Canadian federal election, 2006
Encyclopedia
The 2006 Canadian federal election (more formally, the 39th General Election) was held on January 23, 2006, to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons
of the 39th Parliament
of Canada
. The Conservative Party of Canada
won the greatest number of seats
: 40.3% of seats, or 124 out of 308, up from 99 seats in 2004, and 36.3% of votes: up from 29.6% in the 2004 election. The election resulted in a minority government
led by the Conservative Party with Stephen Harper
becoming the 22nd Prime Minister of Canada
. By proportion of seats, this was Canada's smallest minority government since Confederation
. Despite this it was the second longest serving minority government overall.
was caused by a motion of no confidence
passed by the House of Commons on November 28, 2005, with Canada's three opposition parties contending that the governing Liberal
government of Prime Minister Paul Martin
was corrupt. The following morning, Prime Minister Paul Martin met Governor General Michaëlle Jean
, who then dissolved parliament
, summoned the next parliament, and ordered the issuance of writs of election. The last set January 23, 2006, as election day and February 13 as the date for return of the writs. The campaign was almost eight weeks in length, the longest in two decades, in order to allow time for the Christmas and New Year holidays.
Recent political events, most notably testimony to the Gomery Commission
investigating the sponsorship scandal
, significantly weakened the Liberals (who, under Martin, had formed the first Liberal minority government
since the Trudeau era) by allegations of criminal corruption in the party. The first Gomery report, released November 1, 2005, had found a "culture of entitlement
" to exist within the Government. Although the next election was not legally required until 2009, the opposition had enough votes to force the dissolution of Parliament
earlier. While Prime Minister Martin had committed in April 2005 to dissolve Parliament within a month of the tabling of the second Gomery Report (which was released on schedule on February 1, 2006), all three opposition parties—the Conservatives, Bloc Québécois
, and New Democratic Party
(NDP) — and three of the four independents decided that the issue at hand was how to correct the Liberal corruption, and the motion of non-confidence passed 171-133.
Harper was reelected in Calgary Southwest
, which he has held since 2002, ensuring that he had a seat in the new parliament. The election was held on January 23, 2006. The first polls closed at 07:00 p.m. ET (0000 UTC
); Elections Canada
started to publish preliminary results on its website at 10:00 p.m. ET as the last polls closed. Shortly after midnight (ET) that night, incumbent Prime Minister Paul Martin
conceded defeat, and announced that he would resign as leader of the Liberal Party
. He continued to sit as a Member of Parliament
representing LaSalle—Émard
, the Montreal
-area riding he had held since 1988
, until his retirement in 2008.
At 9:30 a.m. on January 24, Martin informed Governor General
Michaëlle Jean
that he would not form a government and intended to resign as Prime Minister. It was announced a month later that there would be a Liberal leadership convention later in the year, during which Stéphane Dion won the leadership of the Liberal Party. Later that day, at 6:45 p.m., Jean invited Harper to form a government. Martin formally resigned and Harper was formally appointed and sworn in as Prime Minister on February 6.
The NDP won new seats in British Columbia and Ontario as their overall popular vote increased 2% from 2004. The Bloc managed to win almost as many seats as in 2004 despite losing a significant percentage of the vote. Most of the Conservatives' gains were in rural Ontario and Quebec as they took a net loss in the west, but won back the only remaining Liberal seat in Alberta. The popular vote of the Conservatives and Liberals were almost the mirror image of 2004, though the Conservatives were not able to translate this into as many seats as the Liberals did in 2004.
A judicial recount was automatically scheduled in the Parry Sound—Muskoka
riding, where early results showed Conservative Tony Clement
only 21 votes ahead of Liberal Andy Mitchell, because the difference of votes cast between the two leading candidates was less than 0.1%. Clement was confirmed as the winner by 28 votes.
Conservative candidate Jeremy Harrison
, narrowly defeated by Liberal Gary Merasty
in the Saskatchewan riding of Desnethé—Missinippi—Churchill River
by 72 votes, alleged electoral fraud but decided not to pursue the matter. A judicial recount was ordered in the riding, which certified Gary Merasty
the winner by a reduced margin of 68 votes.
Most observers believed only the Liberals and the Conservatives were capable of forming a government in this election, although Canadian political history is not without examples of wholly unexpected outcomes, such as Ontario's provincial election in 1990
. However, with the exception of the Unionist government of 1917 (which combined members of both the Conservatives and the Liberals), at the Federal stage, only Liberals or Conservatives have formed government. With the end of the campaign at hand, pollsters and pundits placed the Conservatives ahead of the Liberals.
Prime Minister Paul Martin's Liberals hoped to recapture their majority, and this appeared likely at one point during the campaign; but it would have required holding back Bloc pressure in Quebec
plus picking up some new seats there while also gaining seats in English Canada, most likely in rural Ontario
and southwestern British Columbia
. Towards the end of the campaign, even high-profile Liberals were beginning to concede defeat, and the best the Liberals could have achieved was a razor-thin minority.
Stephen Harper's Conservatives succeeded in bringing their new party into power in Canada. While continuing weaknesses in Quebec and urban areas rightfully prompted most observers to consider a Conservative majority government
to be mathematically difficult to achieve, early on, Harper's stated goal was to achieve one nonetheless. Though the Conservatives were ahead of the Liberals in Quebec, they remained far behind the Bloc Québécois, and additional gains in rural and suburban Ontario would have been be necessary to meet Stephen Harper's goal. The polls had remained pretty well static over the course of December, with the real shift coming in the first few days of the New Year. That is when the Conservatives took the lead and kept it for the rest of the campaign.
Harper started off the first month of the campaign with a policy-per-day strategy, which included a GST reduction and a child-care allowance. The Liberals opted to hold any major announcements until after the Christmas holidays; as a result, Harper dominated media coverage for the first weeks of the campaign and was able to define his platform and insulate it from expected Liberal attacks. On December 27, 2005, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police
announced it was investigating allegations that Liberal Finance Minister
Ralph Goodale
's office had engaged in insider trading
before making an important announcement on the taxation of income trust
s. The RCMP indicated that they had no evidence of wrongdoing or criminal activity from any party associated with the investigation, including Goodale. However, the story dominated news coverage for the following week and prevented the Liberals from making their key policy announcements, allowing the Conservatives to refocus their previous attacks about corruption within the Liberal party. The Conservatives soon found themselves leading in the polls. By early January, they made a major breakthrough in Quebec, pushing the Liberals to second place.
As their lead solidified, media coverage
of the Conservatives was much more positive, while Liberals found themselves increasingly criticized for running a poor campaign and making numerous gaffes.
The NDP has claimed that last minute tactical voting
cost them several seats last time, as left-of-centre voters moved to the Liberals so that they could prevent a Harper-led government. Jack Layton avoided stating his party's goal was to win the election outright, instead calling for enough New Democrats to be elected to hold the balance of power
in a Liberal or Conservative minority government. Political commentators have long argued that the NDP's main medium-term goal is to serve as junior partners to the Liberals in Canada's first-ever true coalition government
. NDP leader Jack Layton was concerned last time over people voting Liberal so that they could avoid a Conservative government. Over the course of the last week of the campaign, Jack Layton called on Liberal voters disgusted with the corruption to "lend" their votes to the NDP to elect more NDP members to the House and hold the Conservatives to a minority.
The Bloc Québécois had a very successful result in the 2004 election, with the Liberals reduced to the core areas of federalist support in portions of Montreal
and the Outaouais. Oddly enough, this meant that there were comparatively few winnable Bloc seats left—perhaps eight or so—for the party to target. With provincial allies the Parti Québécois
widely tipped to regain power in 2007, a large sovereigntist contingent in the House could play a major role in reopening the matter of Quebec independence
. The Bloc Québécois only runs candidates in the province of Quebec. However, Gilles Duceppe's dream of winning 50%+ of the popular vote was dashed when the polls broke after the New Year, and the Conservatives became a real threat to that vision in Quebec.
In addition to the four sitting parties, the Green Party of Canada
ran candidates in all 308 federal ridings for the second consecutive election. Though the Greens had been an official party since the 1984 election
, this campaign was the first in which they had stable financial support with which to campaign. After a breakthrough in the 2004 election, they exceeded the minimum 2% of the popular vote to receive federal funding. Supporters and sympathisers criticize that the party were not invited to the nationally televised debates even with its official status. The party has occasionally polled as high as 19% in British Columbia and 11% nationwide. Critics of the Green Party contend that, by drawing away left-of-centre votes, the Green Party actually assists the Conservative Party in some ridings. The Greens deny this.
Other parties are listed in the table of results above.
, held on June 28, 2004, resulted in the election of a Liberal
minority government
. In the past, minority governments have had an average lifespan of a year and a half. Some people considered the 38th parliament to be particularly unstable. It involved four parties, and only very implausible ideological combinations (e.g., Liberals + Conservatives; Liberals + BQ; Conservatives + BQ + NDP) could actually command a majority of the seats, a necessity if a government is to retain power. From its earliest moments, there was some threat of the government falling as even the Speech from the Throne
almost resulted in a non-confidence vote.
Brinkmanship
The Liberal government came close to falling when testimony from the Gomery Commission
caused public opinion to move sharply against the government. The Bloc Québécois were eager from the beginning to have an early election. The Conservatives announced they had also lost confidence in the government's moral authority. Thus, during much of spring 2005, there was a widespread belief that the Liberals would lose a confidence vote, prompting an election taking place in the spring or summer of 2005.
In a televised speech on April 21, Martin promised to request a dissolution of Parliament
and begin an election campaign within 30 days of the Gomery Commission’s final report. The release date of that report would later solidify as February 1, 2006; Martin then clarified that he intended to schedule the election call so as to have the polling day in April 2006.
Later that week, the NDP, who had initially opposed the budget, opted to endorse Martin's proposal for a later election. The Liberals agreed to take corporate tax cuts out of the budget on April 26 in exchange for NDP support on votes of confidence, but even with NDP support the Liberals still fell three votes short of a majority. However, a surprise defection of former Conservative leadership candidate Belinda Stronach
to the Liberal party on May 17 changed the balance of power in the House. Independents Chuck Cadman
and Carolyn Parrish provided the last two votes needed for the Liberals to win the budget vote.
