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Unlike other federal political systems, Canadian political parties at the federal level are often loosely or not at all connected to parties at the provincial level, despite having similar names and policy positions. [1] One exception is the New Democratic Party, which is organizationally integrated with most of its provincial counterparts.
These parties have seats in the House of Commons, which is Canada's only elected assembly at the federal level. Members were elected in the 2021 Canadian federal election and multiple by-elections since.
Name and abbr. | Founded | Leader | Ideology | Political position | MPs | Largest MP caucus | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Liberal Party of Canada (LPC) Parti libéral du Canada (PLC) | 1867 | Justin Trudeau | Centre to centre-left | 153 / 338 | 179 / 245 (1940) [a] | ||
Conservative Party of Canada (CPC) Parti conservateur du Canada (PCC) | 2003 | Pierre Poilievre | Centre-right to right-wing | 120 / 338 | 166 / 308 (2011) | ||
Bloc Québécois (BQ) | 1991 | Yves-François Blanchet | Centre-left | 33 / 338 | 54 / 295 (1993) [b] | ||
New Democratic Party (NDP) Nouveau Parti démocratique (NPD) | 1961 | Jagmeet Singh | Social democracy Progressivism Democratic socialism (factions) | Centre-left to left-wing | 25 / 338 | 103 / 308 (2011) | |
Green Party of Canada (GPC) Le Parti Vert du Canada | 1983 | Elizabeth May | Green politics | 2 / 338 | 3 / 338 (2019) |
The following political parties are registered with Elections Canada and eligible to run candidates in future federal elections, but are not currently represented in the House of Commons. [2]
Eligible parties have applied to Elections Canada and met all of the legal requirements to be registered, other than running a candidate in a general election or by-election. [4] Such parties are eligible to run candidates in federal elections but are not be considered "registered" by Elections Canada until they have registered a candidate in an election or by-election. [4] There are currently no eligible parties at the federal level.
At various points both the House of Commons and Senate have included non-party parliamentary groups, also called caucuses. These groups are unaffiliated with registered political parties, are not registered with Elections Canada, and do not run candidates in Canadian federal elections. Essentially, these parliamentary groups are equivalent to political parties in the legislative context, but do not exist in an electoral capacity.
Parliamentary groups in the House of Commons of Canada are typically made up of MPs that separate from a party over leadership conflicts. Notable past parliamentary groups in the House of Commons include the Ginger Group (1924–1932; split from Progressive Party), Democratic Representative Caucus (2001–2002; split from Canadian Alliance), and Québec debout (2018; split from Bloc Québécois).
The Senate of Canada is Canada's unelected upper chamber. It currently has three non-party parliamentary groups: the Independent Senators Group (ISG), the Canadian Senators Group (CSG), and the Progressive Senate Group (PSG). These three groups do not share a formal ideology, platform, or membership in any one political party; the caucuses primarily serve to provide organizational support and better leverage parliamentary resources. Conservative senators remain formally affiliated with the Conservative Party of Canada. [5] [6]
Name | Founded | Ideology | Facilitator / Leader | Senators in 2024 [update] | Most senators | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Independent Senators Group Groupe des sénateurs indépendants | 2016 | Non-partisan technical group | Raymonde Saint-Germain | 42 / 105 | 59 / 105 (2019) | |
Canadian Senators Group Groupe des sénateurs Canadiens | 2019 | Non-partisan technical group | Scott Tannas | 19 / 105 | 19 / 105 (2024) | |
Progressive Senate Group Groupe progressiste du sénat | 2019 | Non-partisan technical group Progressivism | Jane Cordy | 13 / 105 | 14 / 105 (2021) | |
