1997 Canadian election
Elections and parties in
Canada
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In the 1997 Canadian election held on June 2, 1997, Jean Chrétien's Liberal Party of Canada won a second majority government. The Reform Party of Canada replaced the Bloc Québécois as the Official Opposition.
The election closely reflected the pattern that had been set out in the 1993 election. The Liberals swept Ontario, the Bloc took much of Quebec, and much of the west was won by Reform, particularly its Alberta base. The major change was that the NDP and the Progressive Conservative Party all but wiped out the Liberals in the Maritimes. Maritime voters, upset over cuts to employment insurance and other programs, defeated two cabinet ministers. David Dingwall, Minister of Public Works from Nova Scotia, and Doug Young, Minister of National Defence from New Brunswick, both lost to NDP candidates in a major blow to the Liberals. Because of losses in the Maritimes, the Liberal majority shrunk considerably from the 1993 total. Mostly because of these wins in the Maritimes, Jean Charest's Tories and Alexa McDonough's NDP both regained official party status in the House of Commons. Independent member John Nunziata, who had been expelled from the Liberal Party for opposing the GST, was reelected in his riding in Toronto.
Voter turnout was 67.0%, one of the lowest ever federal election turnouts.
Results
National
| Party
| Party Leader
| # of cands
| Seats
| Popular Vote
|
| Before
| After
| % Change
| #
| %
| Change
|
| Liberal
| Jean Chrétien
| 301
| 174
| 155
|
| 4,994,277
| 38.46%
| -2.78%
|
| Reform
| Preston Manning
| 227
| 50
| 60
|
| 2,513,080
| 19.35%
| +0.66%
|
| Bloc Québécois
| Gilles Duceppe
| 75
| 50
| 44
|
| 1,385,821
| 10.67%
| -2.85%
|
| New Democratic
| Alexa McDonough
| 301
| 9
| 21
|
| 1,434,509
| 11.05%
| +4.17%
|
| Progressive Conservative
| Jean Charest
| 301
| 2
| 20
|
| 2,446,705
| 18.84%
| +2.80%
|
| Green
|
| 79
| 0
| 0
|
| 55,583
| 0.43%
| +0.18%
|
| Natural Law
| Neil Paterson
| 136
| 0
| 0
|
| 37,085
| 0.29%
| +0.00%
|
| Christian Heritage
| Ron Gray
| 53
| 0
| 0
|
| 29,085
| 0.22%
| +0.00%
|
| Canadian Action
| Paul T. Hellyer
| 58
| 0
| 0
|
| 17,502
| 0.13%
| n.a.
|
| Marxist-Leninist
| Hardial Bains
| 65
| 0
| 0
|
| 11,468
| 0.09%
| +0.05%
|
| Independent
| 71
| 6
| 1
|
| 34,507
| 0.46%
|
|
| No Affiliation
| 5
| 0
| 0
|
| 26,252
| 0.01%
|
|
| Vacant
| 4
| 301
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 1,672
| 295
|
| 12,985,974
| 100.0
|
|
| Other elections: 1984, 1988, 1993, 1997, 2000, 2004
|
| Sources: http://www.elections.ca
|
n.a. = not applicable - party was not recognized in previous election
Province by Province breakdown
| Party Name
| BC
| AB
| SK
| MB
| ON
| QC
| NB
| NS
| PE
| NL
| NT
| YK
| Total
|
| Liberal
| Seats:
| 6
| 2
| 1
| 6
| 101
| 26
| 3
|
| 4
| 4
| 2
|
| 155
|
| Popular Vote:
| 28.8
| 24.0
| 24.7
| 34.3
| 49.5
| 36.7
| 32.9
| 28.4
| 44.8
| 37.9
| 43.1
| 22.0
| 38.5
|
| Reform
| Seats:
| 25
| 24
| 8
| 3
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 60
|
| Vote:
| 43.1
| 54.6
| 36.0
| 23.7
| 19.1
| 0.3
| 13.1
| 9.7
| 1.5
| 2.5
| 11.7
| 25.3
| 19.4
|
| Bloc Québécois
| Seats:
|
|
|
|
|
| 44
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 44
|
| Vote:
|
|
|
|
|
| 37.9
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 10.7
|
| New Democratic
| Seats:
| 3
|
| 5
| 4
|
|
| 2
| 6
|
|
|
| 1
| 21
|
| Vote:
| 18.2
| 5.7
| 30.9
| 23.2
| 10.7
| 2.0
| 18.4
| 30.4
| 15.1
| 22.0
| 20.9
| 28.9
| 8.5
|
| Progressive Conservative
| Seats:
|
|
|
| 1
| 1
| 5
| 5
| 5
|
| 3
|
|
| 20
|
| Vote:
| 6.2
| 14.4
| 7.8
| 17.8
| 18.8
| 22.2
| 35.0
| 30.8
| 38.3
| 36.8
| 16.7
| 13.9
| 18.8
|
| Green
| Seats:
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Vote:
| 2.0
| 0.4
|
|
| 0.4
| 0.1
|
|
|
| 0.2
|
|
| 0.4
|
| Natural Law
| Seats:
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Vote:
| 0.3
| 0.3
| 0.2
| 0.1
| 0.2
| 0.3
| 0.6
| 0.4
| 0.1
| 0.2
|
|
| 0.3
|
| Christian Heritage
| Seats:
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Vote:
| 0.4
| 0.1
|
| 0.4
| 0.4
|
|
|
| 0.2
|
|
| 1.0
| 0.2
|
| Canadian Action
| Seats:
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Vote:
|
|
| 0.3
|
| 0.2
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 0.1
|
| Marxist-Leninist
| Seats:
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Vote:
| 0.1
|
|
| 0.2
| 0.1
| 0.1
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 0.1
|
| Other
| Seats:
|
|
|
|
| 1
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 1
|
| Vote:
| 0.6
| 0.2
| 0.1
| 0.3
| 0.6
| 0.4
|
| 0.4
|
| 0.5
| 7.6
| 8.9
| 0.5
|
| Total seats:
| 34
| 26
| 14
| 14
| 101
| 75
| 10
| 11
| 4
| 7
| 2
| 1
| 301
|
Source:
Notes
- 1997 was one of only two elections in Canadian history (the other was 1993) where the official Opposition did not have the majority of the opposition's seats. 60 seats for the Reform Party, yet 86 seats for the other opposition parties and independents combined.