The deal turned out to be rather unnecessary, as the Conservatives opted to ensure the government's survival on the motion of confidence surrounding the original budget, expressing support to the tax cuts and defence spending therein. When Parliament voted on second reading and referral of the budget and the amendment on May 19, the previous events kept the government alive. The original budget bill, C-43, passed easily, as expected, but the amendment bill, C-48, resulted in an equality of votes, and the Speaker of the House
broke the tie to continue the parliament. The government never got as close to falling after that date. Third reading of Bill C-48 was held late at night on an unexpected day, and several Conservatives being absent, the motion passed easily, guaranteeing there would be no election in the near future.
released his interim report, and the scandal returned to prominence. Liberal support again fell, with some polls registering an immediate ten percent drop. The Conservatives and Bloc thus resumed their push for an election before Martin's April date. The NDP stated that their support was contingent on the Liberals agreeing to move against the private provision of healthcare. The Liberals and NDP failed to come to an agreement, however, and the NDP joined the two other opposition parties in demanding an election.
However, the Liberals had intentionally scheduled the mandatory "opposition days" (where a specified opposition party controls the agenda) on November 15 (Conservative), November 17 (Bloc Québécois) and November 24 (NDP). These days meant that any election would come over the Christmas
season, an unpopular idea. Following negotiations between the opposition parties, they instead issued an ultimatum to the Prime Minister to call an election immediately after the Christmas holidays or face an immediate non-confidence vote which would prompt a holiday-spanning campaign.
To that end, the NDP introduced a parliamentary motion demanding that the government drop the writ in January 2006 for a February 13 election date; however, only the prime minister has the authority to advise the Governor General on an election date, the government was therefore not bound by the NDP's motion. Martin had indicated that he remained committed to his April 2006 date, and would disregard the motion, which the opposition parties managed to pass, as expected, on November 21 by a vote of 167-129.
The three opposition leaders had agreed to delay the tabling of the no-confidence motion until the 24th, to ensure that a conference between the government and aboriginal leaders scheduled on the 24th would not be disrupted by the campaign. Parliamentary procedure dictated that the vote be deferred until the 28th. Even if the opposition hadn't put forward the non-confidence motion, the government was still expected to fall—there was to have been a vote on supplementary budget estimates on December 8, and if it had been defeated, loss of Supply
would have toppled the Liberals.
Conservative leader Stephen Harper
, the leader of the Opposition, introduced a motion of no confidence on November 24, which NDP leader Jack Layton
seconded. The motion was voted upon and passed in the evening of November 28, with all present MPs from the NDP, Bloc Québécois, and Conservatives and 3 Independents
(Bev Desjarlais
, David Kilgour
and Pat O'Brien
), voting with a combined strength of 171 votes for the motion and 132 Liberals and one Independent (Carolyn Parrish) voting against. One Bloc Québécois MP was absent from the vote. It is the fifth time a Canadian government has lost the confidence of Parliament, but the first time this has happened on a straight motion of no confidence. The four previous instances have been due to loss of supply or votes of censure
.
Martin visited Governor General
Michaëlle Jean
the following morning, where he formally advised her to dissolve Parliament and schedule an election for January 23. In accordance with Canadian constitutional practice, she consented (such a request has only been turned down once in Canadian history
), officially beginning an election campaign that had been simmering for months.
Early on in the campaign, polls showed the Liberals with a solid 5-10 point lead over the Conservatives, and poised to form a strong minority government at worst. Around Christmas, after reports of an RCMP investigation into allegations of insider trading within the Finance department, this situation changed dramatically, leading to the opposition parties to consistently attack the Liberals on corruption. Almost at the same time, the Boxing Day shooting, an unusually violent gun fight between rival gangs on December 26 in downtown Toronto
(resulting in the death of 15-year-old Jane Creba, an innocent bystander), may have swayed some Ontario voters to support the more hardline CPC policies on crime. The Conservatives enjoyed a fairly significant lead in polls leading up to the election, but the gap narrowed in the last few days.
, abortion
, and Quebec sovereigntism
), others recently brought forth by media coverage (including redressing the Chinese Canadian community for long-standing wrongs that forced both parties to back-track on their position in the national and ethnic media, particularly in key British Columbia and Alberta ridings), or court decisions (the sponsorship scandal
, same-sex marriages
, income trust
s, or Canada-United States relations)—took the fore in debate among the parties and also influenced aspects of the parties’ electoral platforms.
Prior to and during the election campaign, opinion poll
ing showed variable support for the governing Liberals and opposition Conservatives. In November 2005, the first report by Justice John Gomery
was released to the public; subsequently, poll numbers for the Liberals again dropped. Just days later, polling showed the Liberals were already bouncing back; upon the election call, the Liberals held a small lead over the Conservatives and maintained this for much of December. Renewed accusations of corruption
and impropriety at the end of 2005 – amid Royal Canadian Mounted Police
criminal probes of possible government leaks regarding income trust
tax changes and advertising sponsorships
– led to an upswing of Conservative support again and gave them a lead over the Liberals, portending a change in government. Ultimately this scandal was linked to a blackberry exchange to a banking official by Liberal candidate Scott Brison
. Polling figures for the NDP increased slightly, while Bloc figures experienced a slight dip; figures for the Green Party did not change appreciably throughout the campaign.
, where the boundary between Acadie—Bathurst
and Miramichi
was ruled to be illegal. Many of the candidates were also the same: fewer incumbents chose to leave than if they had served a full term, and the parties have generally blocked challenges to sitting MPs for the duration of the minority government, although there had been some exceptions.
. The proportion of female New Democrats elected was greater than the proportion nominated, indicating female New Democrats were nominated in winnable ridings. 12.3% of Conservative candidates and 25.6% of Liberal candidates were female.
| style="vertical-align:top; width:50%;"|
colspan="7"|Gender breakdown
|- style="background:#ccc;"
!rowspan=2 colspan="2"|Party
!rowspan=2|Leader's
gender
!colspan=4|Candidates
|- style="background:#ccc;"
!Total
!Female
!Male
!% female
|-
|Canadian Action
|align=center|F
|align="right"|34
|align="right"|8
|align="right"|26
|align="right"|23.5%
|Communist
|align=center|M
|align="right"|21
|align="right"|7
|align="right"|14
|align="right"|33.3%
|Libertarian
|align=center|M
|align="right"|10
|align="right"|1
|align="right"|9
|align="right"|10.0%
|First Peoples
|align=center|F
|align="right"|5
|align="right"|0
|align="right"|5
|align="right"|0.0%
|Western Block
|align=center|M
|align="right"|4
|align="right"|1
|align="right"|3
|align="right"|25.0%
|Animal Alliance
|align=center|F
|align="right"|1
|align="right"|1
|align="right"|0
|align="right"|100.0%
|colspan=2|Independent
|align="right"|90
|align="right"|8
|align="right"|82
|align="right"|8.9%
|-
| colspan="3"|Total
| style="text-align:right;"|1634
| style="text-align:right;"|380
| style="text-align:right;"|1254
| style="text-align:right;"|23.3%
|-
| style="text-align:center;" colspan="7"|Source: Elections Canada
|}
|}
| style="vertical-align:top; width:50%;"|
|}
>
Libertarians
Marijuana Party
Bloc Québécois
Conservatives
Green Party
New Democrats
Christian Heritage
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 39th Parliament
39th Canadian Parliament
The 39th Canadian Parliament was in session from April 3, 2006 until September 7, 2008. The membership was set by the 2006 federal election on January 23, 2006, and it has changed only somewhat due to resignations and by-elections...
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...
. The Conservative Party of Canada
Conservative Party of Canada
The Conservative Party of Canada , is a political party in Canada which was formed by the merger of the Canadian Alliance and the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada in 2003. It is positioned on the right of the Canadian political spectrum...
won the greatest number of seats
Electoral district (Canada)
An electoral district in Canada, also known as a constituency or a riding, is a geographical constituency upon which Canada's representative democracy is based...
: 40.3% of seats, or 124 out of 308, up from 99 seats in 2004, and 36.3% of votes: up from 29.6% in the 2004 election. The election resulted in a minority government
Minority governments in Canada
During the history of Canadian politics, eleven minority governments have been elected at the federal level. There have also been two minority governments resulting from governments being replaced between elections, for a total of thirteen federal minority governments in twelve separate minority...
led by the Conservative Party with Stephen Harper
Stephen Harper
Stephen Joseph Harper is the 22nd and current Prime Minister of Canada and leader of the Conservative Party. Harper became prime minister when his party formed a minority government after the 2006 federal election...
becoming the 22nd Prime Minister of Canada
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...
. By proportion of seats, this was Canada's smallest minority government since Confederation
Canadian Confederation
Canadian Confederation was the process by which the federal Dominion of Canada was formed on July 1, 1867. On that day, three British colonies were formed into four Canadian provinces...
. Despite this it was the second longest serving minority government overall.
Cause of the election
This unusual winter general electionElections in Canada
Canada holds elections for several levels of government: nationally , provincially and territorially, and municipally. Elections are also held for self governing First Nations and for many other public and private organizations including corporations and trade unions...
was caused by a motion of no confidence
Motion of no confidence
A motion of no confidence is a parliamentary motion whose passing would demonstrate to the head of state that the elected parliament no longer has confidence in the appointed government.-Overview:Typically, when a parliament passes a vote of no...
passed by the House of Commons on November 28, 2005, with Canada's three opposition parties contending that the governing 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...
government of Prime 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....
was corrupt. The following morning, Prime Minister Paul Martin met Governor General Michaëlle Jean
Michaëlle Jean
Michaëlle Jean is a Canadian journalist and stateswoman who served as Governor General of Canada, the 27th since Canadian Confederation, from 2005 to 2010....
, who then dissolved parliament
Dissolution of parliament
In parliamentary systems, a dissolution of parliament is the dispersal of a legislature at the call of an election.Usually there is a maximum length of a legislature, and a dissolution must happen before the maximum time...
