FEDERAL MINORITY GOVERNMENTS IN
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Minority governmentA minority government, minority cabinet, minority administration, or a minority parliament is a government and cabinet formed in a parliamentary system when a political party or coalition of parties does not have a majority of overall seats in the legislature. It is sworn into office, with or without the formal support of other parties, enabling a government to be formed. Under such a government, legislation can only be passed with the support or consent of enough other members of the legislature to provide a majority, encouraging multi-partisanship. In bicameral legislatures, the term relates to the situation in the chamber whose confidence is considered most crucial to the continuance in office of the government (generally, the lower house). A minority government tends to be less stable than a majority government because, if they can unite, opposing parliamentary members have sufficient numbers to vote against legislation, or even bring down the government with a vote of no confidence. If, however, the minority government forms supporting partnerships with some parliamentary parties, it can be as stable as majority governments.
List of Canadian federal electionsThis article provides a summary of results for Canadian general elections (where all seats are contested) to the House of Commons, the elected lower half of Canada's federal bicameral legislative body, the Parliament of Canada. The number of seats has increased steadily over time, from 180 for the first election to the current total of 343. The current federal government structure was established in 1867 by the Constitution Act. For federal by-elections (for one or a few seats as a result of retirement, etc.) see List of federal by-elections in Canada. For the eight general elections of the Province of Canada held in 1843 to 1864 before confederation in 1867, see List of elections in the Province of Canada. There were also earlier elections in Canada, such as for the Legislative Assembly of Upper Canada (held in 1792–1836, now part of Ontario) and the Legislative Assembly of Lower Canada (held in 1792–1834, now part of Quebec). Three political parties have dominated politics in Canada: the Liberal Party, the historic Conservative party (known as the Progressive Conservative Party from 1942 to 2003), and the modern Conservative Party are the only parties to have formed a government, although often the Liberals and historic Conservatives have led in a minority government or a coalition government where either party unified with one or more smaller parties. (The 1917 win was by a pro-conscription Unionist coalition of sitting Conservative and Liberal members of Parliament.) Although governance has primarily been by single-party majority governments, Canadian federal politics has been a multi-party affair since Confederation. Since 1921, there has been significant parliamentary presence of "third parties", with the Progressive Party and the United Farmers movement being elected in the 1920s. They were supplanted by the Social Credit Party and the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF) in the 1930s. The CCF evolved into the New Democratic Party (NDP) in 1961. The Social Credit Party and the CCF/NDP first won representation in the House of Commons in 1935, and the CCF/NDP has done so in each election since that time. (The Social Credit Party failed to win any seats in the 1980 election.) Since 1980, the NDP has been a presence in the Canadian parliament. The Progressive Conservative Party suffered a significant defeat in the 1993 election when it went from being the majority government with 169 seats to a group without official party status, having only won two seats. The downfall of the traditional Progressive Conservative Party in the 1990s was a result of the rise of the populist Reform Party. The Reform Party rebranded as the Canadian Alliance in 2000; it then merged with the remaining elected Progressive Conservative members in 2003 and became the modern Conservative Party. By 2006, this modern Conservative Party was again in government. Further, in 1993 the separatist Bloc Québécois won seats for the first time. It has been a constant presence in parliament since then. The Green Party has held a seat or two every election since 2011. As well, independent MPs have been elected at various times.
Federal minority governments in CanadaDuring the history of Canadian politics, fourteen minority governments have been elected at the federal level. There have also been two minority governments resulting from governments being replaced between elections, for a total of fifteen federal minority governments in thirteen separate minority parliaments. There have been historical cases where the governing party had fewer than half of the seats but had the support of independents who called themselves members of the party; these cases are not included, as there was never any serious chance of the government falling. In a minority situation, governments must rely on the support of other parties to stay in power, providing less stability than a majority government. At the federal level, no minority government (excepting the odd case of the 14th) has lasted a standard four-year term. Most minority governments have lasted less than two years. The average duration of completed minorities in Canada is 479 days or approximately 1 year, 140 days counting only that part of the 14th Parliament that was a minority, or 1 year, 207 days counting the entire duration of it. In addition to the minorities below, the 2nd Canadian Parliament was a minority for 56 days under prime minister Alexander Mackenzie after he took power from John A. Macdonald following the Pacific Scandal. However, this event is generally not noted because Parliament was never in session while Mackenzie was in power. The sixteenth federal minority parliament was elected in the 2025 election. In the United Kingdom and elsewhere in the world, minority governments are referred to as hung parliaments.
