas on Atlantic Canadian cod fisheries and the government's cuts to unemployment insurance benefits. Chrétien gained support during the campaign from former New Brunswick Premier Frank McKenna
Frank McKenna
Francis Joseph "Frank" McKenna, PC, OC, ONB, QC is a Canadian businessman and former politician and diplomat. He is currently Deputy Chairman of the Toronto-Dominion Bank. He served as Canadian Ambassador to the United States from 2005 to 2006...

 and former Chrétien government minister and then the current Premier of Newfoundland and Labrador
Newfoundland and Labrador
Newfoundland and Labrador is the easternmost province of Canada. Situated in the country's Atlantic region, it incorporates the island of Newfoundland and mainland Labrador with a combined area of . As of April 2011, the province's estimated population is 508,400...

, Brian Tobin
Brian Tobin
Brian Vincent Tobin, PC is a Canadian businessman and former politician. Tobin served as the sixth Premier of Newfoundland from 1996 to 2000. Tobin was also a prominent Member of Parliament and served as a Cabinet Minister in Jean Chrétien's Liberal government.- Early life, education, and family...

 resigned as Premier and ran as a Liberal Party candidate in his province. During the campaign, Chrétien apologized to Atlantic Canadians for the negative impact of employment insurance reforms which had caused hardship in Atlantic Canada.

In Quebec, the Liberal Party benefited from the collapse of support for the Progressive Conservative Party, after the PCs' popular Québécois
French-speaking Quebecer
French-speaking Quebecers are francophone residents of the Canadian province of Quebec....

 leader Jean Charest
Jean Charest
John James "Jean" Charest, PC, MNA is a Canadian politician who has been the 29th Premier of Quebec since 2003. He was leader of the federal Progressive Conservative Party of Canada from 1993 to 1998 and has been leader of the Quebec Liberal Party since 1998....

 had resigned in 1998 and was replaced by former Prime Minister Joe Clark
Joe Clark
Charles Joseph "Joe" Clark, is a Canadian statesman, businessman, and university professor, and former journalist and politician...

 who was unpopular in Quebec which resulted in three PC members from Quebec defecting to join the Liberal Party prior to the election. In Quebec the recently passed Clarity Act
Clarity Act
The Clarity Act is legislation passed by the Parliament of Canada that established the conditions under which the Government of Canada would enter into negotiations that might lead to secession following such a vote by one of the provinces. The Clarity Bill was tabled for first reading in the...

 by the federal government was controversial in that it demanded a clear and concise question on a new referendum on sovereignty. Chrétien defended the Clarity Act and attacked sovereigntist Quebec premier and former Bloc Québécois leader Lucien Bouchard
Lucien Bouchard
Lucien Bouchard, is a Canadian lawyer, diplomat, politician and former Minister of the Environment of the Canadian Federal Government. He was the Leader of Opposition in the Canadian House of Commons from 1993 to 1996, and the 27th Premier of Quebec from January 29, 1996 to March 8, 2001...

, challenging him to hold another referendum on sovereignty under the new laws, as Chrétien expected that the sovereigntists would lose such a referendum. The Liberal Party promised a number of government projects in Quebec to woo Quebec voters to the Liberal Party.

The Liberal Party appealed to Canada's most populous province of Ontario by acting to restore funding that it's government had cut in the 1990s in order to cut the deficit of the 1990s. The Liberal government established a health accord with all premiers in September 2000 that involved major projected increases to public health care spending. Overall, the Liberals increased their number of seats in the House of Commons from 155 seats to 172 seats.

Canadian Alliance

The Canadian Alliance
Canadian Alliance
The Canadian Alliance , formally the Canadian Reform Conservative Alliance , was a Canadian conservative political party that existed from 2000 to 2003. The party was the successor to the Reform Party of Canada and inherited its position as the Official Opposition in the House of Commons and held...

 (the common short form name of Canadian Reform Conservative Alliance) was a new political party in the election, having been created only months earlier as the successor to the Reform Party of Canada
Reform Party of Canada
The Reform Party of Canada was a Canadian federal political party that existed from 1987 to 2000. It was originally founded as a Western Canada-based protest party, but attempted to expand eastward in the 1990s. It viewed itself as a populist party....