, summoned the next parliament, and ordered the issuance of writs of election. The last set January 23, 2006, as election day and February 13 as the date for return of the writs. The campaign was almost eight weeks in length, the longest in two decades, in order to allow time for the Christmas and New Year holidays.
Recent political events, most notably testimony to the Gomery Commission
Gomery Commission
The Gomery Commission, formally the Commission of Inquiry into the Sponsorship Program and Advertising Activities, was a federal Canadian Royal Commission headed by the retired Justice John Gomery for the purpose of investigating the sponsorship scandal, which involved allegations of corruption...
investigating the sponsorship scandal
Sponsorship scandal
The sponsorship scandal, "AdScam", "Sponsorship" or Sponsorgate, is a scandal that came as a result of a Canadian federal government "sponsorship program" in the province of Quebec and involving the Liberal Party of Canada, which was in power from 1993 to 2006...
, significantly weakened the Liberals (who, under Martin, had formed the first Liberal minority government
Minority government
A minority government or a minority cabinet is a cabinet of a parliamentary system formed when a political party or coalition of parties does not have a majority of overall seats in the parliament but is sworn into government to break a Hung Parliament election result. It is also known as a...
since the Trudeau era) by allegations of criminal corruption in the party. The first Gomery report, released November 1, 2005, had found a "culture of entitlement
Culture of entitlement
Culture of entitlement is a concept meant to encapsulate the social or economic beliefs that a government, usually through entitlement programs, should provide access to goods or services such as employment opportunities or health care at no additional cost to its tax payers...
" to exist within the Government. Although the next election was not legally required until 2009, the opposition had enough votes to force the dissolution of Parliament
38th Canadian Parliament
The 38th Canadian Parliament was in session from October 4, 2004 until November 29, 2005. The membership was set by the 2004 federal election on June 28, 2004, and it changed only somewhat due to resignations and by-elections, but due to the seat distribution, those few changes significantly...
earlier. While Prime Minister Martin had committed in April 2005 to dissolve Parliament within a month of the tabling of the second Gomery Report (which was released on schedule on February 1, 2006), all three opposition parties—the Conservatives, 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...
, and 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...
(NDP) — and three of the four independents decided that the issue at hand was how to correct the Liberal corruption, and the motion of non-confidence passed 171-133.
Results
Calgary Southwest
Calgary Southwest is a federal electoral district in Alberta, Canada, that has been represented in the Canadian House of Commons since 1988. The district is in the southwest part of the City of Calgary, south of Glenmore Trail, and west of the Canadian Pacific railway.The seat is held by Prime...
, which he has held since 2002, ensuring that he had a seat in the new parliament. The election was held on January 23, 2006. The first polls closed at 07:00 p.m. ET (0000 UTC
Coordinated Universal Time
Coordinated Universal Time is the primary time standard by which the world regulates clocks and time. It is one of several closely related successors to Greenwich Mean Time. Computer servers, online services and other entities that rely on having a universally accepted time use UTC for that purpose...
); Elections Canada
Elections Canada
Elections Canada is an independent, non-partisan agency reporting directly to the Parliament of Canada. Its ongoing responsibility is to ensure that Canadians can exercise their choices in federal elections and referenda through an open and impartial process...
started to publish preliminary results on its website at 10:00 p.m. ET as the last polls closed. Shortly after midnight (ET) that night, incumbent Prime 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....
conceded defeat, and announced that he would resign as leader of 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...
. He continued to sit as a Member of Parliament
39th Canadian Parliament
The 39th Canadian Parliament was in session from April 3, 2006 until September 7, 2008. The membership was set by the 2006 federal election on January 23, 2006, and it has changed only somewhat due to resignations and by-elections...
representing LaSalle—Émard
LaSalle—Émard
LaSalle—Émard is a federal electoral district in the Canadian province of Quebec that has been represented in the Canadian House of Commons since 1988. Its population in 2001 was 99,767. It is represented by New Democrat Hélène LeBlanc...
, the Montreal
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
-area riding he had held since 1988
Canadian federal election, 1988
The Canadian federal election of 1988 was held November 21, 1988, to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons of the 34th Parliament of Canada. It was an election largely fought on a single issue: the Canada-U.S. Free Trade Agreement ....
, until his retirement in 2008.
At 9:30 a.m. on January 24, Martin informed Governor General
Governor General of Canada
The Governor General of Canada is the federal viceregal representative of the Canadian monarch, Queen Elizabeth II...
Michaëlle Jean
Michaëlle Jean
Michaëlle Jean is a Canadian journalist and stateswoman who served as Governor General of Canada, the 27th since Canadian Confederation, from 2005 to 2010....
that he would not form a government and intended to resign as Prime Minister. It was announced a month later that there would be a Liberal leadership convention later in the year, during which Stéphane Dion won the leadership of the Liberal Party. Later that day, at 6:45 p.m., Jean invited Harper to form a government. Martin formally resigned and Harper was formally appointed and sworn in as Prime Minister on February 6.
Overall results
The elections resulted in a Conservative minority government with 124 seats in parliament with a Liberal opposition and a strengthened NDP. In his speech following the loss, Martin stated he would not lead the Liberal Party of Canada in another election. Preliminary results indicated that 64.9% of registered voters cast a ballot, a notable increase over 2004's 60.9%.The NDP won new seats in British Columbia and Ontario as their overall popular vote increased 2% from 2004. The Bloc managed to win almost as many seats as in 2004 despite losing a significant percentage of the vote. Most of the Conservatives' gains were in rural Ontario and Quebec as they took a net loss in the west, but won back the only remaining Liberal seat in Alberta. The popular vote of the Conservatives and Liberals were almost the mirror image of 2004, though the Conservatives were not able to translate this into as many seats as the Liberals did in 2004.
A judicial recount was automatically scheduled in the Parry Sound—Muskoka
Parry Sound—Muskoka
Parry Sound—Muskoka is a federal electoral district in Ontario, Canada, that has been represented in the Canadian House of Commons since 1949....
riding, where early results showed Conservative Tony Clement
Tony Clement
Tony Peter Clement, PC, MP is a Canadian federal politician, President of the Treasury Board, Minister for the Federal Economic Initiative for Northern Ontario and member of the Conservative Party of Canada....
only 21 votes ahead of Liberal Andy Mitchell, because the difference of votes cast between the two leading candidates was less than 0.1%. Clement was confirmed as the winner by 28 votes.
Conservative candidate Jeremy Harrison
Jeremy Harrison
Jeremy Harrison, is a Canadian politician, currently representing the riding of Meadow Lake in the Legislative Assembly of Saskatchewan...
, narrowly defeated by Liberal Gary Merasty
Gary Merasty
Gary Merasty, is a Canadian politician and former Liberal Member of Parliament for Desnethé—Missinippi—Churchill River in northern Saskatchewan. A former two-time Grand Chief of the Prince Albert Grand Council, Merasty is a member of the Peter Ballantyne Cree Nation within Treaty 6 territory...
in the Saskatchewan riding of Desnethé—Missinippi—Churchill River
Desnethé—Missinippi—Churchill River
Desnethé—Missinippi—Churchill River is a federal electoral district in Saskatchewan, Canada, that has been represented in the Canadian House of Commons since 1997.-Demographics:...
by 72 votes, alleged electoral fraud but decided not to pursue the matter. A judicial recount was ordered in the riding, which certified Gary Merasty
Gary Merasty
Gary Merasty, is a Canadian politician and former Liberal Member of Parliament for Desnethé—Missinippi—Churchill River in northern Saskatchewan. A former two-time Grand Chief of the Prince Albert Grand Council, Merasty is a member of the Peter Ballantyne Cree Nation within Treaty 6 territory...
the winner by a reduced margin of 68 votes.
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Vote and seat summaries
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... |
YT 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 | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Conservative Conservative Party of Canada The Conservative Party of Canada , is a political party in Canada which was formed by the merger of the Canadian Alliance and the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada in 2003. It is positioned on the right of the Canadian political spectrum... |
Seats: | 17 | 28 | 12 | 8 | 40 | 10 | 3 | 3 | - | 3 | - | - | - | 124 |
Vote: | 37.3 | 65.0 | 48.9 | 42.8 | 35.1 | 24.6 | 35.7 | 29.69 | 33.4 | 42.67 | 29.6 | 19.8 | 23.67 | 36.25 |
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: | 9 | - | 2 | 3 | 54 | 13 | 6 | 6 | 4 | 4 | 1 | - | 1 | 103 |
Vote: | 27.6 | 15.3 | 22.4 | 26.0 | 39.9 | 20.7 | 39.2 | 37.15 | 52.5 | 42.82 | 39.1 | 34.9 | 48.52 | 30.2 |
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: | 51 | 51 |
Vote: | 42.1 | 10.5 |
New Democrat 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: | 10 | - | - | 3 | 12 | - | 1 | 2 | - | - | - | 1 | - | 29 |
Vote: | 28.6 | 11.6 | 24.0 | 25.4 | 19.4 | 7.5 | 21.9 | 29.84 | 9.6 | 13.58 | 17.6 | 42.1 | 23.85 | 17.5 |
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: | 5.3 | 6.5 | 3.2 | 3.9 | 4.7 | 4.0 | 2.4 | 2.6 | 3.9 | 0.9 | 5.9 | 2.1 | 4.0 | 4.5 |
| Independent / No affiliation | Seats: | 1 | 1 |
Vote: | 0.9 | 0.1 |
Total seats: | 36 | 28 | 14 | 14 | 106 | 75 | 10 | 11 | 4 | 7 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 308 |
10 closest ridings
- Parry Sound—MuskokaParry Sound—MuskokaParry Sound—Muskoka is a federal electoral district in Ontario, Canada, that has been represented in the Canadian House of Commons since 1949....
, ON: Tony ClementTony ClementTony Peter Clement, PC, MP is a Canadian federal politician, President of the Treasury Board, Minister for the Federal Economic Initiative for Northern Ontario and member of the Conservative Party of Canada....
(Cons) def. Andy Mitchell (Lib) by 28 votes - Desnethé—Missinippi—Churchill RiverDesnethé—Missinippi—Churchill RiverDesnethé—Missinippi—Churchill River is a federal electoral district in Saskatchewan, Canada, that has been represented in the Canadian House of Commons since 1997.-Demographics:...
