Timeline of Canadian elections
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The timeline of elections in Canada covers all the provincial, territorial and federal elections from when each province was joined Confederation through to the present day. The table below indicates which party won the election. Several provinces held elections before joining Canada, but only their post-Confederation elections are shown. These include:
- Lower Canada held 15 elections for its Legislative Assembly, from 1792 to 1835;
- Upper Canada held 13 elections to its Legislative Assembly, from 1792 to 1836;
- the Province of Canada held 8 elections for its Legislative Assembly from 1841 to 1863;
- New Brunswick's first 21 elections, beginning in 1785 (the 21st Legislative Assembly of New Brunswick was elected in 1866, one year before Confederation, and continued until 1870, three years after Confederation);
- Nova Scotia's first 22 elections, beginning in 1758;
- Prince Edward Island's first 25 elections, beginning in 1773; and
- Newfoundland's first 29 elections, beginning in 1832.
The most recent election is shown with a box limited to four years of government, as the federal government and all provinces and territories have fixed election dates every four years. However, elections can be called at any time by an incumbent government. Thus, the box is shown as running until the next scheduled election, but one could still be earlier if the government falls due to a motion of no confidence, or if the governing party calls an early election. The maximum length of office as set by the constitution is five years.
Legend
| Abbreviation | Party |
|---|---|
| Pre | Pre-Confederation |
| BCL | British Columbia Liberal Party |
| LIB | Liberal Party |
| NDP | New Democratic Party |
| CCF | Co-operative Commonwealth Federation |
| ASC | Alberta Social Credit Party |
| UF | United Farmers |
| SK | Saskatchewan Party |
| BSC | British Columbia Social Credit Party |
| PQ | Parti Québécois |
| CON | Progressive Conservative Party or historical Conservatives |
| CPC | Conservative Party of Canada |
| CAQ | Coalition Avenir Québec |
| UN | Union Nationale |
| YU | Yukon Party |
| UCP | United Conservative Party |
| Co. | Coalition |
| N/A | Nonpartisan, and consensus government |
1867–1897
| Year | BC | MB | ON | QC | NB | NS | PEI | NT | Federal | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1867 | 1st Co.[a][1] |
1st CON[2] |
1st [b] |
1st LIB[3] |
1st CON[4] | |||||
| 1868 | ||||||||||
| 1869 | ||||||||||
| 1870 | 1st N/A[5] |
2nd N/A |
(Temp. Council) | |||||||
| 1871 | 1st N/A[6] |
2nd LIB[1] |
2nd CON[2] |
2nd LIB[3] | ||||||
| 1872 | 2nd CON[7] | |||||||||
| 1873 | 26th CON[8] | |||||||||
| 1874 | 2nd N/A[5] |
3rd N/A |
3rd LIB[3] |
3rd LIB[9] | ||||||
| 1875 | 2nd N/A[6] |
3rd LIB[1] |
3rd CON[2] | |||||||
| 1876 | 27th CON[10] |
(First Council) | ||||||||
| 1877 | ||||||||||
| 1878 | 3rd[6] | 3rd[5] | 4th LIB[c] |
4th N/A |
4th CON[3] |
4th CON[11] | ||||
| 1879 | 4th CON[5] |
4th LIB[1] |
28th CON[12] | |||||||
| 1880 | ||||||||||
| 1881 | 5th CON[2] | |||||||||
| 1882 | 4th N/A[6] |
5th N/A |
5th LIB[3] |
29th CON[13] |
5th CON[14] | |||||
| 1883 | 5th CON[5] |
5th LIB[1] | ||||||||
| 1884 | ||||||||||
| 1885 | ||||||||||
| 1886 | 5th N/A[6] |
6th CON[5] |
6th LIB[1] |
6th LIB[2] |
6th N/A |
6th LIB[3] |
30th CON[15] | |||
| 1887 | 6th CON[16] | |||||||||
| 1888 | 7th LIB[5] |
1st N/A | ||||||||
| 1889 | ||||||||||
| 1890 | 6th N/A[6] |
7th LIB[1] |
7th LIB[2] |
7th N/A |
7th LIB[3] |
31st Co.[d][17] | ||||
| 1891 | 2nd N/A |
7th CON[18] | ||||||||
| 1892 | 8th LIB[5] |
8th CON[2] |
8th N/A | |||||||
| 1893 | 32nd LIB[19] | |||||||||
| 1894 | 7th N/A[6] |
8th LIB[1] |
8th LIB[3] |
3rd N/A | ||||||
| 1895 | 9th N/A | |||||||||
| 1896 | 9th LIB[5] |
8th LIB[20] | ||||||||
| 1897 | 9th LIB[2] |
9th LIB[3] |
33rd LIB[21] | |||||||
| Year | BC | MB | ON | QC | NB | NS | PEI | NT | Federal |
1898–1948
1949–1998
Newfoundland (now Newfoundland and Labrador) joined Canada as a new province in 1949.[35]
1999–present
The territory of Nunavut was created on 1 April 1999, from land previously part of the Northwest Territories.[50]
Notes
- Coalition between Conservative and Liberal parties (who won 41 out of 82 seats each).
- The first New Brunswick general election was held pre-Confederation and is not technically a Canadian election.
- Power went back and forth a few times surrounding the 1878 election. For most of that legislature, the Liberals controlled a minority parliament with the support of some Conservative members.
- Conservative and Liberal parties won 15 seats each (out of 30).
- Although Yukon was created in 1898, the Territorial Council was wholly appointed from 1898 to 1900.
- The Conservative party won the most seats, but the Liberal party maintained power with support from the Progressive party without forming an official coalition. Partway through the 15th Parliament the Conservative Party took control of government, but was not able to obtain the confidence of the House. See King–Byng Affair.
- The Liberal party won the most seats, but lost a motion of no-confidence shortly after the election resulting in a coalition between the Conservative and Progressive parties.
- Coalition between Liberal and Conservative parties.
- Coalition between NDP and Liberal Party.
Summary
The table below shows how many elections each party has won in each province and territory. The Northwest Territories and Nunavut use consensus government, which means there are no political parties. Of forty-five federal elections, twenty-six have been won by the Liberals, eighteen by the Conservatives, and one by a now defunct Unionist party.
| Party | BC | AB | SK | MB | ON | QC | NB | NS | PEI | NL | YU | NT | NU | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Liberal | 9 | 4 | 10 | 11 | 17 | 25 | 13 | 25 | 23 | 13 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 153 | |
| (Progressive) Conservative | 5 | 14 | 2 | 18 | 24 | 5 | 11 | 16 | 18 | 10 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 126 | |
| Non-partisan | 9 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 16[a] | 0 | 0 | 0 | 27 | 23 | 7 | 85 | |
| New Democratic | 6 | 1 | 6 | 9 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 27 | |
| Social Credit | 11 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 20 | |
| Coalition | 3 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | |
| United Farmers | 0 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | |
| Union Nationale | - | - | - | - | - | 6 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 6 | |
| Parti Québécois | - | - | - | - | - | 5 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 5 | |
| Co. Commonwealth Fed. | - | - | 5 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 5 | |
| Saskatchewan Party | - | - | 5 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 5 | |
| Yukon Party | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 5 | - | - | 5 | |
| Coalition Avenir Québec | - | - | - | - | - | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 2 | |
| Total | 43 | 31 | 30 | 43 | 44 | 43 | 40 | 42 | 42 | 23 | 40 | 24 | 7 | 452 | |
- Although the 1st NB election is shown in the main table, it took place a year before NB joined Confederation. As such it was not a Canadian election, and is thus excluded from this table.