, a party originally founded as a Western Canada
Western Canada
Western Canada, also referred to as the Western provinces and commonly as the West, is a region of Canada that includes the four provinces west of the province of Ontario.- Provinces :...

 protest party which sought to become a national party in the 1990s. Reform Party leader Preston Manning
Preston Manning
Ernest Preston Manning, CC is a Canadian politician. He was the only leader of the Reform Party of Canada, a Canadian federal political party that evolved into the Canadian Alliance...

 was deeply disappointed with the Reform Party's failure to spread eastward in the 1997 election, as the Reform Party lost its only seat in Ontario in that election, which isolated the party only to Western Canada. Both the leadership and supporters of the Reform Party realized that major changes had to be made in order to shed the party's image as a western-based protest party. The Reform Party identified vote-splitting with its rival conservative movement, the Progressive Conservative Party as the cause for the Liberal Party winning the 1997 election, and thus stated that the solution was the merger of the Reform and Progressive Conservative parties together into one party. This agenda by the Reform Party to unite the two parties was called the United Alternative which began in 1998.

The Alliance was founded in May 2000. The new party also had a new leader, Stockwell Day
Stockwell Day
Stockwell Burt Day, Jr., PC, MP is a former Canadian politician, and a member of the Conservative Party of Canada. He is a former cabinet minister in Alberta, and a former leader of the Canadian Alliance. Day was MP for the riding of Okanagan—Coquihalla in British Columbia and the president of...

 who won the leadership contest for the party after competing with Manning for the position. The Alliance had hoped to use the 2000 election to decimate the PC Party to end its conservative rival and allow the Alliance to become the dominant conservative political party in Canada. The Alliance dedicated its campaign to legitimizing the party as a national party and not a western-based party as its predecessor the Reform Party largely was, in spite of its efforts to become a national party. New leader Stockwell Day
Stockwell Day
Stockwell Burt Day, Jr., PC, MP is a former Canadian politician, and a member of the Conservative Party of Canada. He is a former cabinet minister in Alberta, and a former leader of the Canadian Alliance. Day was MP for the riding of Okanagan—Coquihalla in British Columbia and the president of...

 was expected to appeal far more to the crucial Ontario
Ontario
Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....

 voters, and the Canadian Alliance
Canadian Alliance
The Canadian Alliance , formally the Canadian Reform Conservative Alliance , was a Canadian conservative political party that existed from 2000 to 2003. The party was the successor to the Reform Party of Canada and inherited its position as the Official Opposition in the House of Commons and held...

 was hoping for major improvements. The Alliance campaigned on tax cuts, an end to the federal gun registration program, and family values. The campaign was dogged by accusations that the party would allow private health care to operate alongside the public medicare system and introduce two-tier health care
Two-tier health care
Two-tier health care is a term used to describe a situation that arises when there is a basic health care system financed by government providing medically necessary but perhaps quite basic health care services, and a secondary tier of care for those with access to more funds who can purchase...

, and for threatening gay rights and abortion rights. The Alliance ended up winning only two Ontario ridings. This led to the eventual downfall of Day the next year. At one point, the Alliance was at 30.5% in the polls, and some thought they could win the election, or at least knock the Liberals down to a minority government. While they did not do so, they did retain their official opposition status, and increased their numbers in the House of Commons by six seats, from 60 to 66.

On election night, controversy arose when a CBC producer's gratuitously sexist
Sexism
Sexism, also known as gender discrimination or sex discrimination, is the application of the belief or attitude that there are characteristics implicit to one's gender that indirectly affect one's abilities in unrelated areas...

 comment about Stockwell Day's daughter-in-law, Juliana Thiessen Day
Juliana Thiessen Day
Juliana Renée Thiessen Day is a former Miss Canadian Universe and the Canadian representative to the Miss Universe pageant in 1998.She married Logan Day, son of former Canadian Alliance leader Stockwell Day, in 1999....