, SK: Gary MerastyGary MerastyGary Merasty, is a Canadian politician and former Liberal Member of Parliament for Desnethé—Missinippi—Churchill River in northern Saskatchewan. A former two-time Grand Chief of the Prince Albert Grand Council, Merasty is a member of the Peter Ballantyne Cree Nation within Treaty 6 territory...
(Lib) def. Jeremy HarrisonJeremy HarrisonJeremy Harrison, is a Canadian politician, currently representing the riding of Meadow Lake in the Legislative Assembly of Saskatchewan...
(Cons) by 73 votes - Winnipeg SouthWinnipeg SouthWinnipeg South is a Canadian federal electoral district in Manitoba, Canada, that has been represented in the Canadian House of Commons from 1917 to 1979, and since 1988. It covers the south of the city of Winnipeg...
, MB: Rod BruinoogeRod BruinoogeRod E. Bruinooge is a Canadian politician, businessman, and filmmaker. He was elected as the Member of Parliament for Winnipeg South in the 2006 federal election, and was the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development and the Federal Interlocutor for Métis...
(Cons) def. Reg AlcockReg AlcockReginald B. Alcock, PC was a Canadian politician. He represented the riding of Winnipeg South in the Canadian House of Commons from 1993 to 2006 and was a cabinet minister in the government of Prime Minister Paul Martin. Alcock was a member of the Liberal Party of Canada.-Early life and...
(Lib) by 111 votes - Glengarry—Prescott—RussellGlengarry—Prescott—RussellGlengarry—Prescott—Russell is a federal electoral district in Ontario, Canada, that has been represented in the Canadian House of Commons since 1953...
, ON: Pierre LemieuxPierre LemieuxPierre Lemieux is a politician in Ontario, Canada. He is the MP for the riding of Glengarry—Prescott—Russell in Canada's 39th general election. He represents the Conservative Party of Canada...
(Cons) def. René Berthiaume (Lib) by 203 votes - Louis-Hébert, QC: Luc HarveyLuc HarveyLuc Harvey was a Canadian politician and the former Member of Parliament for the riding of Louis-Hébert in Quebec from 2006 to 2008. In 2006, he ran for office as a member of the Conservative Party against Bloc Québécois politician Roger Clavet and won with 34.22% of the vote, defeating Clavet by...
(Cons) def. Roger ClavetRoger ClavetRoger Clavet is a Québécois politician. A journalist, he was first elected to the Canadian House of Commons in the Canadian federal election, 2004. He was a member of the Bloc Québécois for the riding of Louis-Hébert. He was the Bloc's critic of Asia-Pacific. He was defeated in the 2006 federal...
(BQ) by 231 votes - St. CatharinesSt. Catharines (electoral district)St. Catharines is a federal electoral district in Ontario, Canada, that has been represented in the Canadian House of Commons since 1968.It consists of the part of the City of St. Catharines lying north of a line drawn from west to east along St. Paul Street West, St...
, ON: Rick DykstraRick DykstraRichard "Rick" Dykstra is a Canadian politician. He was elected to the Canadian House of Commons in the 2006 federal election, for the Ontario riding of St. Catharines. Dykstra is a member of the Conservative Party of Canada...
(Cons) def. Walt LastewkaWalt LastewkaWalter Thomas "Walt" Lastewka, PC is a Canadian politician. He was a member of the Canadian House of Commons from 1993 to 2006, representing the Ontario riding of St...
(Lib) by 244 votes - Tobique—MactaquacTobique—MactaquacTobique—Mactaquac is a federal electoral district in New Brunswick, Canada, that has been represented in the Canadian House of Commons since 1997...
, NB: Mike AllenMike Allen (Canadian politician)Michael Allen, better known as Mike Allen, is a Canadian politician. He was elected to represent the riding of Tobique—Mactaquac as a member of the Conservative Party of Canada in the Canadian House of Commons in the January 2006 federal election.Allen comes from a very politically active family...
(Cons) def. Andy SavoyAndy 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) by 254 votes - Thunder Bay—Superior NorthThunder Bay—Superior NorthThunder Bay—Superior North is a federal electoral district in Ontario, Canada, that has been represented in the Canadian House of Commons since 1976....
, ON: Joe ComuzziJoe ComuzziJoseph Robert "Joe" Comuzzi, PC is a former Canadian politician.Comuzzi was born in Fort William, Ontario. He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Windsor in 1954. In 1966, Comuzzi received the University of Windsor Alumni Award of Merit, the Alumni Association's most...
(Lib) def. Bruce HyerBruce HyerBruce Tolhurst Hyer is an American-born Canadian politician, who was first elected to represent the electoral district of Thunder Bay—Superior North in the 2008 Canadian federal election, and re-elected with a wider margin in the 2011 federal election...
(NDP) by 408 votes - West NovaWest NovaWest Nova is a federal electoral district in Nova Scotia, Canada, that has been represented in the Canadian House of Commons since 1968....
, NS: Robert ThibaultRobert ThibaultRobert G. Thibault, PC is a Canadian politician.Thibault is a member of the Liberal Party of Canada and a former member in the Canadian House of Commons, serving three terms as the representative of West Nova from 2000 to 2008. He served as a municipal councillor in Clare, Nova Scotia from 1988 to...
(Lib) def. Greg KerrGreg KerrGreg J. Kerr is a politician from Nova Scotia, Canada. He was elected as the Conservative Party Member of Parliament for the electoral district of West Nova in the 2008 federal election. He is currently the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Veterans Affairs.-Biography:He graduated from...
(Cons) by 511 votes - BrantBrant (electoral district)Brant is a federal electoral district in Ontario, Canada, that has been represented in the Canadian House of Commons from 1904 to 1949 and since 1968.The federal riding was created in 1903. It consisted of Brant County excluding Brantford....
, ON: Lloyd St. AmandLloyd St. AmandLloyd St. Amand is a Canadian politician and a former Member of Parliament for the riding of Brant. He is a member of the Liberal Party of Canada....
(Lib) def. Phil McColemanPhil McColemanPhil McColeman is a Canadian politician, who was elected to represent the electoral district of Brant in the 2008 Canadian federal election. He is a member of the Conservative Party.-External links:*...
(Cons) by 582 votes
Results by electoral district
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Results of the Canadian federal election, 2006: Ontario -Ottawa:-Eastern Ontario:-Central Ontario:-Southern Durham and York:-Suburban Toronto:-Central Toronto:-Brampton, Mississauga and Oakville:-Hamilton, Burlington and Niagara:-Midwestern Ontario:-Southwestern Ontario:... |
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Parties
Ontario general election, 1990
The Ontario general election of 1990 was held on September 6, 1990, to elect members of the 35th Legislative Assembly of the province of Ontario, Canada....
. However, with the exception of the Unionist government of 1917 (which combined members of both the Conservatives and the Liberals), at the Federal stage, only Liberals or Conservatives have formed government. With the end of the campaign at hand, pollsters and pundits placed the Conservatives ahead of the Liberals.
Prime Minister Paul Martin's Liberals hoped to recapture their majority, and this appeared likely at one point during the campaign; but it would have required holding back Bloc pressure 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....
plus picking up some new seats there while also gaining seats in English Canada, most likely in rural 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....
and southwestern 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...
. Towards the end of the campaign, even high-profile Liberals were beginning to concede defeat, and the best the Liberals could have achieved was a razor-thin minority.
Stephen Harper's Conservatives succeeded in bringing their new party into power in Canada. While continuing weaknesses in Quebec and urban areas rightfully prompted most observers to consider a Conservative 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...
to be mathematically difficult to achieve, early on, Harper's stated goal was to achieve one nonetheless. Though the Conservatives were ahead of the Liberals in Quebec, they remained far behind the Bloc Québécois, and additional gains in rural and suburban Ontario would have been be necessary to meet Stephen Harper's goal. The polls had remained pretty well static over the course of December, with the real shift coming in the first few days of the New Year. That is when the Conservatives took the lead and kept it for the rest of the campaign.
Harper started off the first month of the campaign with a policy-per-day strategy, which included a GST reduction and a child-care allowance. The Liberals opted to hold any major announcements until after the Christmas holidays; as a result, Harper dominated media coverage for the first weeks of the campaign and was able to define his platform and insulate it from expected Liberal attacks. On December 27, 2005, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police
Royal Canadian Mounted Police
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police , literally ‘Royal Gendarmerie of Canada’; colloquially known as The Mounties, and internally as ‘The Force’) is the national police force of Canada, and one of the most recognized of its kind in the world. It is unique in the world as a national, federal,...
announced it was investigating allegations that Liberal Finance Minister
Minister of Finance (Canada)
The Minister of Finance is the Minister of the Crown in the Canadian Cabinet who is responsible each year for presenting the federal government's budget...
Ralph Goodale
Ralph Goodale
Ralph Edward Goodale, PC, MP was Canada's Minister of Finance from 2003 to 2006 and continues to be a Liberal Member of Parliament...
's office had engaged in insider trading
Insider trading
Insider trading is the trading of a corporation's stock or other securities by individuals with potential access to non-public information about the company...
before making an important announcement on the taxation of income trust
Income trust
An income trust is an investment that may hold equities, debt instruments, royalty interests or real properties. The trust can receive interest, royalty or lease payments from an operating entity carrying on a business, as well as dividends and a return of capital.The main attraction of income...
s. The RCMP indicated that they had no evidence of wrongdoing or criminal activity from any party associated with the investigation, including Goodale. However, the story dominated news coverage for the following week and prevented the Liberals from making their key policy announcements, allowing the Conservatives to refocus their previous attacks about corruption within the Liberal party. The Conservatives soon found themselves leading in the polls. By early January, they made a major breakthrough in Quebec, pushing the Liberals to second place.
As their lead solidified, media coverage
Newspaper endorsements in the Canadian federal election, 2006
This is a tally of newspaper and magazine endorsements in the 2006 Canadian federal election:This is a tally of newspaper and magazine endorsements in the 2006 Canadian federal election:...
of the Conservatives was much more positive, while Liberals found themselves increasingly criticized for running a poor campaign and making numerous gaffes.