Conservative Party of Canada Parti conservateur du Canada | 2003 | Conservatism, economic liberalism | Pierre Poilievre | 12 / 105 | 65 / 105 (2013) |
These are political parties which held seats in the House of Commons and either ceased to exist before Elections Canada was formed, or were once registered with Elections Canada but have become de-registered or ceased to exist due to dissolution. [2]
Name | Founded | Dissolved | Ideology | Largest MP caucus | Most ridings contested | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Abolitionist Party | 1993 | 1996 | Social credit, monetary reform, social liberalism | — | 80 / 295 (1993) | |
Anti-Confederation Party | 1867 | 1867 | Opposition to Confederation (membership in Canada), Nova Scotia separatism | 18 / 181 (1867) | 20 / 181 (1867) | |
Bloc populaire | 1943 | 1949 | Anti-conscription, Canadian nationalism, isolationism, French Canadian rights | 4 / 245 (1943) | 35 / 245 (1945) | |
Canada Party (1993) | 1993 | 1996 | — | 56 / 295 (1993) | ||
Canadian Action Party Parti action canadienne | 1997 | 2017 [7] | Canadian nationalism, anti-globalization | — | 70 / 301 (2000) | |
Canadian Nationalist Party Parti nationaliste canadien | 2017 | 2022 | White nationalism | — | 3 / 338 (2019) | |
Canadian Reform Conservative Alliance Alliance réformiste-conservatrice canadienne | 2000 | 2003 | Conservatism, right-wing populism, social conservatism [8] [9] [10] | 66 / 301 (2001) | 298 / 301 (2000) | |
Co-operative Commonwealth Federation Parti social démocratique | 1932 | 1961 | Social democracy, democratic socialism, agrarianism [11] | 31 / 245 (1948) | 205 / 245 (1945) | |
Confederation of Regions Party | 1984 | 1988 | Regionalism, conservatism | — | 55 / 282 (1984) | |
Conservative Party (1867) | 1854 | 2003 | Canadian conservatism, British loyalism, Canadian nationalism (particularly under John Diefenbaker), Red Toryism, economic liberalism (under Brian Mulroney), moderation, occasional populism | 209 / 265 (1958) [e] | 301 / 301 (1997) | |
Democratic Party | 1945 | 1945 | — | 5 / 245 (1945) | ||
Direct Democracy Party | 2019 | 2023 | Direct democracy | — | 7 / 338 (2019) | |
Equal Rights | 1890 | 1891 | — | 2 / 215 (1891) | ||
First Peoples National Party | 2005 | 2013 [7] | Aboriginal rights advocacy | — | 6 / 308 (2008) | |
Free Party Canada Parti Libre Canada | 2019 | 2024 | Direct democracy Vaccine hesitancy | — | 59 / 338 (2021) | |
Labour Party | 1926 | 1968 | Trade unionism, socialism | 4 / 245 (1926) | 28 / 235 (1921) | |
Labor-Progressive Party Parti ouvrier-progressiste | 1943 | 1959 | Communism, socialism, legal front of the banned Communist Party of Canada | 2 / 245 (1943–1945) | 100 / 245 (1953) | |
Liberal-Progressive | 1925 | 1955 | Nominated jointly by or aligned with both the Liberal Party and Progressive Party | 8 / 245 (1926) | 12 / 245 (1926) | |
Liberal Protectionist | 1925 | 1930 | Anti-free trade, protectionism | — | 2 / 245 (1925) | |
McCarthyite | 1896 | 1898 | Anti-Catholic, anti-French, British imperialism | 1 / 213 (1896) [f] | 11 / 213 (1896) | |
National Citizens Alliance Alliance Nationale des Citoyens | 2014 | 2023 | White nationalism | — | 4 / 338 (2015, 2019, 2021) | |
National Party (1991) | 1991 | 1994 | Canadian nationalism, protectionism, progressivism | — | 170 / 295 (1993) | |
Nationalist (1873) | 1873 | 1910 | Socialism, nationalization of industries | 2 / 215 (1889) | 6 / 215 (1887) | |
Nationalist Conservative | 1878 | 1911 | Used by Quebec Members in order to distinguish themselves from what has been referred by the party as the "British imperialist" reputation of the Conservative Party. | 2 / 215 (1887) | 2 / 215 (1887) | |
Natural Law Party Parti de la loi naturelle | 1992 | 2004 [7] | New age | — | 231 / 295 (1993) | |
Newfoundland and Labrador First Party | 2007 | 2011 [7] | Newfoundland and Labrador advocacy | — | 3 / 308 (2008) | |
Non-Partisan League | 1917 | 1917 | Agrarianism | — | 3 / 235 (1917) | |