, was accidentally broadcast on the Canadian networks' pooled election feed from Day's riding.

Bloc Québécois

The Bloc Québécois suffered from the unpopular decision of its provincial counterpart, the ruling Parti Québécois
Parti Québécois
The Parti Québécois is a centre-left political party that advocates national sovereignty for the province of Quebec and secession from Canada. The Party traditionally has support from the labour movement. Unlike many other social-democratic parties, its ties with the labour movement are informal...

 government's agenda to merge the communities surrounding Quebec City into one community. Many Québécois
French-speaking Quebecer
French-speaking Quebecers are francophone residents of the Canadian province of Quebec....

 were angered by this decision and voted in protest against the Bloc or chose to not vote at all to demonstrate their frustration. Bloc leader Gilles Duceppe
Gilles Duceppe
Gilles Duceppe is a Canadian politician, and proponent of the Québec sovereignty movement. He was a Member of Parliament in the Canadian House of Commons for over 20 years and was the leader of the sovereigntist Bloc Québécois for almost 15 years. He is the son of a well-known Quebec actor, Jean...

 received negative media attention after he decided to personally appoint candidate Nöel Tremblay to run in the riding of Chicoutimi-Le Fjord in spite of the Bloc's riding association's selection of Sylvain Gaudreault to run in the riding. The Bloc's 177 page platform was criticized as being far too large and few copies were distributed and few internet users accessed the platform because of is length and was rarely discussed during the campaign. Instead, the Bloc produced large numbers of copies of small booklets that outlined the policies within the large platform. The Bloc campaigned to try to win over previous supporters of the PC Party. This campaign strategy failed, as the Bloc lost seats to the Liberal Party due to the collapse of Quebec support for the Progressive Conservative Party, whose voters shifted to the Liberal Party. The Bloc won in 38 ridings, six ridings fewer than in the 1997 election.

New Democratic Party

The New Democratic Party suffered badly in the campaign due to the drop in support for the provincial New Democratic parties over the preceding decade and amid a scandal in 2000 facing British Columbia
British Columbia
British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...

's NDP Premier Glen Clark
Glen Clark
Glen David Clark is a politician in British Columbia, Canada who served as the 31st Premier of British Columbia from 1996 to 1999.-Early life and education:...

 who was forced to resign as Premier. Matters were made worse for the federal NDP after Saskatchewan's NDP Premier Roy Romanow
Roy Romanow
Roy John Romanow, PC, OC, QC, SOM is a Canadian politician and the 12th Premier of Saskatchewan ....

 resigned in 2000 after the party lost seats in the 1999 Saskatchewan provincial election, and afterwards suggested that the federal NDP should merge together with the Liberal Party. In Nova Scotia, the provincial NDP lost seats in its 1999 election while the NDP government of the Yukon had been recently defeated. As Canada's major social democratic
Social democracy
Social democracy is a political ideology of the center-left on the political spectrum. Social democracy is officially a form of evolutionary reformist socialism. It supports class collaboration as the course to achieve socialism...

 political party, it relied on support from the labour movement, but recent strains between the NDP and the Canadian Auto Workers
Canadian Auto Workers
The Canadian Auto Workers is one of Canada's largest and highest profile social unions. While rooted in Ontario's large auto plants of Windsor, Brampton, Oakville, St...

 union and the Canadian Labour Congress
Canadian Labour Congress
The Canadian Labour Congress, or CLC is a national trade union centre, the central labour body in English Canada to which most Canadian labour unions are affiliated.- Formation :...

 had weakened the party's base of support. The party had received little media attention during the election and 2000 as a whole, due to the media's focus on Canada's newest political party, the Canadian Alliance
Canadian Alliance
The Canadian Alliance , formally the Canadian Reform Conservative Alliance , was a Canadian conservative political party that existed from 2000 to 2003. The party was the successor to the Reform Party of Canada and inherited its position as the Official Opposition in the House of Commons and held...