The NDP has claimed that last minute tactical voting
Tactical voting
In voting systems, tactical voting occurs, in elections with more than two viable candidates, when a voter supports a candidate other than his or her sincere preference in order to prevent an undesirable outcome.It has been shown by the Gibbard-Satterthwaite theorem that any voting method which is...
cost them several seats last time, as left-of-centre voters moved to the Liberals so that they could prevent a Harper-led government. Jack Layton avoided stating his party's goal was to win the election outright, instead calling for enough New Democrats to be elected to hold the balance of power
Balance of power (parliament)
In parliamentary politics, the term balance of power sometimes describes the pragmatic mechanism exercised by a minor political party or other grouping whose guaranteed support may enable an otherwise minority government to obtain and hold office...
in a Liberal or Conservative minority government. Political commentators have long argued that the NDP's main medium-term goal is to serve as junior partners to the Liberals in Canada's first-ever true coalition government
Coalition government
A coalition government is a cabinet of a parliamentary government in which several political parties cooperate. The usual reason given for this arrangement is that no party on its own can achieve a majority in the parliament...
. NDP leader Jack Layton was concerned last time over people voting Liberal so that they could avoid a Conservative government. Over the course of the last week of the campaign, Jack Layton called on Liberal voters disgusted with the corruption to "lend" their votes to the NDP to elect more NDP members to the House and hold the Conservatives to a minority.
The Bloc Québécois had a very successful result in the 2004 election, with the Liberals reduced to the core areas of federalist support in portions of Montreal
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
and the Outaouais. Oddly enough, this meant that there were comparatively few winnable Bloc seats left—perhaps eight or so—for the party to target. With provincial allies the 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...
widely tipped to regain power in 2007, a large sovereigntist contingent in the House could play a major role in reopening the matter of Quebec independence
National Question (Quebec)
National Question is a general term used for questions relating to nationalities, nationalism, and nations. More specifically, the term usually refers either to the various theories about dealing with national questions National Question is a general term used for questions relating to...
. The Bloc Québécois only runs candidates in the province of Quebec. However, Gilles Duceppe's dream of winning 50%+ of the popular vote was dashed when the polls broke after the New Year, and the Conservatives became a real threat to that vision in Quebec.
In addition to the four sitting parties, 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...
ran candidates in all 308 federal ridings for the second consecutive election. Though the Greens had been an official party since the 1984 election
Canadian federal election, 1984
The Canadian federal election of 1984 was held on September 4 of that year to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons of the 33rd Parliament of Canada...
, this campaign was the first in which they had stable financial support with which to campaign. After a breakthrough in the 2004 election, they exceeded the minimum 2% of the popular vote to receive federal funding. Supporters and sympathisers criticize that the party were not invited to the nationally televised debates even with its official status. The party has occasionally polled as high as 19% in British Columbia and 11% nationwide. Critics of the Green Party contend that, by drawing away left-of-centre votes, the Green Party actually assists the Conservative Party in some ridings. The Greens deny this.
Other parties are listed in the table of results above.
Events during the 38th Parliament
An early election seemed likely because the 2004 federal electionCanadian federal election, 2004
The Canadian federal election, 2004 , was held on June 28, 2004 to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons of the 38th Parliament of Canada. The Liberal government of Prime Minister Paul Martin lost its majority, but was able to form a minority government after the elections...
, held on June 28, 2004, resulted in the election of a 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...
minority government
Minority government
A minority government or a minority cabinet is a cabinet of a parliamentary system formed when a political party or coalition of parties does not have a majority of overall seats in the parliament but is sworn into government to break a Hung Parliament election result. It is also known as a...
. In the past, minority governments have had an average lifespan of a year and a half. Some people considered the 38th parliament to be particularly unstable. It involved four parties, and only very implausible ideological combinations (e.g., Liberals + Conservatives; Liberals + BQ; Conservatives + BQ + NDP) could actually command a majority of the seats, a necessity if a government is to retain power. From its earliest moments, there was some threat of the government falling as even the Speech from the Throne
Speech from the Throne
A speech from the throne is an event in certain monarchies in which the reigning sovereign reads a prepared speech to a complete session of parliament, outlining the government's agenda for the coming session...
almost resulted in a non-confidence vote.
BrinkmanshipBrinkmanshipBrinkmanship is the practice of pushing dangerous events to the verge of disaster in order to achieve the most advantageous outcome...
in the spring of 2005
The Liberal government came close to falling when testimony from the Gomery CommissionGomery Commission
The Gomery Commission, formally the Commission of Inquiry into the Sponsorship Program and Advertising Activities, was a federal Canadian Royal Commission headed by the retired Justice John Gomery for the purpose of investigating the sponsorship scandal, which involved allegations of corruption...
caused public opinion to move sharply against the government. The Bloc Québécois were eager from the beginning to have an early election. The Conservatives announced they had also lost confidence in the government's moral authority. Thus, during much of spring 2005, there was a widespread belief that the Liberals would lose a confidence vote, prompting an election taking place in the spring or summer of 2005.
In a televised speech on April 21, Martin promised to request a dissolution of Parliament
Dissolution of parliament
In parliamentary systems, a dissolution of parliament is the dispersal of a legislature at the call of an election.Usually there is a maximum length of a legislature, and a dissolution must happen before the maximum time...
and begin an election campaign within 30 days of the Gomery Commission’s final report. The release date of that report would later solidify as February 1, 2006; Martin then clarified that he intended to schedule the election call so as to have the polling day in April 2006.
Later that week, the NDP, who had initially opposed the budget, opted to endorse Martin's proposal for a later election. The Liberals agreed to take corporate tax cuts out of the budget on April 26 in exchange for NDP support on votes of confidence, but even with NDP support the Liberals still fell three votes short of a majority. However, a surprise defection of former Conservative leadership candidate Belinda Stronach
Belinda Stronach
Belinda Caroline Stronach, PC is a Canadian businessperson, philanthropist and former politician. She was a Member of Parliament in the Canadian House of Commons from 2004 to 2008. Originally elected as a Conservative, she later crossed the floor to join the Liberals...
to the Liberal party on May 17 changed the balance of power in the House. Independents Chuck Cadman
Chuck Cadman
Charles "Chuck" Cadman was a Canadian politician and Member of Parliament from 1997 to 2005, representing the riding of Surrey North in Surrey, British Columbia.- Early life :...
and Carolyn Parrish provided the last two votes needed for the Liberals to win the budget vote.
The deal turned out to be rather unnecessary, as the Conservatives opted to ensure the government's survival on the motion of confidence surrounding the original budget, expressing support to the tax cuts and defence spending therein. When Parliament voted on second reading and referral of the budget and the amendment on May 19, the previous events kept the government alive. The original budget bill, C-43, passed easily, as expected, but the amendment bill, C-48, resulted in an equality of votes, and the Speaker of the House
Speaker of the Canadian House of Commons
The Speaker of the House of Commons of Canada is the presiding officer of the lower house of the Parliament of Canada and is elected at the beginning of each new parliament by fellow Members of Parliament...
broke the tie to continue the parliament. The government never got as close to falling after that date. Third reading of Bill C-48 was held late at night on an unexpected day, and several Conservatives being absent, the motion passed easily, guaranteeing there would be no election in the near future.
Aftermath of the first Gomery report
On November 1, John GomeryJohn Gomery
John H. Gomery, BCL, BA, QC is a retired Canadian jurist. He was born in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.-Personal life:Gomery has a daughter, Cym Gomery, who is a partisan and candidate of municipal party Projet Montreal. Gomery is fluently bilingual, as is his daughter...
released his interim report, and the scandal returned to prominence. Liberal support again fell, with some polls registering an immediate ten percent drop. The Conservatives and Bloc thus resumed their push for an election before Martin's April date. The NDP stated that their support was contingent on the Liberals agreeing to move against the private provision of healthcare. The Liberals and NDP failed to come to an agreement, however, and the NDP joined the two other opposition parties in demanding an election.
However, the Liberals had intentionally scheduled the mandatory "opposition days" (where a specified opposition party controls the agenda) on November 15 (Conservative), November 17 (Bloc Québécois) and November 24 (NDP). These days meant that any election would come over the Christmas
Christmas
Christmas or Christmas Day is an annual holiday generally celebrated on December 25 by billions of people around the world. It is a Christian feast that commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ, liturgically closing the Advent season and initiating the season of Christmastide, which lasts twelve days...
season, an unpopular idea. Following negotiations between the opposition parties, they instead issued an ultimatum to the Prime Minister to call an election immediately after the Christmas holidays or face an immediate non-confidence vote which would prompt a holiday-spanning campaign.
To that end, the NDP introduced a parliamentary motion demanding that the government drop the writ in January 2006 for a February 13 election date; however, only the prime minister has the authority to advise the Governor General on an election date, the government was therefore not bound by the NDP's motion. Martin had indicated that he remained committed to his April 2006 date, and would disregard the motion, which the opposition parties managed to pass, as expected, on November 21 by a vote of 167-129.
The three opposition leaders had agreed to delay the tabling of the no-confidence motion until the 24th, to ensure that a conference between the government and aboriginal leaders scheduled on the 24th would not be disrupted by the campaign. Parliamentary procedure dictated that the vote be deferred until the 28th. Even if the opposition hadn't put forward the non-confidence motion, the government was still expected to fall—there was to have been a vote on supplementary budget estimates on December 8, and if it had been defeated, loss of Supply
Loss of Supply
Loss of supply occurs where a government in a parliamentary democracy using the Westminster System or a system derived from it is denied a supply of treasury or exchequer funds, by whichever house or houses of parliament or head of state is constitutionally entitled to grant and deny supply. A...
would have toppled the Liberals.
Conservative leader Stephen Harper
Stephen Harper
Stephen Joseph Harper is the 22nd and current Prime Minister of Canada and leader of the Conservative Party. Harper became prime minister when his party formed a minority government after the 2006 federal election...
