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A Canadian federal election (more formally, the 38th general election) was held on June 28, 2004. The Liberal government of Prime Minister Paul Martin lost its majority, but was able to form a minority government after the elections. The main opposition party, the Conservative Party of Canada, improved its position but did not win as many seats as hoped.
On May 23, 2004, Governor General Adrienne Clarkson, on the advice of Martin, ordered the dissolution of the House of Commons. Following a 36-day campaign, voters elected 308 Members of the House of Commons.
All three major national parties had changed their leaders since the 2000 elections. Although the election was initially widely expected to be a relatively easy romp for Martin to a fourth consecutive Liberal majority government, during the campaign many began instead to predict a far more closely-fought election. Polls started to indicate the possibility of a minority government for the Liberals, or even a minority Conservative government, fueling speculation of coalitionsA coalition government or coalition cabinet is a cabinet in parliamentary government in which several parties cooperate. The usual reason is that no party on its own has a majority in the parliament. In times of crisis such as a war or a major economic or with the other parties. In the end, the Liberals fared better than the final opinion polls had led them to fear, but not well enough to win a majority.
On election day, polling times were arranged to allow results from most provinces to be announced more or less simultaneously, with the exception of Atlantic CanadaAtlantic Canada consists of the four Canadian provinces on the Atlantic Ocean: Newfoundland and Labrador, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island. The latter three are also called the Maritimes. The term Maritimes is sometimes mistakenly used, where results were known before the close of polling in other provinces.
A party must hold 155 seats to form a majority government. The Liberals came short of this number, winning 135. Until extremely close ridings were decided on the west coast, it appeared as though the Liberals' seat total, if combined with that of the left-wing New Democratic PartyThis page is about the Canadian political party. For other parties, see New Democratic Party (disambiguation). New Democratic Party Current Leader Jack Layton Founded June 17, 1961 Headquarters 300 279 Laurier Avenue West Ottawa, OntarioK1P 5J9 Colours Or (NDP), would be sufficient to hold a majority in the House of Commons. In the end, the Conservatives won Vancouver Island North, West Vancouver-Sunshine Coast, and New Westminster-Coquitlam, after trailing in all three ridings, as sub-totals were announced through the evening.
As a result, the combined seat count of the Liberals and the NDP was 154, while the other 154 seats belonged to the Conservatives, Bloquistes, and one independent Chuck CadmanChuck Cadman (born February 21, 1948) is a Canadian politician. Cadman has been a member of Parliament since 1997, representing the riding of Surrey North in Surrey, British Columbia. Cadman's 16-year-old son Jesse was murdered on October 18, 1992. He and (previously a Conservative). This could signal an evenly-split house; however, some indications suggested that, rather than forming an official coalition with the NDP, the Liberal party would attempt to lead with a minority government, obtaining majorities for their legislation on an ad hoc basis.
Voter turnout nationwide was 60.5%, with 13,484,260 out of 22,295,670 registered voters casting their ballots. This was comparable to the turnout of 61.2% in the 2000 federal election.