, the political comeback of former Prime Minister Joe Clark
Joe Clark
Charles Joseph "Joe" Clark, is a Canadian statesman, businessman, and university professor, and former journalist and politician...

 to the leadership of the Progressive Conservative Party, and the leadership feud within the Liberal Party between Jean Chrétien and Paul Martin
Paul Martin
Paul Edgar Philippe Martin, PC , also known as Paul Martin, Jr. is a Canadian politician who was the 21st Prime Minister of Canada, as well as leader of the Liberal Party of Canada....

. The NDP did not expect to do well in the election and aimed to win thirty-two "must-win" seats.

The NDP's platform and campaign focused on protecting medicare while attacking the Liberal Party for its tax cuts to wealthy Canadians and corporations. The NDP's focus on attacking the Liberals failed to recognize the surging support for the Canadian Alliance in the province of Saskatchewan, which the NDP had hoped to gain seats in. The NDP failed to galvanize support, as it remained low in support in polling results throughout most of the election campaign. NDP leader Alexa McDonough
Alexa McDonough
Alexa Ann Shaw McDonough OC is a Canadian politician who became the first woman to lead a major, recognized political party in Canada, when she was elected the Nova Scotia New Democratic Party's leader in 1980...

 performed badly in the French-language debate due to her not being fluent in French. In the English-language debate, McDonough attacked Alliance leader Stockwell Day for favouring two-tier health care and attacked Liberal leader Jean Chrétien for giving out tax cuts to the wealthy rather than funding Canada's public health care system.

Progressive Conservative Party

The Progressive Conservative Party aimed to regain its former place in Canadian politics under the leadership of former Prime Minister Joe Clark
Joe Clark
Charles Joseph "Joe" Clark, is a Canadian statesman, businessman, and university professor, and former journalist and politician...

. The PC Party
Progressive Conservative Party of Canada
The Progressive Conservative Party of Canada was a Canadian political party with a centre-right stance on economic issues and, after the 1970s, a centrist stance on social issues....

 had a very disappointing election, falling from 20 to 12 seats, and being almost exclusively confined to the Maritime provinces and Newfoundland. It won the 12 seats needed for Official party status
Official party status
Official party status refers to the Canadian practice of recognizing political parties in the Parliament of Canada and the provincial legislatures. The type of recognition and threshold needed to obtain it varies...

 in the House of Commons, however. Failure to win 12 seats might have marginalized the party in the House of Commons, and likely led to a more rapid decline.

It should be noted that governing parties have the option of extending party status to caucuses of less than twelve members at their discretion. Had the Progressive Conservatives been just a few seats short of the requisite twelve and the NDP had stayed at least twelve seats, the Liberal government would likely have exercised this option as they had done for Social Credit
Social Credit Party of Canada
The Social Credit Party of Canada was a conservative-populist political party in Canada that promoted social credit theories of monetary reform...

 in 1974
Canadian federal election, 1974
The Canadian federal election of 1974 was held on July 8, 1974 to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons of the 30th Parliament of Canada. The governing Liberal Party won its first majority government since 1968, and gave Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau his third term...

.

Green Party

The Green Party of Canada
Green Party of Canada
The Green Party of Canada is a Canadian federal political party founded in 1983 with 10,000–12,000 registered members as of October 2008. The Greens advance a broad multi-issue political platform that reflects its core values of ecological wisdom, social justice, grassroots democracy and...

's rise in popularity continued with an 88% increase in support, besting even the impressive 79% increase in support it had registered in the preceding 1997 election. Green Party candidates received 2.2% of the vote in the ridings they contested, and 2.1% of the vote province-wide in British Columbia despite not running a full slate of candidates there. In Nunavut, the Green Party candidate received 4.5% of the vote, the best it had yet received in any province or territory. Despite two consecutive elections of impressive gains, the Green Party in the 2000 election remained all but ignored by the national media.

Results

172
66
38
13
12
Liberal
Canadian Alliance
BQ
NDP
PC


Results by province

> > >
Party name BC
British Columbia
British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...

AB
Alberta
Alberta is a province of Canada. It had an estimated population of 3.7 million in 2010 making it the most populous of Canada's three prairie provinces...