, the leader of the Opposition, introduced a motion of no confidence on November 24, which NDP leader Jack Layton
Jack Layton
John Gilbert "Jack" Layton, PC was a Canadian social democratic politician and the Leader of the Official Opposition. He was the leader of the New Democratic Party from 2003 to 2011, and previously sat on Toronto City Council, serving at times during that period as acting mayor and deputy mayor of...
seconded. The motion was voted upon and passed in the evening of November 28, with all present MPs from the NDP, Bloc Québécois, and Conservatives and 3 Independents
Independent (politician)
In politics, an independent or non-party politician is an individual not affiliated to any political party. Independents may hold a centrist viewpoint between those of major political parties, a viewpoint more extreme than any major party, or they may have a viewpoint based on issues that they do...
(Bev Desjarlais
Bev Desjarlais
Bev Desjarlais is a retired Canadian politician. She represented Churchill in the Canadian House of Commons from 1997 to 2006, initially as a New Democrat and later as an Independent after losing her party nomination in late 2005...
, David Kilgour
David Kilgour
David Kilgour, PC is a former Canadian politician.Kilgour graduated from the University of Manitoba in economics in 1962 and the University of Toronto law school in 1966. From crown attorney in northern Alberta to Canadian Cabinet minister, Kilgour ended his 27 year tenure in the Canadian House of...
and Pat O'Brien
Pat O'Brien (politician)
Patrick Wayne "Pat" O'Brien, is a former member of the Canadian House of Commons. Elected as a Liberal, he ended his career in 2005 as the independent Member of Parliament for London—Fanshawe in London, Ontario....
), voting with a combined strength of 171 votes for the motion and 132 Liberals and one Independent (Carolyn Parrish) voting against. One Bloc Québécois MP was absent from the vote. It is the fifth time a Canadian government has lost the confidence of Parliament, but the first time this has happened on a straight motion of no confidence. The four previous instances have been due to loss of supply or votes of censure
Censure
A censure is an expression of strong disapproval or harsh criticism. Among the forms that it can take are a stern rebuke by a legislature, a spiritual penalty imposed by a church, and a negative judgment pronounced on a theological proposition.-Politics:...
.
Martin visited Governor General
Governor General of Canada
The Governor General of Canada is the federal viceregal representative of the Canadian monarch, Queen Elizabeth II...
Michaëlle Jean
Michaëlle Jean
Michaëlle Jean is a Canadian journalist and stateswoman who served as Governor General of Canada, the 27th since Canadian Confederation, from 2005 to 2010....
the following morning, where he formally advised her to dissolve Parliament and schedule an election for January 23. In accordance with Canadian constitutional practice, she consented (such a request has only been turned down once in Canadian history
King-Byng Affair
The King–Byng Affair was a Canadian constitutional crisis that occurred in 1926, when the Governor General of Canada, the Lord Byng of Vimy, refused a request by his prime minister, William Lyon Mackenzie King, to dissolve parliament and call a general election....
), officially beginning an election campaign that had been simmering for months.
Early on in the campaign, polls showed the Liberals with a solid 5-10 point lead over the Conservatives, and poised to form a strong minority government at worst. Around Christmas, after reports of an RCMP investigation into allegations of insider trading within the Finance department, this situation changed dramatically, leading to the opposition parties to consistently attack the Liberals on corruption. Almost at the same time, the Boxing Day shooting, an unusually violent gun fight between rival gangs on December 26 in downtown Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
(resulting in the death of 15-year-old Jane Creba, an innocent bystander), may have swayed some Ontario voters to support the more hardline CPC policies on crime. The Conservatives enjoyed a fairly significant lead in polls leading up to the election, but the gap narrowed in the last few days.
Issues
Several issues—some long-standing (notably fiscal imbalance, the gun registryCanadian gun registry
The Canadian Firearms Registry is part of the Firearms Act and is managed by the Canadian Firearms Program of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police . It requires the registration of all guns in Canada. It was introduced by the Liberal government of Prime Minister Jean Chrétien and implemented by...
, abortion
Abortion in Canada
Abortion in Canada is not limited by the law . While some non-legal obstacles exist, Canada is one of only a few nations with no legal restrictions on abortion. Regulations and accessibility vary between provinces....
, and Quebec sovereigntism
Quebec sovereignty movement
The Quebec sovereignty movement refers to both the political movement and the ideology of values, concepts and ideas that promote the secession of the province of Quebec from the rest of Canada...
), others recently brought forth by media coverage (including redressing the Chinese Canadian community for long-standing wrongs that forced both parties to back-track on their position in the national and ethnic media, particularly in key British Columbia and Alberta ridings), or court decisions (the sponsorship scandal
Sponsorship scandal
The sponsorship scandal, "AdScam", "Sponsorship" or Sponsorgate, is a scandal that came as a result of a Canadian federal government "sponsorship program" in the province of Quebec and involving the Liberal Party of Canada, which was in power from 1993 to 2006...
, same-sex marriages
Same-sex marriage in Canada
On July 20, 2005, Canada became the fourth country in the world and the first country in the Americas to legalize same-sex marriage nationwide with the enactment of the Civil Marriage Act which provided a gender-neutral marriage definition...
, income trust
Income trust
An income trust is an investment that may hold equities, debt instruments, royalty interests or real properties. The trust can receive interest, royalty or lease payments from an operating entity carrying on a business, as well as dividends and a return of capital.The main attraction of income...
s, or Canada-United States relations)—took the fore in debate among the parties and also influenced aspects of the parties’ electoral platforms.
Opinion polls
Opinion poll
An opinion poll, sometimes simply referred to as a poll is a survey of public opinion from a particular sample. Opinion polls are usually designed to represent the opinions of a population by conducting a series of questions and then extrapolating generalities in ratio or within confidence...
ing showed variable support for the governing Liberals and opposition Conservatives. In November 2005, the first report by Justice John Gomery
Gomery Commission
The Gomery Commission, formally the Commission of Inquiry into the Sponsorship Program and Advertising Activities, was a federal Canadian Royal Commission headed by the retired Justice John Gomery for the purpose of investigating the sponsorship scandal, which involved allegations of corruption...
was released to the public; subsequently, poll numbers for the Liberals again dropped. Just days later, polling showed the Liberals were already bouncing back; upon the election call, the Liberals held a small lead over the Conservatives and maintained this for much of December. Renewed accusations of corruption
Political corruption
Political corruption is the use of legislated powers by government officials for illegitimate private gain. Misuse of government power for other purposes, such as repression of political opponents and general police brutality, is not considered political corruption. Neither are illegal acts by...
and impropriety at the end of 2005 – amid Royal Canadian Mounted Police
Royal Canadian Mounted Police
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police , literally ‘Royal Gendarmerie of Canada’; colloquially known as The Mounties, and internally as ‘The Force’) is the national police force of Canada, and one of the most recognized of its kind in the world. It is unique in the world as a national, federal,...
criminal probes of possible government leaks regarding income trust
Income trust
An income trust is an investment that may hold equities, debt instruments, royalty interests or real properties. The trust can receive interest, royalty or lease payments from an operating entity carrying on a business, as well as dividends and a return of capital.The main attraction of income...
tax changes and advertising sponsorships
Sponsorship scandal
The sponsorship scandal, "AdScam", "Sponsorship" or Sponsorgate, is a scandal that came as a result of a Canadian federal government "sponsorship program" in the province of Quebec and involving the Liberal Party of Canada, which was in power from 1993 to 2006...
– led to an upswing of Conservative support again and gave them a lead over the Liberals, portending a change in government. Ultimately this scandal was linked to a blackberry exchange to a banking official by Liberal candidate Scott Brison
Scott Brison
Scott A. Brison, PC, MP is a Canadian politician from Nova Scotia, Canada. Brison has been the Member of Parliament for the riding of Kings-Hants since the 1997 federal election. Brison was originally elected as a Progressive Conservative but crossed the floor to join the Liberal Party in 2003...
. Polling figures for the NDP increased slightly, while Bloc figures experienced a slight dip; figures for the Green Party did not change appreciably throughout the campaign.
Candidates
The election involved the same 308 electoral districts as in 2004, except in New BrunswickNew 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...
, where the boundary between Acadie—Bathurst
Acadie—Bathurst
Acadie—Bathurst is a federal electoral district in New Brunswick, Canada, that has been represented in the Canadian House of Commons since 1867. Its population in 2001 was 76,392....
and Miramichi
Miramichi (electoral district)
Northumberland was a federal electoral district in New Brunswick, Canada, that was represented in the Canadian House of Commons from 1867 to 1988. It was replaced by Miramichi riding, which has been represented in the House of Commons since 1988...
was ruled to be illegal. Many of the candidates were also the same: fewer incumbents chose to leave than if they had served a full term, and the parties have generally blocked challenges to sitting MPs for the duration of the minority government, although there had been some exceptions.
Gender breakdown of candidates
An on-going issue in Canadian politics is the imbalance between the genders in selection by political parties of candidates. Although in the past some parties, particularly the New Democrats, have focused on the necessity of having equal gender representation in Parliament, no major party has ever nominated as many or more women than men in a given election. In 2006, the New Democrats had the highest percentage of female candidates (35.1%) of any party aside from the Animal Alliance, which only had one candidate, its leader, Liz WhiteLiz White (politician)
Elizabeth "Liz" White is a Canadian politician and animal rights activist residing in Toronto, Ontario. She is the current leader of the Animal Alliance Environment Voters Party of Canada, a minor federal political party in Canada.-Animal Alliance of Canada:...