| Party | Party Leader | Seats | Popular Vote | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Before | After | % Change | # | % | ||||
| Liberal | Paul Martin | 168 | 135 | -19.6 | 4,951,107 | 36.7 | ||
| Conservative | Stephen HarperStephen Joseph Harper born April 20, 1959) is a Canadian politician and current leader of the Conservative Party of Canada. He was born and raised in Toronto before finding employment in the oil and gas industry and moving to Alberta. He attended the Univ | 72 | 99 | +37.5 | 3,994,682 | 29.6 | ||
| Bloc Québécois | Gilles Duceppe | 33 | 54 | +63.6 | 1,672,874 | 12.4 | ||
| New Democratic | Jack Layton | 14 | 19 | +35.7 | 2,116,536 | 15.7 | ||
| Green | Jim Harris | 0 | 0 | 0 | 580,816 | 4.3 | ||
| Christian Heritage | Ron Gray | 0 | 0 | 40,283 | 0.3 | |||
| Marijuana | Marc-Boris St-Maurice | 0 | 0 | 0 | 33,590 | 0.3 | ||
| Progressive Canadian | Ernie Schreiber | 0 | 0 | 10,773 | 0.1 | |||
| Marxist-Leninist | Sandra L. Smith | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9,065 | 0.1 | ||
| Canadian Action | Connie Fogal | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8,930 | 0.1 | ||
| Communist | Miguel Figueroa | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4,568 | 0.0 | ||
| Libertarian | Jean-Serge Brisson | 0 | 0 | 1,964 | 0.0 | |||
| Independent | 10 | 0 | N/A | 47,596 | 0.4 | |||
| No Affiliation | 0 | 1 | N/A | 17,465 | 0.1 | |||
| Vacant | 4 | 0 | N/A | |||||
| Total | 301 | 308 | +2.3 | 13,489,559 | 100.0 | |||
| Other elections: 1993, 1997, 2000, 2004, 2005? | ||||||||
| Sources: http://www.elections.ca -- History of Federal Ridings since 1867 | ||||||||
n.a. = not applicable - party was not recognized in previous election
Showing change from the 2000 election. The votes and seats won by the Conservative Party are compared with the combined totals won by the Canadian Alliance and the Progressive Conservative Party in 2000. (Results are after approx. 99% of polls closed)
ALBERTA (99.7% of polls reporting) ============================================================ Registered voters: 2,141,144 Votes cast: 1,270,815 59.4 ------------------------------------------------------------ Party Votes % Change Seats ------------------------------------------------------------ Conservative Party 783,379 61.6 -10.7 26 +02 Liberal Party 279,219 22.0 +01.1 2 New Democratic Party 121,249 09.5 +04.1 - Green Party 78,095 06.2 +05.7 Marijuana Party 2,763 00.2 +00.0 Christian Heritage Party 2,578 00.2 Canadian Action Party 1,647 00.1 +00.0 Progressive Canadian Party 456 Marxist-Leninist Party 451 Communist Party 379 Independents 599 00.1 ------------------------------------------------------------ Total 1,270,815 28 +02 ------------------------------------------------------------ BRITISH COLUMBIA (99.8% of polls reporting) ============================================================ Registered voters: 2,713,421 Votes cast: 1,724,618 63.6 ------------------------------------------------------------ Party Votes % Change Seats ------------------------------------------------------------ Conservative Party 625,071 36.2 -20.5 22 -05 Liberal Party 492,865 28.6 +01.0 8 +03 New Democratic Party 457,815 26.6 +15.3 5 +03 Green Party 109,538 06.4 +04.3 Christian Heritage Party 5,120 00.3 Canadian Action Party 4,674 00.3 -00.5 Marijuana Party 3,945 00.2 -00.5 Marxist-Leninist Party 1,331 00.1 +00.0 Libertarian Party 1,193 00.1 Communist Party 959 00.1 +00.0 Independents 4,933 00.3 No Affiliation 17,174 01.0 1 +01 ------------------------------------------------------------ Total 1,724,618 36 +02 ------------------------------------------------------------ MANITOBA (99.6% of polls reporting) ============================================================ Registered voters: 836,599 Votes cast: 472,796 56.5 ------------------------------------------------------------ Party Votes % Change Seats ------------------------------------------------------------ Conservative Party 185,022 39.1 -05.8 7 +02 Liberal Party 156,970 33.2 +00.7 3 -02 New Democratic Party 110,901 23.5 +02.7 4 Green Party 12,894 02.7 +02.5 Christian Heritage Party 4,206 00.9 Marijuana Party 1,850 00.4 +00.3 Communist Party 756 00.2 -00.1 Canadian Action Party 108 Indepdendents 89 ------------------------------------------------------------ Total 472,796 14 ------------------------------------------------------------ NEW BRUNSWICK (99.8% of polls reporting) ============================================================ Registered voters: 594,738 Votes cast: 369,407 62.1 ------------------------------------------------------------ Party Votes % Change Seats ------------------------------------------------------------ Liberal Party 164,903 44.6 +02.9 7 +01 Conservative Party 114,962 31.1 -15.1 2 -01 New