SK
Saskatchewan
Saskatchewan is a prairie province in Canada, which has an area of . Saskatchewan is bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, and on the south by the U.S. states of Montana and North Dakota....

MB
Manitoba
Manitoba is a Canadian prairie province with an area of . The province has over 110,000 lakes and has a largely continental climate because of its flat topography. Agriculture, mostly concentrated in the fertile southern and western parts of the province, is vital to the province's economy; other...

ON
Ontario
Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....

QC
Quebec
Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....

NB
New Brunswick
New Brunswick is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the only province in the federation that is constitutionally bilingual . The provincial capital is Fredericton and Saint John is the most populous city. Greater Moncton is the largest Census Metropolitan Area...

NS
Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the most populous province in Atlantic Canada. The name of the province is Latin for "New Scotland," but "Nova Scotia" is the recognized, English-language name of the province. The provincial capital is Halifax. Nova Scotia is the...

PE
Prince Edward Island
Prince Edward Island is a Canadian province consisting of an island of the same name, as well as other islands. The maritime province is the smallest in the nation in both land area and population...

NL
Newfoundland and Labrador
Newfoundland and Labrador is the easternmost province of Canada. Situated in the country's Atlantic region, it incorporates the island of Newfoundland and mainland Labrador with a combined area of . As of April 2011, the province's estimated population is 508,400...

NU
Nunavut
Nunavut is the largest and newest federal territory of Canada; it was separated officially from the Northwest Territories on April 1, 1999, via the Nunavut Act and the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement Act, though the actual boundaries had been established in 1993...

NT
Northwest Territories
The Northwest Territories is a federal territory of Canada.Located in northern Canada, the territory borders Canada's two other territories, Yukon to the west and Nunavut to the east, and three provinces: British Columbia to the southwest, and Alberta and Saskatchewan to the south...

YK
Yukon
Yukon is the westernmost and smallest of Canada's three federal territories. It was named after the Yukon River. The word Yukon means "Great River" in Gwich’in....

Total
Liberal
Liberal Party of Canada
The Liberal Party of Canada , colloquially known as the Grits, is the oldest federally registered party in Canada. In the conventional political spectrum, the party sits between the centre and the centre-left. Historically the Liberal Party has positioned itself to the left of the Conservative...

Seats: 5 2 2 5 100 36 6 4 4 5 1 1 1 172
Popular vote: 27.7 20.9 20.7 32.5 51.5 44.2 41.7 36.5 47.0 44.9 69.0 45.3 32.9 40.8
Canadian Alliance
Canadian Alliance
The Canadian Alliance , formally the Canadian Reform Conservative Alliance , was a Canadian conservative political party that existed from 2000 to 2003. The party was the successor to the Reform Party of Canada and inherited its position as the Official Opposition in the House of Commons and held...

Seats: 27 23 10 4 2 - - - - -   - - 66
Vote: 49.4 58.9 47.7 30.4 23.6 6.2 15.7 9.6 5.0 3.9   17.6 27.0 25.5
Bloc Québécois
Bloc Québécois
The Bloc Québécois is a federal political party in Canada devoted to the protection of Quebec's interests in the House of Commons of Canada, and the promotion of Quebec sovereignty. The Bloc was originally a party made of Quebec nationalists who defected from the federal Progressive Conservative...

Seats:           38               38
Vote:           39.9               10.7
New Democratic
New Democratic Party
The New Democratic Party , commonly referred to as the NDP, is a federal social-democratic political party in Canada. The interim leader of the NDP is Nycole Turmel who was appointed to the position due to the illness of Jack Layton, who died on August 22, 2011. The provincial wings of the NDP in...

Seats: 2 - 2 4 1 - 1 3 - - - - - 13
Vote: 11.3 5.4 26.2 20.9 8.3 1.8 11.7 24.0 9.0 13.1 18.3 26.9 32.1 8.5
Progressive Conservative
Progressive Conservative Party of Canada
The Progressive Conservative Party of Canada was a Canadian political party with a centre-right stance on economic issues and, after the 1970s, a centrist stance on social issues....