. The proportion of female New Democrats elected was greater than the proportion nominated, indicating female New Democrats were nominated in winnable ridings. 12.3% of Conservative candidates and 25.6% of Liberal candidates were female.
colspan="7"|Gender breakdown |
||||||
| Party | Leader's gender |
Candidates | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total | Female Female Female is the sex of an organism, or a part of an organism, which produces non-mobile ova .- Defining characteristics :The ova are defined as the larger gametes in a heterogamous reproduction system, while the smaller, usually motile gamete, the spermatozoon, is produced by the male... |
Male Male Male refers to the biological sex of an organism, or part of an organism, which produces small mobile gametes, called spermatozoa. Each spermatozoon can fuse with a larger female gamete or ovum, in the process of fertilization... |
% female | |||
| Conservative Conservative Party of Canada The Conservative Party of Canada , is a political party in Canada which was formed by the merger of the Canadian Alliance and the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada in 2003. It is positioned on the right of the Canadian political spectrum... |
M | 307 | 38 | 270 | 12.3% |
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... |
M | 307 | 79 | 229 | 25.6% |
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... |
M | 75 | 23 | 52 | 30.1% |
New Democrats 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... |
M | 308 | 108 | 200 | 35.1% |
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... |
M | 308 | 72 | 236 | 23.4% |
Christian Heritage Christian Heritage Party of Canada The Christian Heritage Party of Canada, also referred to as CHP Canada, is a federal political party that advocates that Canada be governed according to Biblical principles... |
M | 45 | 8 | 37 | 17.8% |
Progressive Cdn. Progressive Canadian Party The Progressive Canadian Party is a minor federal political party in Canada. It is a centre/centre-right party that was officially registered with Elections Canada, the government's election agency, on March 29, 2004.... |
F | 25 | 1 | 24 | 4.0% |
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... |
F | 69 | 24 | 45 | 34.8% |
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... |
M | 23 | 1 | 22 | 4.3% |
| style="vertical-align:top; width:50%;"|
colspan="7"|Gender breakdown
|- style="background:#ccc;"
!rowspan=2 colspan="2"|Party
!rowspan=2|Leader's
gender
!colspan=4|Candidates
|- style="background:#ccc;"
!Total
!Female
Female
Female is the sex of an organism, or a part of an organism, which produces non-mobile ova .- Defining characteristics :The ova are defined as the larger gametes in a heterogamous reproduction system, while the smaller, usually motile gamete, the spermatozoon, is produced by the male...
!Male
Male
Male refers to the biological sex of an organism, or part of an organism, which produces small mobile gametes, called spermatozoa. Each spermatozoon can fuse with a larger female gamete or ovum, in the process of fertilization...
!% female
|-
|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...
|align=center|F
|align="right"|34
|align="right"|8
|align="right"|26
|align="right"|23.5%
|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...
|align=center|M
|align="right"|21
|align="right"|7
|align="right"|14
|align="right"|33.3%
|Libertarian
Libertarian Party of Canada
The Libertarian Party of Canada is a political party in Canada that subscribes to the tenets of the libertarian movement across Canada.-History:...
|align=center|M
|align="right"|10
|align="right"|1
|align="right"|9
|align="right"|10.0%
|First Peoples
First Peoples National Party of Canada
The First Peoples National Party of Canada is a registered federal political party in Canada. It intends to advance the issues of the Aboriginal peoples in Canada by nominating candidates for election in electoral districts with large Aboriginal populations.The FPNPC held its first organizational...
|align=center|F
|align="right"|5
|align="right"|0
|align="right"|5
|align="right"|0.0%
|Western Block
Western Block Party
The Western Block Party is a political party in Canada founded in 2005 by Doug Christie. The party became officially registered on December 29, 2005....
|align=center|M
|align="right"|4
|align="right"|1
|align="right"|3
|align="right"|25.0%
|Animal Alliance
Animal Alliance Environment Voters Party of Canada
The Animal Alliance Environment Voters Party of Canada is a small registered political party in Canada. It was formed by two organizations, the Animal Alliance of Canada and Environment Voters. The latter had previously been organized as a subsidiary of the former...
|align=center|F
|align="right"|1
|align="right"|1
|align="right"|0
|align="right"|100.0%
|colspan=2|Independent
Independent (politician)
In politics, an independent or non-party politician is an individual not affiliated to any political party. Independents may hold a centrist viewpoint between those of major political parties, a viewpoint more extreme than any major party, or they may have a viewpoint based on issues that they do...
|align="right"|90
|align="right"|8
|align="right"|82
|align="right"|8.9%
|-
| colspan="3"|Total
| style="text-align:right;"|1634
| style="text-align:right;"|380
| style="text-align:right;"|1254
| style="text-align:right;"|23.3%
|-
| style="text-align:center;" colspan="7"|Source: Elections Canada
|}
|}
Campaign slogans
The parties' campaign slogans for the 2006 election:| English English language English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria... slogan |
French French language French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts... slogan |
Literal English translation | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Conservative | Stand up for Canada | Changeons pour vrai | Let's change for real / for truth (pun) |
| Liberal | Choose your Canada | Un Canada à votre image | A Canada in your image |
| NDP | Getting results for people | Des réalisations concrètes pour les gens | Solid results for people |
| BQ | Thankfully, the Bloc is here! | Heureusement, ici, c'est le Bloc! | Fortunately, here, it's the Bloc! |
| Green | We can | Oui, nous pouvons | Yes, we can |
Endorsements
Liberals
- Peter Adams, PeterboroughPeterborough (electoral district)Peterborough is a federal electoral district in Ontario, Canada, that has been represented in the Canadian House of Commons since 1953.The riding's borders have differed slightly since its creation in 1953, but has always included most or all of Peterborough County and its county seat of...
- David Anderson, VictoriaVictoria (electoral district)Victoria is a federal electoral district in British Columbia, Canada, that has been represented in the Canadian House of Commons from 1872 to 1904 and since 1925....
- Jean AugustineJean AugustineJean Augustine, PC, CM is a former Canadian politician.From 1993 to 2005, Augustine was a Liberal member of the Canadian House of Commons, representing the riding of Etobicoke—Lakeshore. She is a former member of Cabinet, and a former school principal...
, Etobicoke—LakeshoreEtobicoke—LakeshoreEtobicoke—Lakeshore is a federal electoral district in Ontario, Canada, that has been represented in the Canadian House of Commons since 1968.... - Don BoudriaDon BoudriaDonald "Don" Boudria, PC is a former Canadian politician. He served in the Canadian House of Commons from 1984 to 2005 as a member of the Liberal Party of Canada, and was a cabinet minister in the government of Jean Chrétien....
, Glengarry—Prescott—RussellGlengarry—Prescott—RussellGlengarry—Prescott—Russell is a federal electoral district in Ontario, Canada, that has been represented in the Canadian House of Commons since 1953... - Claudette BradshawClaudette BradshawClaudette Bradshaw, PC, ONB is a former Canadian politician who served as Member of Parliament for the riding of Moncton—Riverview—Dieppe, New Brunswick. She was first elected on June 2, 1997 and served until 2005...
, Moncton—Riverview—DieppeMoncton—Riverview—DieppeMoncton—Riverview—Dieppe is a federal electoral district in New Brunswick, Canada, that has been represented in the Canadian House of Commons since 1968... - Marlene CatterallMarlene CatterallMarlene Catterall is a former Canadian politician. Catterall was a member of the Liberal Party of Canada in the Canadian House of Commons, representing the riding of Ottawa West—Nepean from 1997 to 2005 and previously representing the riding of Ottawa West from 1988 to 1997. Catterall is a former...
, Ottawa West—NepeanOttawa West—NepeanOttawa West—Nepean is a federal electoral district in Ontario, Canada, that has been represented in the Canadian House of Commons since 1997. Its population in 2001 was 112,509.-Geography:... - Claude DrouinClaude DrouinClaude Drouin, PC is a former Canadian politician. He was the Member of Parliament representing the riding of Beauce from 1997 to 2006 and was also the Parliamentary Secretary to Prime Minister Paul Martin with special emphasis on Rural Communities.He is a former foreman and political advisor...
, BeauceBeauceBeauce is a natural region in northern France, located between the Seine and Loire rivers. It now comprises the Eure-et-Loir département and parts of Loiret, Essonne and Loir-et-Cher. The region shared the history of the province of Orléanais and the county of Chartres, which is its only major... - Paul DeVillersPaul DeVillersPaul J. DeVillers, PC is a former Canadian politician. He served as Member of Parliament for the Ontario riding of Simcoe North from 1993 to 2005....
, Simcoe NorthSimcoe NorthSimcoe North is a federal electoral district in Ontario, Canada. It was established as a federal riding in 1867. Its population was 119,400 in 2006.-Demographics:Ethnic groups: 92.3% White, 5.9% Native Canadian... - John EffordJohn EffordRuben John Efford, PC is a former Canadian politician.-Provincial politics:...
, AvalonAvalon (electoral district)Avalon is a federal electoral district in Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada, that has been represented in the Canadian House of Commons since 2004.-Demographics:Ethnic groups: Languages:² Unemployment: 25.9%... - Beth PhinneyBeth PhinneyElizabeth Phinney is a former Canadian politician. She was a member of the Canadian House of Commons from 1988 until her retirement in 2005, representing the riding of Hamilton Mountain in Ontario for the Liberal Party.Phinney grew up in Hamilton, Ontario, and was educated at McMaster University...
, Hamilton MountainHamilton MountainHamilton Mountain is a federal electoral district in Ontario, Canada, that has been represented in the Canadian House of Commons since 1968. The riding is located in the Hamilton, Ontario region.... - Jerry PickardJerry PickardJerry Pickard, PC, MP is a former Canadian politician. He was a member of the Canadian House of Commons from 1988 until his retirement in 2005 representing the riding of Chatham-Kent—Essex for the Liberal Party in his later terms in office.Pickard has Bachelor of Arts and Master of Education...
, Chatham-Kent—EssexChatham-Kent—EssexChatham-Kent—Essex is a federal electoral district in Ontario, Canada, that has been represented in the Canadian House of Commons since 1997.-Federal riding:... - Rose-Marie UrRose-Marie UrRose-Marie Margaret Ur is a Canadian politician. She was a member of the Canadian House of Commons from 1993 until 2005 and, in her final term in office, represented the riding of Middlesex—Kent—Lambton for the Liberal Party.- Biography :Ur was educated at the Strathroy Middlesex General...
, Middlesex—Kent—Lambton
Independents
- David KilgourDavid KilgourDavid Kilgour, PC is a former Canadian politician.Kilgour graduated from the University of Manitoba in economics in 1962 and the University of Toronto law school in 1966. From crown attorney in northern Alberta to Canadian Cabinet minister, Kilgour ended his 27 year tenure in the Canadian House of...