Democratic Party 75,951 20.6 +08.9 1 Green Party 12,380 03.4 Marijuana Party 369 00.1 +00.0 Canadian Action Party 194 00.1 Independents 648 00.2 ------------------------------------------------------------ Total 369,407 10 ------------------------------------------------------------ NEWFOUNDLAND AND LABRADOR (100% of polls reporting) ============================================================ Registered voters: 403,568 Votes cast: 198,366 49.2 ------------------------------------------------------------ Party Votes % Change Seats ------------------------------------------------------------ Liberal Party 95,178 48.0 +03.0 5 Conservative Party 64,120 32.3 -06.0 2 New Democratic Party 34,694 17.5 +04.5 - Green Party 3,119 01.6 Independents 1,255 00.6 ------------------------------------------------------------ Total 198,366 7 ------------------------------------------------------------ NOVA SCOTIA (99.6% of polls reporting) ============================================================ Registered voters: 702,399 Votes cast: 433,577 61.7 ------------------------------------------------------------ Party Votes % Change Seats ------------------------------------------------------------ Liberal Party 171,680 39.6 +03.1 6 +02 New Democratic Party 123,360 28.5 +04.6 2 -01 Conservative Party 121,398 28.0 -10.7 3 -01 Green Party 14,101 03.3 +03.2 Progressive Canadian Party 1,444 00.3 Christian Heritage Party 486 00.1 Marijuana Party 475 00.1 -00.3 Marxist-Leninist Party 69 Independents 564 00.1 ------------------------------------------------------------ Total 433,577 11 ------------------------------------------------------------ ONTARIO (99.5% of polls reporting) ============================================================ Registered voters: 8,206,023 Votes cast: 5,060,308 61.7 ------------------------------------------------------------ Party Votes % Change Seats ------------------------------------------------------------ Liberal Party 2,260,172 44.7 -06.8 75 -25 Conservative Party 1,592,724 31.5 -06.5 24 +22 New Democratic Party 915,310 18.1 +09.8 7 +06 Green Party 226,014 04.5 +03.6 Christian Heritage Party 26,064 00.5 Progressive Canadian Party 8,873 00.2 Marijuana Party 8,621 00.2 -00.1 Marxist-Leninist Party 3,697 00.1 +00.0 Canadian Action Party 2,223 Communist Party 1,289 Libertarian Party 607 Independents 14,626 00.3 No affiliation 88 ------------------------------------------------------------ Total 5,060,308 106 +03 ------------------------------------------------------------ PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND (100% of polls reporting) ============================================================ Registered voters: 108,169 Votes cast: 76,421 70.7 ------------------------------------------------------------ Party Votes % Change Seats ------------------------------------------------------------ Conservative Party 23,478 30.7 -12.7 - Liberal Party 40,103 52.5 +05.5 4 New Democratic Party 9,558 12.5 +03.5 - Green Party 3,177 04.2 +03.9 Christian Heritage Party 105 00.1 ------------------------------------------------------------ Total 76,421 4 ------------------------------------------------------------ QUEBEC (99.7% of polls reporting) ============================================================ Registered voters: 5,803,390 Votes cast: 3,424,713 59.0 ------------------------------------------------------------ Party Votes % Change Seats ------------------------------------------------------------ Bloc Québécois 1,672,184 48.8 +09.0 54 +16 Liberal Party 1,159,879 33.9 -10.3 21 -15 Conservative Party 300,499 08.8 -02.9 - -01 New Democratic Party 158,838 04.6 +02.8 - Green Party 108,650 03.2 +02.6 Marijuana Party 15,281 00.1 -00.9 Marxist-Leninist Party 3,517 00.1 -00.1 Communist Party 1,185 Christian Heritage Party 191 Libertarian Party 164 Canadian Action Party 84 Independents 4,241 00.1 ------------------------------------------------------------ Total 3,424,713 75 ------------------------------------------------------------ SASKATCHEWAN (99.7% of polls reporting) ============================================================ Registered voters: 721,357 Votes cast: 425,946 59.1 ------------------------------------------------------------ Party Votes % Change Seats ------------------------------------------------------------ Conservative Party 178,180 41.8 -10.7 13 +03 Liberal Party 115,671 27.2 +06.5 1 -01 New Democratic Party 99,479 23.4 -02.8 - -02 Green Party 11,522 02.7 +02.3 Christian Heritage Party 1,423 00.3 Independents 19,468 04.6 No affiliation 203 00.1 ------------------------------------------------------------ Total 425,946 14 ------------------------------------------------------------ TERRITORIES ============================================================ NORTHWEST