1997 Canadian federal election

The 1997 Canadian federal election was held on June 2 to elect members of the House of Commons of Canada of the 36th Parliament of Canada.

1997 Canadian federal election

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301 seats in the House of Commons
151 seats needed for a majority
Turnout67.0% (Decrease3.9pp)
  First party Second party Third party
  Jean Chrétien in 1996.jpg Preston Manning in 2004 (cropped).jpg Gilles Duceppe2.jpg
Leader Jean Chrétien Preston Manning Gilles Duceppe
Party Liberal Reform Bloc Québécois
Leader since June 23, 1990 November 1, 1987 March 15, 1997
Leader's seat Saint-Maurice Calgary Southwest Laurier—
Sainte-Marie
Last election 177 seats, 41.24% 52 seats, 18.69% 54 seats, 13.52%
Seats before 174 50 50
Seats won 155 60 44
Seat change Decrease19 Increase10 Decrease6
Popular vote 4,994,277 2,513,080 1,385,821
Percentage 38.46% 19.35% 10.67%
Swing Decrease2.78pp Increase0.66pp Decrease2.85pp

  Fourth party Fifth party
  Alexa McDonough cropped.jpg Jean Charest de face (Novembre 2010).png
Leader Alexa McDonough Jean Charest
Party New Democratic Progressive Conservative
Leader since October 14, 1995 April 29, 1995
Leader's seat Halifax Sherbrooke
Last election 9 seats, 6.88% 2 seats, 16.04%
Seats before 9 2
Seats won 21 20
Seat change Increase12 Increase18
Popular vote 1,434,509 2,446,705
Percentage 11.05% 18.84%
Swing Increase4.17pp Increase2.80pp

Canada 1997 Federal Election.svg
Popular vote by province, with graphs indicating the number of seats won. As this is an FPTP election, seat totals are not determined by popular vote by province but instead via results by each riding.

Prime Minister before election

Jean Chrétien
Liberal

Prime Minister after election

Jean Chrétien
Liberal

Results

155 60 44 21 20 1
Liberal Reform BQ NDP PC I
ed {{{2}}}
Party Party Leader Candidates Seats Popular vote
1993 Dissol. Elected % Change # % Change
Liberal Jean Chrétien 301 177 174 155 -12.4% 4,994,277 38.46% -2.78pp
Reform Preston Manning 227 52 50 60 +15.4% 2,513,080 19.35% +0.66pp
Bloc Québécois Gilles Duceppe 75 54 50 44 -18.5% 1,385,821 10.67% -2.85pp
New Democratic Alexa McDonough 301 9 9 21 +133.3% 1,434,509 11.05% +4.17pp
Progressive Conservative Jean Charest 301 2 2 20 +900% 2,446,705 18.84% +2.80pp
  Independent and No Affiliation 76 1 6 1   60,759 0.47% -0.09pp
Green Joan Russow 79 - - - - 55,583 0.43% +0.18pp
Natural Law Neil Paterson 136 - - - - 37,085 0.29% +x
Christian Heritage Ron Gray 53 - - - - 29,085 0.22% +x
Canadian Action Paul T. Hellyer 58 * - - * 17,502 0.13% *
Marxist–Leninist Hardial Bains 65 - - - - 11,468 0.09% +0.05pp
  Vacant 4  
Total 1,672 295 295 301 +2.0% 12,985,974 100%  
Sources: http://www.elections.ca History of Federal Ridings since 1867 Archived 2008-12-04 at the Wayback Machine

Notes:

*: Party did not nominate candidates in the previous election.

x: Less than 0.005% of the popular vote

Vote and seat summaries

Popular vote
Liberal
  
38.46%
Reform
  
19.35%
PC
  
18.84%
NDP
  
11.05%
Bloc Québécois
  
10.67%
Green
  
0.43%
Others
  
1.20%
Seat totals
Liberal
  
51.50%
Reform
  
19.93%
Bloc Québécois
  
14.62%
NDP
  
6.98%
PC
  
6.64%
Independents
  
0.33%

Results by province

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 Democrats 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 11.0
  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
  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 14 103 75 10 11 4 7 2 1 301
Parties that won no seats:
Green Vote: 2.0 0.4     0.4 0.1       0.2     0.4
  Natural Law 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 Vote: 0.4 0.1   0.4 0.4       0.2     1.0 0.2
Canadian Action Vote:     0.3   0.2               0.1
Marxist–Leninist Vote: 0.1     0.2 0.1 0.1             0.1

Source: Elections Canada

1997 Canadian Federal Election Media

Notes

  • Number of parties: 10
  • 1997 was one of only three elections in Canadian history (the others were 1993 and 2008) 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.

References