Seats: - 1 - 1 - 1 3 4 - 2 - - - 12
Vote: 7.3 13.5 4.8 14.5 14.4 5.6 30.5 29.1 38.4 34.5 8.1 10.1 7.6 12.2
Total seats: 34 26 14 14 103 75 10 11 4 7 1 1 1 301
Parties that won no seats:
Green
Green Party of Canada
The Green Party of Canada is a Canadian federal political party founded in 1983 with 10,000–12,000 registered members as of October 2008. The Greens advance a broad multi-issue political platform that reflects its core values of ecological wisdom, social justice, grassroots democracy and...

Vote: 2.1 0.5 0.4 0.2 0.9 0.6   0.1 0.3   4.5     0.8
Marijuana
Marijuana Party of Canada
The Marijuana Party is a Canadian federal political party. Its agenda consists of ending prohibition of cannabis. With the exception of this one issue, the party does not have "official policy" in any other area...

Vote: 0.7 0.2   0.1 0.3 1.0 0.1 0.4           0.5
Canadian Action
Canadian Action Party
The Canadian Action Party is a Canadian federal political party founded in 1997. It promotes Canadian nationalism, monetary and electoral reform, and opposes neoliberal globalization and free trade agreements.- Background :The Canadian Action Party was founded by Paul T...

Vote: 0.8 0.1 0.2 0.2 0.2                 0.2
Natural Law
Natural Law Party of Canada
The Natural Law Party of Canada was the Canadian branch of the international Natural Law Party founded in 1992 by a group of educators, business leaders, and lawyers who practiced Transcendental Meditation....

Vote: 0.1       0.1 0.3 0.2   0.1 0.1       0.1
Marxist-Leninist
Communist Party of Canada (Marxist–Leninist)
The Communist Party of Canada is a Canadian federal Marxist–Leninist political party.The party is registered with Elections Canada as the Marxist–Leninist Party of Canada...

Vote: 0.1       0.1 0.2   0.1           0.1
Communist
Communist Party of Canada
The Communist Party of Canada is a communist political party in Canada. Although is it currently a minor or small political party without representation in the Federal Parliament or in provincial legislatures, historically the Party has elected representatives in Federal Parliament, Ontario...

Vote: 0.1     0.3 0.1 0.1               0.1
Other Vote: 0.4 0.4   1.0 0.6 0.2   0.2 0.1 4.4     0.4 0.4


Source: Elections Canada

10 closest ridings

1.Champlain
Champlain (electoral district)
Champlain was a federal electoral district in Quebec, Canada, that was represented in the Canadian House of Commons from 1867 to 2004.It was created in 1867 as part of the British North America Act...

, QC
: Marcel Gagnon
Marcel Gagnon
Marcel Gagnon is a former Canadian politician. A businessman, he served as a legislator for both the National Assembly of Quebec and the House of Commons.-Provincial politics:...

 (BQ) def. Julie Boulet
Julie Boulet
Julie Boulet is the current Member of National Assembly for the provincial riding of Laviolette in the Mauricie region. Member of the Quebec Liberal Party, she is the current Minister of Employment and Social Solidarity.Boulet went the Université Laval and obtained a bachelor's degree in pharmacy...

 (Lib) by 15 votes

2.Laval Centre
Laval Centre
Laval Centre was a federal electoral district in Quebec, Canada, that was represented in the Canadian House of Commons from 1979 to 2004....

, QC
: Madeleine Dalphond-Guiral
Madeleine Dalphond-Guiral
Madeleine Dalphond-Guiral is a former Canadian politician.A registered nurse by training and later a professor of nursing, Dalphond-Gurial was first elected to the Canadian House of Commons as a Bloc Québécois MP for the riding of Laval Centre in the 1993 federal election...

 (BQ) def. Pierre Lafleur (Lib) by 42 votes

3.Leeds—Grenville
Leeds—Grenville
Leeds—Grenville is a federal electoral district in Ontario, Canada, that has been represented in the Canadian House of Commons since 1979.It consists of the United Counties of Leeds and Grenville.-History:...