TERRITORIES (100% of polls reporting) ============================================================ Registered voters: 28,335 Votes cast: 13,471 47.5 ------------------------------------------------------------ Party Votes % Change Seats ------------------------------------------------------------ Liberal Party 5,313 39.4 -06.2 1 New Democratic Party 5,261 39.1 +12.4 - Conservative Party 2,314 17.2 +07.2 - Green Party 583 04.3 - ------------------------------------------------------------ Total 13,471 1 ------------------------------------------------------------ NUNAVUT (96.6% of polls reporting) ============================================================ Registered voters: 16,872 Votes cast: 7,243 42.9 ------------------------------------------------------------ Party Votes % Change Seats ------------------------------------------------------------ Liberal Party 3,705 51.2 -17.3 1 New Democratic Party 1,108 15.3 -03.3 - Conservative Party 1,049 14.5 +06.1 - Green Party 208 02.9 -01.6 Independents 1,173 16.2 ------------------------------------------------------------ Total 7,243 1 ------------------------------------------------------------ YUKON TERRITORY (98.9% of polls reporting) ============================================================ Registered voters: 19,655 Votes cast: 11,878 60.4 ------------------------------------------------------------ Party Votes % Change Seats ------------------------------------------------------------ Liberal Party 5,449 45.9 +13.4 1 New Democratic Party 3,012 25.4 -06.5 - Conservative Party 2,486 20.9 -14.3 - Green Party 535 04.5 Marijuana Party 286 02.4 Christian Heritage Party 110 00.9 ------------------------------------------------------------ Total 11,878 1 ------------------------------------------------------------Source: Adam Carr's Electoral Archive
Main article: List of political parties in Canada
Until the sponsorship scandal, most pundits were predicting that new Prime Minister Paul Martin would lead the Liberals to a fourth majority government, possibly setting a record for number of seats won.
However, polls released immediately after the scandal broke showed Liberal support down as much as 10% nationwide, with greater declines in its heartland of Quebec and Ontario. Although there was some recovery in Ontario and Atlantic Canada, Liberal hopes of making unprecedented gains in the west faded. The unopularity of some provincial Liberal parties may also have had an effect on federal Liberal fortunes. In Ontario, for instance, the provincial Liberal government introduced an unpopular budget the week of the expected election call, and their federal counterparts then fell into a statistical dead heat with the Conservatives in polls there. The Liberals were also harmed by high profile party infighting that have been plaguing the party since Martin's earlier ejection from Cabinet by now-former Prime Minister Jean Chrétien.
The campaign was criticized openly by Liberal candidates, one incumbent Liberal comparing it to the Keystone Kops. The campaign was not helped by Martin being out of the country for the third week of the campaign attending the D-Day anniversary services and a meeting of the G8. Some have speculated that it wasn't helped either by the passing of former U.S. president Ronald Reagan on June 5, who was admired by conservative-minded Canadians, yet was deeply reviled by left-of-centre citizen, but when Canadians learned of the former president's passing, they forgot all that--Canadians acknowledged his love for the United States, and his spirited and principled leadership; all major party leaders expressed their condolences to Nancy Reagan, her family, and the American people. NDP Leader Jack Layton cited that "it's always sad to lose someone who has led a nation and we want to express our best wishes and sincere condolences."
In the final months of 2003, the Progressive Conservatives and the Canadian Alliance were running a distant third and fourth, respectively, in public opinion polls.
Many pundits predicted that the combination of the popular and fiscally conservative Martin, along with continued vote-splitting on the right, could have led to the almost total annihilation of the Progressive Conservatives and Canadian Alliance. This fear prompted those two parties to form a united Conservative Party of Canada, which was approved by the Canadian Alliance on December 5, 2003 and by the Progressive Conservatives on December 6, 2003.
The new Conservative Party pulled well ahead of the NDP in the polls just before the election, although its support remained below the combined support that the Progressive Conservatives and the Alliance had as separate parties. On March 20 the Conservatives elected Stephen Harper as their new leader.