2006 Canadian federal electionThe 2006 Canadian federal election was held on January 23, 2006, to elect members to the House of Commons of Canada of the 39th Parliament of Canada. New details of the sponsorship scandal were released through the Gomery Commission, and the three opposition parties aimed to bring down Liberal Prime Minister Paul Martin's minority government, contending that it was corrupt. On November 28, 2005, Martin's government was defeated on a motion of non-confidence. A day later, Martin met with Governor General Michaëlle Jean to dissolve parliament, triggering an unusual winter election. The Conservative Party, that was formed in 2003 from the merger of the Progressive Conservative Party and the Canadian Alliance, scored its first-ever victory as they won the greatest number of seats in the House of Commons, winning 124 out of 308, up from 99 seats in 2004. Due to the emerging details of the sponsorship scandal, as well as a unified right-of-centre party, the Tories led by Stephen Harper went on to end over 12 years of Liberal rule. Harper formed the smallest minority government in Canadian history (in terms of proportion of seats), becoming prime minister. The New Democratic Party experienced a modest boost in support whereas the Bloc Québécois' seat count nearly stayed the same. This is the most recent election in which the winning federal party did not win New Brunswick and Ontario.
Minority governments in CanadaIn Canada's parliamentary system of responsible government, minority governments occur when no party has a majority of seats in the legislature. Typically, but not necessarily, the party with a plurality of seats forms the government. In a minority situation, governments must rely on the support of other parties to stay in power, so they are less stable than a majority government. In Canada, most of the time political parties stand on their own, live or die, and rarely form official coalition governments to form a majority. But it has happened, such as Manitoba in 1941 as discussed below. Canada's plurality voting system means that minority governments are relatively rare in comparison with countries that have a proportional representation voting system. However, minority governments have become more common at the federal level. Since 2004, five out of seven governments formed have been minority governments at the federal level. Nine of Canada's 10 provinces, all but Alberta, have experienced minority governments as well, mostly produced by first-past-the-post elections.
2025 Canadian federal electionThe 2025 Canadian federal election was held on April 28, 2025, to elect members of the House of Commons to the 45th Canadian Parliament. Governor General Mary Simon issued the writs of election on March 23, 2025, after Prime Minister Mark Carney advised her to dissolve Parliament. This was the first election to use a new 343-seat electoral map based on the 2021 census. Key issues of the election campaign included the cost of living, housing, crime, and tariffs and threats of annexation from Donald Trump, the president of the United States. The Liberal Party won and continued as a minority government, marking the fourth consecutive Liberal government and third consecutive Liberal minority government. The party's victory came after a substantial rebound in the polls, noted as being "one of the widest on record in any democracy". The Liberals also won the popular vote for the first time since 2015, with their highest vote share since 1980 and the highest vote share for any party in a federal election since 1984. The election saw the highest turnout since 1993, with 69.5% of eligible voters casting a ballot. Both the Liberal Party and the Conservative Party improved upon their vote share and seat count from 2021, while the other parties all lost ground. This was the first election since 2000 in which the Liberals polled over 40 percent, the first since 1988 in which the Conservatives did so, and the first time since 1930 in which both passed that threshold. The election delivered the New Democratic Party (NDP) the worst result in its history, as it received just over six percent of the popular vote and only won seven seats. As a consequence, the NDP lost official party status for the first time since 1993. The concentration of voting in the two major parties was identified by commentators as marking a polarization in Canadian politics and a shift towards a two-party system. This was the most concentrated the popular vote had been in the top two parties since 1958, with over 85% voting Liberal or Conservative. The result was a reversal of polling trends lasting from mid-2023 to January 2025, which had led to projections of the Conservatives winning in a landslide. Carney's replacement of Justin Trudeau as Leader of the Liberal Party played a key role in the turnaround. With his extensive experience as a central banker and his perceived competence, Carney was seen as better equipped to handle the trade war launched by the U.S. and other major economic issues. Two sitting party leaders failed to win re-election to their parliamentary seats: Pierre Poilievre of the Conservative Party and Jagmeet Singh of the NDP. Poilievre had held his riding since 2004, and his defeat was regarded as a significant setback for the Conservatives.
46th Canadian federal electionThe 46th Canadian federal election will elect members of the House of Commons to the 46th Canadian Parliament. The Canada Elections Act requires that the election be held no later than October 15, 2029, but it may be called earlier.
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