, ON
: Joe Jordan
Joseph Louis Jordan
Joseph Louis Jordan, PC is a Canadian politician.Jordan was a member of the Liberal Party of Canada in the Canadian House of Commons, representing the riding of Leeds—Grenville from 1997 to 2004. Jordan is a former businessman and professor...

 (Lib) def. Gord Brown
Gord Brown
Gordon "Gord" Brown is a Canadian politician. He is a current member of the Canadian House of Commons, representing the Ontario riding of Leeds—Grenville as a Conservative member....

 (CA) by 55 votes

4.Saskatoon—Rosetown—Biggar
Saskatoon—Rosetown—Biggar
Saskatoon—Rosetown—Biggar is a federal electoral district in Saskatchewan, Canada, that has been represented in the Canadian House of Commons since 1997.-Geography:...

, SK
: Carol Skelton
Carol Skelton
Carol Skelton, PC is a Canadian politician. She is a member of the Security Intelligence Review Committee which oversees the operation of Canadian Security Intelligence Service...

 (CA) def. Dennis Gruending
Dennis Gruending
Dennis Gruending is a Canadian journalist and politician. He is primarily a writer of non-fiction, but also published a book of poetry and various pieces of short fiction...

 (NDP) by 68 votes

5.Yukon
Yukon (electoral district)
Yukon is the only federal electoral district in Yukon Territory, Canada. It has been represented in the Canadian House of Commons from 1902 to 1949 and since 1953....

, YT
: Larry Bagnell
Larry Bagnell
Lawrence "Larry" Bagnell, PC, MP is a former Canadian politician. He served as a Member of the Canadian House of Commons from 2000 until 2011 sitting with the Liberal caucus in both government and opposition.-Politicial career:...

 (Lib) def. Louise Hardy
Louise Hardy
Louise Frances Hardy was a Canadian New Democratic Party Member of Parliament for the riding of Yukon from 1997 to 2000...

 (NDP) by 70 votes

6.Tobique—Mactaquac
Tobique—Mactaquac
Tobique—Mactaquac is a federal electoral district in New Brunswick, Canada, that has been represented in the Canadian House of Commons since 1997...

, NB
: Andy Savoy
Andy Savoy
-Early life:Savoy was raised in the Perth-Andover, New Brunswick area and educated at the University of New Brunswick in Fredericton where he earned a Bachelor of Science in engineering as well as a Masters of Business Administration.-Entrance to politics:...

 (Lib) def. Gilles Bernier
Gilles Bernier (New Brunswick politician)
Gilles Bernier is a former Canadian politician. He was elected to the Canadian House of Commons as a Progressive Conservative to represent the riding of Tobique—Mactaquac...

 (PC) by 150 votes

7.Regina—Lumsden—Lake Centre
Regina—Lumsden—Lake Centre
Regina—Lumsden—Lake Centre is a federal electoral district in Saskatchewan, Canada, that has been represented in the Canadian House of Commons since 1997.-Geography:...

, SK
: Larry Spencer
Larry Spencer
Larry Spencer is a Baptist pastor in Canada, and former Member of Parliament for the Saskatchewan riding of Regina—Lumsden—Lake Centre. He is currently serving as interim national president of the Christian Heritage Party of Canada....

 (CA) def. John Solomon (NDP) by 161 votes

8.Regina—Qu'Appelle
Regina—Qu'Appelle
Regina—Qu'Appelle is a federal electoral district in Saskatchewan, Canada, that has been represented in the Canadian House of Commons from 1904 to 1968 and since 1988.-Geography:...

, SK
: Lorne Nystrom
Lorne Nystrom
Lorne Edmund Nystrom, PC a Canadian politician, was a member of the Canadian House of Commons from 1968 to 1993 when he lost his reelection bid. He returned to parliament in 1997 and served until 2004...

 (NDP) def. Don Leier (CA) by 164 votes

9.Palliser
Palliser
-People:* Anthony Palliser , painter* Arthur Palliser , Royal Navy admiral* Charles Palliser , American-born, British-based novelist* George Palliser , Second World War Royal Air Force fighter pilot...