The Conservatives gained more ground in polls after Harper became leader, and the poll results in the weeks before the election had them within one to two points of the Liberals, sometimes ahead, sometimes behind them. Party supporters hoped that the voters would react negatively to the Liberal attacks on Harper's agenda, and that anger over the sponsorship scandal and other Liberal failures would translate to success at the polls. Although on the eve of the election the party was polling slightly ahead of the Liberals everywhere west of Quebec, it had dropped in support, polling behind or at par with Liberals everywhere except Alberta and British Columbia, where it held onto its traditional support.
Before the announcement of the union of the right-of-centre parties, some were predicting an NDP official opposition, with the NDP polling ahead of both right-of-centre parties. A new leader ( Jack Layton) and clear social democratic policies helped revitalize the NDP. Polls suggested that the NDP had returned to the 18% to 20% level of support it enjoyed in the 1984 Canadian election and 1988 Canadian election. Layton suggested that the NDP would win more than the 43 seats won under Ed Broadbent, who would be elected to Parliament, returning after many years of absence.
The NDP focused the campaign on winning ridings in Canada's urban centres, hoping especially to pick off seats in central Toronto, Hamilton, Ottawa and Winnipeg. The party's platform was built to cater to these regions and much of Layton's time was spent in these areas.
The campaign stumbled early when the Liberals attacked Layton for blaming the deaths of homeless people on Paul Martin. They accused the NDP of negative campaigning. The NDP did benefit from the decline in Liberal support, but not to the same extent as the Conservatives. There was an increasing prospect that NDP voters would switch to the Liberals to block a Conservative government. This concern did not manifest itself in the polls, however, and the NDP remained at somewhat below 20 percent mark in the polls for most of the campaign.
The Bloc Québécois (BQ) continued to slide in the polls in most of 2003 after the election of the federalist Quebec Liberal Party at the National Assembly of Quebec under Jean Charest, and during the long run-up to Paul Martin becoming leader of the federal Liberals.
However, things progressively changed during 2003, partly because of the Charest government rapidly becoming quite unpopular and partly because the support for independence in Quebec rose again (49% in March). The tide took its sharp turn when, in February 2004, the sponsorship scandal (uncovered in considerable part by the Bloc) hit the liberal federal government.
These events led to a resurgence of the BQ, putting it ahead of the pack once again: according to an Ipsos-Reid poll carried out for the Globe and Mail and CTV between the 4th and the 8th of June, 50% of Quebecers intended to vote for the BQ against 24% for the Liberals.
Speculation was ongoing about the possibility of the Bloc forming alliances with other opposition parties or with an eventual minority government to promote its goals of social democracy and respect of the autonomy of provinces. Leader Gilles Duceppe stated that the Bloc, as before, would co-operate with other opposition parties or with the government when interests were found to be in common, but that the Bloc would not participate in a coalition government.
Main article: List of political parties in Canada
The following parties did not hold seats in the House of Commons entering the election, and received considerably less media attention throughout the election than their larger competitors. The Greens ran candidates in all 308 ridings; the other parties were running far fewer candidates.
| Green Party | Jim Harris | 308 candidates |
| Marxist-Leninist Party | Sandra L. Smith | 76 candidates |
| Marijuana Party | Marc-Boris St-Maurice | 71 candidates |
| Christian Heritage Party | Ron Gray | 62 candidates |
| Canadian Action Party | Connie Fogal | 44 candidates |
| Communist Party | Miguel Figueroa | 35 candidates |
| Progressive Canadian Party | Ernie Schreiber | 16 candidates |
| Libertarian Party | Jean-Serge Brisson | 8 candidates |
These are the official slogans for the 2004 campaigns. The optional parts of the mottos (sometimes not used for efficiency) are put in brackets.
| Liberal Party | Moving [Canada] Forward - Allons [or Aller] droit devant (avec l'Équipe Martin) | Choose your Canada |
| Conservative Party | Demand Better - C'est assez! | |
| Bloc Québécois | Un parti propre au Québec | Parce qu'on est différent (pre-election) |
| New Democratic Party | [New Energy.] A Positive Choice. - [Une force nouvelle.] Un choix Positif. | |
| Green Party | Someday is now - L'avenir c'est maintenant | |
| Marijuana Party | Let's roll! - Y faut que ça roule! |
Important issues in the election:
See Timeline of the Canadian federal election, 2004
See Opinion polling for the 2004 Canadian election
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