, Edmonton—Mill Woods—BeaumontEdmonton—Mill Woods—BeaumontEdmonton—Mill Woods—Beaumont is a federal electoral district in Alberta, Canada, that has been represented in the Canadian House of Commons since 2004.-Geography:... - Pat O'BrienPat O'Brien (politician)Patrick Wayne "Pat" O'Brien, is a former member of the Canadian House of Commons. Elected as a Liberal, he ended his career in 2005 as the independent Member of Parliament for London—Fanshawe in London, Ontario....
, London—FanshaweLondon—FanshaweLondon—Fanshawe is a federal electoral district in Ontario, Canada, that has been represented in the Canadian House of Commons since 1997.-Geography:The district consists of the southeast part of the City of London.... - Carolyn Parrish, Mississauga—ErindaleMississauga—ErindaleMississauga—Erindale is a federalelectoral district in Ontario, Canada, that has been represented in the Canadian House of Commons since 2004.It was created in 2003 from parts of Mississauga Centre and Mississauga West ridings....
| style="vertical-align:top; width:50%;"|
Conservatives
- David ChattersDavid ChattersDavid Cameron Chatters is a Canadian politician. He was a member of the Canadian House of Commons from 1993 to 2006 representing the riding of Athabasca until the 2004 election when he switched to the riding of Westlock—St...
, Westlock—St. PaulWestlock—St. PaulWestlock–St. Paul is a federal electoral district in Alberta, Canada, that has been represented in the Canadian House of Commons since 2004. It includes the counties of Westlock, Sturgeon, Thorhild, Smoky Lake, St. Paul and the municipal district of Bonnyville.-History:This riding was created in... - Gurmant GrewalGurmant GrewalGurmant Singh Grewal, is a Canadian politician and former Conservative Party of Canada Member of Parliament. Gurmant and his wife, Nina Grewal, were the first married couple to serve in the Canadian House of Commons at the same time...
, Newton—North DeltaNewton—North DeltaNewton—North Delta is a federal electoral district in the province of British Columbia, Canada, that has been represented in the Canadian House of Commons since 2004... - Jim GoukJim GoukJames William "Jim" Gouk is a Canadian politician.Gouk began his political career as an alderman in Castlegar, British Columbia. Gouk would enter federal politics in 1993 when he was elected into the Canadian House of Commons. In the Canadian federal election, 1993 he was elected in Kootenay...
, British Columbia Southern Interior - Dale JohnstonDale JohnstonF. Dale Johnston is a former Canadian politician. He began his career in politics in 1986 as a councillor in Ponoka, and he then became reeve in 1989. In Canadian federal election, 1993, he was elected into the Canadian House of Commons. He was elected as a member of the Reform Party of Canada in...
, WetaskiwinWetaskiwin (electoral district)Wetaskiwin is a federal electoral district in Alberta, Canada, that has been represented in the Canadian House of Commons since 1925.-Geography:... - Charlie PensonCharlie PensonCharles Frederick "Charlie" Penson is a former Canadian politician, Penson was a member of the Conservative Party of Canada in the Canadian House of Commons, representing the riding of Peace River from 1993 to 2005. He has also been a member of the Canadian Alliance and the Reform Party of Canada...
, Peace RiverPeace River (electoral district)Peace River is a federal electoral district in Alberta, Canada, that has been represented in the Canadian House of Commons since 1925. It is a rural riding in northwest Alberta, representing the counties of Saddle Hills, Birch Hills, Grande Prairie, Northern Lights, Mackenzie, and the municipal... - John ReynoldsJohn Reynolds (Canadian politician)John Douglas Reynolds, PC was the Member of Parliament for the riding of West Vancouver—Sunshine Coast—Sea to Sky Country in the Canadian House of Commons from 1997 to 2006...
, West Vancouver—Sunshine Coast—Sea to Sky CountryWest Vancouver—Sunshine Coast—Sea to Sky CountryWest Vancouver—Sunshine Coast—Sea to Sky Country is a federal electoral district in British Columbia, Canada, that has been represented in the Canadian House of Commons since 1997.-Geography:... - Werner SchmidtWerner SchmidtWerner Schmidt is a former Canadian politician. A teacher and school principal.-Political career:Schmidt was vice-president of Lethbridge Community College when he was chosen to succeed Harry Strom as leader of the Alberta Social Credit Party following the defeat of Strom's government in 1971...
, Kelowna—Lake CountryKelowna—Lake CountryKelowna—Lake Country is a federal electoral district in the province of British Columbia, Canada, that has been represented in the Canadian House of Commons since 1997.... - Darrel StinsonDarrel StinsonDarrel Stinson is a retired politician in British Columbia, Canada. He was the Member of Parliament for Okanagan—Shuswap from 1993 until the dissolution of the Canadian House of Commons for the 2006 federal election, and was a member of the Conservative Party of Canada parliamentary caucus.-...
, Okanagan—ShuswapOkanagan—ShuswapOkanagan—Shuswap is a federal electoral district in the province of British Columbia, Canada, that has been represented in the Canadian House of Commons since 1988.-Geography:... - Randy WhiteRandy White (politician)Randy White is an accountant and former Canadian politician.White was first elected to the Canadian House of Commons as theReform Party Member of Parliament for...
, AbbotsfordAbbotsford (electoral district)Abbotsford is a federal electoral district in British Columbia, Canada, that has been represented in the Canadian House of Commons since 2004.-Demographics:...
Bloquistes
- Alain BoireAlain BoireAlain Boire is a Quebec politician.Born in Montreal, Quebec, Boire was a Bloc Québécois member of the Canadian House of Commons. He represented the district of Beauharnois—Salaberry from 2004-2006. He was the Bloc critic of Youth. He is a former businessman, electrician and technician. He lost his...
, Beauharnois—SalaberryBeauharnois—SalaberryBeauharnois—Salaberry is a federal electoral district in Quebec, Canada, that has been represented in the Canadian House of Commons since 1949.-Geography:... - Marcel GagnonMarcel GagnonMarcel 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:...
, Saint-Maurice—ChamplainSaint-Maurice—ChamplainSaint-Maurice—Champlain is a federal electoral district in Quebec, Canada, that has been represented in the Canadian House of Commons since 2004.It consists of:* the City of Shawinigan;... - Denise Poirier-RivardDenise Poirier-RivardDenise Poirier-Rivard is a Canadian politician. She was a Bloc Québécois member of the Canadian House of Commons representing the district of Châteauguay—Saint-Constant since the 2004 election. Before she was elected she was a cheese maker and farmer and was the Bloc's critic of the Agriculture...
, Châteauguay—Saint-ConstantChâteauguay—Saint-ConstantChâteauguay—Saint-Constant is a federal electoral district in Quebec, Canada, that has been represented in the Canadian House of Commons since 2004...
|}
See also
Articles on parties' candidates in this election:- IndependentsIndependent candidates, 2006 Canadian federal electionThere were several independent candidates in the 2006 Canadian federal election. One independent candidate, André Arthur, was elected for the Quebec riding of Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier.Some independent candidates have their own biography pages...
- Canadian ActionCanadian Action Party candidates, 2006 Canadian federal electionThe Canadian Action Party fielded a number of candidates in the 2006 federal election, none of whom were elected. Information about these candidates may be found here.-James Stephen Kohut :...
- CommunistsCommunist Party candidates, 2006 Canadian federal electionThe Communist Party of Canada ran several candidates in the 2006 federal election, none of whom were elected.-Lisa Gallagher :Gallagher received 120 votes , finishing seventh against Conservative incumbent Merv Tweed....
- Progressive CanadiansProgressive Canadian Party candidates, 2006 Canadian federal electionThe Progressive Canadian Party fielded several candidates in the 2006 federal election, none of whom were elected. Information about these candidates may be found on this page.-Outremont: Philip Paynter:...
Libertarian Party candidates, 2006 Canadian federal election
The Libertarian Party of Canada fielded eleven candidates in the 2006 federal election, none of whom were elected. Information about these candidates may be found here.-Soumen Deb :...
Marijuana Party candidates, 2006 Canadian federal election
The Marijuana Party of Canada fielded several candidates in the 2006 federal election, none of whom were elected.-Carleton—Mississippi Mills: George Walter Kolaczynski:Kolaczysnki listed himself as a postal worker in the 2004 campaign....
Bloc Québécois candidates, 2006 Canadian federal election
In the 2006 Canadian federal elecition, the Bloc Québécois ran candidates in all 75 ridings of the province of Quebec. Some Bloc Québécois candidates of them have their separate pages, but all can be found here with relevant information....
Conservative Party candidates, 2006 Canadian federal election
The Conservative Party of Canada ran a full slate of 308 candidates in the 2006 Canadian federal election. Some of these candidates have separate biography pages; relevant information about other candidates may be found here....
Green Party candidates, 2006 Canadian federal election
The Green Party of Canada ran a full slate of 308 candidates in the 2006 Canadian federal election. Some of these candidates have separate biography pages; relevant information about other candidates may be found here....
New Democratic Party candidates, 2006 Canadian federal election
The New Democratic Party fielded a full slate of 308 candidates in the 2006 Canadian federal election. It won 29 seats in the election to remain the fourth-largest party in the House of Commons...
Christian Heritage Party candidates, 2006 Canadian federal election
The Christian Heritage Party is a minor political party in Canada. It fielded forty-five candidates in the 2006 federal election. Information about some of these candidates may be found here. The leader of the party at the time of the election was Ron Gray.-Larry R...
External links
- Election Prediction Project
- UBC Election Stock Market 2006
- Which party to vote for ? (saplin.com) - Vote by issue quizz
- TrendLines Riding Projections (2004, 2006 & 2009)
- Predicting the 2006 Canadian Election
Government links
- Elections CanadaElections CanadaElections Canada is an independent, non-partisan agency reporting directly to the Parliament of Canada. Its ongoing responsibility is to ensure that Canadians can exercise their choices in federal elections and referenda through an open and impartial process...
nominations database
National media coverage
- First French Leaders' Debate Windows Media video stream
- CTV News - Election 2006
- The Globe and Mail - Decision 2006
Humour
- 2006 Election Editorial Cartoon Gallery by Graeme MacKay of The Hamilton Spectator.