Canadian federal election, 1997
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Canadian federal election, 1997 301 seats in the 36th Canadian Parliament
June 2, 1997
Leader		Jean Chrétien	Preston Manning	Gilles Duceppe
Party		Liberal	Reform	Bloc Québécois
Leader's seat		Saint-Maurice	Calgary Southwest	Laurier— Sainte-Marie
Last election		177	52	54
Seats won		155	60	44
Seat change		-22	+8	-10
Popular vote		4,994,277	2,513,080	1,385,821
Percentage		38.46%	19.35%	10.67%
Swing		-2.78%	+0.66%	+2.85%
		Fourth Party	Fifth Party
Leader		Alexa McDonough	Jean Charest
Party		New Democrat	PC
Leader's seat		Halifax	Sherbrooke
Last election		9	2
Seats won		21	20
Seat change		+12	+18
Popular vote		1,434,509	2,446,705
Percentage		11.05%	18.84%
Swing		+4.17%	+2.80%
Incumbent PM Jean Chrétien Liberal PM-Elect Jean Chrétien Liberal

The Canadian federal election of 1997 was held on June 2, 1997, to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons of the 36th Parliament of Canada. Prime Minister 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, a divided Bloc managed a reduced majority in Quebec, and much of the west was won by Reform, particularly its Alberta base, enabling the Reform to overtake the Bloc as the second largest party.

The major change was that the New Democratic Party (NDP) and the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada all but wiped out the Liberals in Atlantic Canada (only Prince Edward Island remained entirely Liberal). Atlantic 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.

When the election was called, many commentators noted that it ended the second shortest majority mandate in Canadian history; only Wilfrid Laurier's term of office from 1908-1911 was shorter. Chrétien's decision to hold an early election was seen as cynical by some, as Manitoba was still recovering from the devastating Red River Flood earlier in the year. Reg Alcock and several others inside the Liberal Party had opposed the timing of the vote, and the poor results prompted Paul Martin's supporters to organize against Chrétien.

36th Parliament

Some commentators on election night were even predicting that the Liberals would be cut down to a minority government, although it was clear that none of the opposition parties could manage a plurality of seats. The Liberals would manage a four-seat majority thanks to some gains in Quebec at the expense of the Bloc, although they finished considerably lower than the 1993 total due to the losses in Atlantic Canada and the West voting Reform to kick the Bloc out of the Official Opposition. Mostly because of these wins in Atlantic Canada, Jean Charest's Tories and Alexa McDonough's NDP both regained official party status in the House of Commons. This marked the first time in Canadian history that five political parties held official party status in a single session of Parliament. The Progressive Conservative Party placed third in the popular vote, behind Liberal and Reform, but still won the least amount of seats due to the First Past the Post System.

Independent member John Nunziata, who had been expelled from the Liberal Party for opposing the Goods and Servcies Tax, was also re-elected in his riding in Toronto.

Interestingly, a change of 718 votes in just five ridings, Bonavista—Trinity—Conception, Simcoe—Grey, Humber—St. Barbe—Baie Verte, Cardigan, and Bellechasse—Etchemins—Montmagny—L'Islet (286, 241, 117, 50, and 24 votes respectively), from the Liberals to the second place candidate (NDP, Ref, PC, PC, and BQ, respectively) would have resulted in a minority government.

National results

Voter turnout was 67.0%, one of the lowest federal election turnouts ever.

Notes:

• Party did not nominate candidates in the previous election.

x - less than 0.005% of the popular vote

Results by province

Source: Elections Canada

Notes

• Number of parties: 10
  • First appearance: Canadian Action Party
  • Final appearance: Reform Party of Canada
  • Final appearance before hiatus: Christian Heritage Party of Canada (returned in 2004)

• 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.

10 closest ridings

1. Sackville—Eastern Shore, NS: Peter Stoffer, NDP def. Ken Streatch, PC by 41 votes
2. Bellechasse—Etchemins—Montmagny—L'Islet, QC: Gilbert Normand, Lib def. François Langlois, BQ by 47 votes
3. Selkirk—Interlake, MB: Howard Hilstrom, Ref def. Jon Gerrard, Lib by 66 votes
4. Cardigan, PE: Lawrence MacAulay, Lib def. Dan Hughes, PC by 99 votes
5. Bonaventure—Gaspé—Îles-de-la-Madeleine—Pabok, QC: Yvan Bernier, BQ def. Patrick Gagnon, Lib by 179 votes
6. Saskatoon—Humboldt, SK: Jim Pankiw, Ref def. Dennis Gruending, NDP by 220 votes
7. Humber—St. Barbe—Baie Verte, NF: Gerry Byrne, Lib def. Art Bull, PC by 232 votes
8. Chicoutimi, QC: André Harvey, PC def. Gilbert Fillion, BQ by 317 votes
9. Frontenac—Mégantic, QC: Jean-Guy Chrétien, BQ def. Manon Lecours, Lib by 465 votes
10. Simcoe—Grey, ON: Paul Bonwick, Lib def. Paul Shaw, Ref by 481 votes

See also

Articles on parties' candidates in this election:

External links

• Elections Canada: 1997 election
• Transcript of English Leader's debate
• Predicting the 1997 Canadian Election

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