, SK
: Dick Proctor
Dick Proctor
Dick Proctor is a Canadian political activist, former New Democratic Party Member of Parliament, and a former journalist....

 (NDP) def. Don Findlay (CA) by 209 votes

10.Matapédia—Matane, QC: Jean-Yves Roy
Jean-Yves Roy
Jean-Yves Roy is a Canadian politician. He was a Bloc Québécois member of the Canadian House of Commons from the 2000 election until his resignation in 2010.-Political career:...

 (BQ) def. Marc Bélanger
Marc Belanger
Marc Bélanger is a labour union educator specializing in information technology and distance education via computer communications. He worked for the Workers' Activities Programme of the training centre of the International Labour Organization in Turin, Italy, from 2000-2008. He was head of the...

 (Lib) by 276 votes

11.Cardigan
Cardigan (electoral district)
Cardigan is a federal electoral district in Prince Edward Island, Canada, that has been represented in the Canadian House of Commons since 1968.-Demographics:Ethnic groups: 98.5% White, 1.1% Native Canadian...

, PE
: Lawrence MacAulay
Lawrence MacAulay
Lawrence A. MacAulay, PC is a Canadian politician.MacAulay is a current member of the Liberal Party of Canada in the Canadian House of Commons, representing the riding of Cardigan, Prince Edward Island since 1988. MacAulay is a former farmer...

 (Lib) def. Kevin MacAdam
Kevin MacAdam
Kevin MacAdam is a former Canadian politician and current political advisor.Born in West Saint Peters, the son of Stephen MacAdam, he was educated at the University of Prince Edward Island, and worked as a researcher and analyst....

 (PC) by 276 votes

See also



Articles on parties' candidates in this election: >
  • Marxist-Leninists
    Marxist-Leninist Party candidates, 2000 Canadian federal election
    The Communist Party of Canada fielded 84 candidates in the 2000 federal election, none of whom were elected.-Hamilton West: Wendell Fields:Fields received 61 votes, finishing tenth against Liberal incumbent Stan Keyes....

  • Canadian Action
    Canadian Action Party candidates, 2000 Canadian federal election
    The Canadian Action Party fielded a number of candidates in the 2000 federal election, none of whom were elected. Information about these candidates may be found here.-Ross Elliott :...

  • Canadian Alliance
    Canadian Alliance candidates, 2000 Canadian federal election
    The Canadian Alliance fielded several candidates in the 2000 federal election, and won 66 seats to become the Official Opposition party in the Canadian House of Commons...

  • Communists
    Communist Party candidates, 2000 Canadian federal election
    The Communist Party of Canada fielded a number of candidates in the 2000 Canadian federal election, none of whom were elected. Information about these candidates may be found here.-Outremont: Pierre Smith:...

  • Liberals
    Liberal Party candidates, 2000 Canadian federal election
    The Liberal Party of Canada ran a full slate of candidates in the 2000 federal election, and won a majority government by winning 172 out of 308 seats...

  • Natural Law
    Natural Law Party candidates, 2000 Canadian federal election
    The Natural Law Party of Canada fielded several candidates in the 2000 federal election, none of whom were elected. Information about these candidates may be found here.-Gatineau: Jean-Claude Pommet:...

  • New Democrats
    New Democratic Party candidates, 2000 Canadian federal election
    The New Democratic Party won thirteen seats in the 2000 federal election, emerging as the fourth-largest party in the Canadian House of Commons. Many of the party's candidates have their own biography pages; information on others may be found here....

  • Progressive Conservatives
    Progressive Conservative Party candidates, 2000 Canadian federal election
    The Progressive Conservative Party of Canada elected twelve candidates in the 2000 federal election, and emerged as the fifth-largest party in the Canadian House of Commons...

  • Christian Heritage
    Christian Heritage Party candidates, 2000 Canadian federal election
    The Christian Heritage Party of Canada fielded 46 candidates in the 2000 Canadian federal election, none of whom were elected. Information about these candidates may be found here....


  • External links

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