Parti de la Démocratisation Économique | 1968 | 1968 | — | 5 / 264 (1968) | ||
Parti Nationaliste du Quebec | 1983 | 1987 | Quebec independence | — | 74 / 282 (1984) | |
Party for the Commonwealth of Canada | 1984 | 1993 | LaRouchite | — | 66 / 282 (1984) | |
Parti Patriote | 2019 | 2022 | Quebec nationalism, Quebec sovereignty, right-wing populism | — | 2 / 338 (2021) | |
Patrons of Industry | 1890 | 1900 | Pro-labour | 2 / 213 (1896) | 31 / 213 (1896) | |
People's Political Power Party Pouvoir Politique du Peuple | 2006 | 2011 [7] | Feminist, centrist, populist | — | 2 / 308 (2008) | |
Pirate Party Parti Pirate | 2010 | 2017 | Pirate politics | — | 10 / 308 (2011) | |
Parti pour l'Indépendance du Québec | 2019 | 2022 | Québec independence | — | 13 / 338 (2019) | |
Progressive Canadian Party Parti Progressiste Canadien | 2004 | 2019 | Red Toryism | — | 25 / 308 (2006) | |
Progressive Party Parti progressiste National Progressive Party | 1921 | 1948 | Agrarian, free trade, progressivism | 58 / 235 (1921) | 137 / 235 (1921) | |
Progressive-Conservative | 1925 | 1935 | 1 / 245 (1930) | 2 / 245 (1926) | ||
Protestant Protective Association | 1892 | 1898 | Anti-Catholic, Anti-French | — | 5 / 213 (1896) | |
Radical chrétien | 1958 | 1967 | — | 3 / 265 (1967 by-elections) | ||
Ralliement créditiste / Union des électeurs | 1963 | 1971 | Split from the Social Credit Party; see Social Credit Party of Canada split, 1963. | 14 / 264 (1968) | 77 / 265 (1965) | |
Reconstruction Party | 1935 | 1938 | Keynesianism, national conservatism, isolationism | 1 / 245 (1935) | 172 / 245 (1935) | |
Reform Party Parti réformiste | 1987 | 2000 | Fiscal conservatism, regionalism, social conservatism, democratic reform | 60 / 301 (1997) | 277 / 301 (1997) | |
Republican Party (1967) Parti republicain | 1967 | 1968 | — | 2 / 264 (1968) | ||
Republican Party (1971) Parti republicain | 1971 | 1971 | — | 2 / 264 (1971 by-elections) | ||
Rhinoceros Party (1963) Parti Rhinocéros | 1968 | 1993 | Satirical | — | 121 / 282 (1980) | |
Social Credit Party Parti Crédit social | 1935 | 1993 | Canadian social credit, Canadian conservatism, right-wing populism, social conservatism | 30 / 265 (1962) | 230 / 265 (1962) | |
Socialist Labour Party | 1945 | 1968 | Socialism | — | 2 / 245 (1945) | |
Socialist Party (1904) | 1904 | 1925 | Socialism, Classical Marxism, Anti-Leninism | — | 6 / 221 (1911) | |
Socialist Party (1931) | 1931 | 1961 | Socialism, Classical Marxism, Anti-Leninism | — | 2 / 265 (1958) | |
Stop Climate Change | 2019 | 2021 | Environmentalism | — | 2 / 338 (2019) | |
Strength in Democracy Forces et Démocratie | 2014 | 2016 [7] | Social democracy, regionalism | 2 / 338 (2015) | 17 / 338 (2015) | |
Union Populaire | 1979 | 1981 | Quebecois independence (precursor of Bloc Québécois) | — | 69 / 282 (1979) | |
United Party (2009) Parti Uni | 2009 | 2016 [7] | Centrism | — | 3 / 308 (2011) | |
United Party (2018) Parti Uni | 2018 | 2020 | — | 4 / 338 (2019) | ||
United Reform | 1939 | 1940 | Left-wing populism, reformism | 2 / 245 (1939) | 5 / 245 (1940) | |
Veterans Coalition Party Parti de la coalition des anciens combattants | 2019 | 2023 | Single issue | — | 25 / 338 (2019) | |
Western Block Party | 2005 | 2014 [12] | Western separatism, paleoconservatism, libertarian conservativism | — | 4 / 308 (2006) |
These caucuses were formed by sitting members of the House of Commons, but never ran in an election as a unified party.
Name | Founded | Dissolved | Ideology | Largest caucus | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Democratic Representative Caucus | 2001 | 2002 | Formed when several MPs left the Canadian Alliance due to the leadership of Stockwell Day. The group was dissolved after Day lost the party leadership to Stephen Harper. | 13 / 301 (2002) | |
Ginger Group | 1924 | 1932 | Progressivism, socialism | 15 / 245 (1926) | |
Liberal–Unionist | 1917 | 1921 | Members of the Liberal Party who supported Robert Borden's coalition government. | 11 / 235 (1917) | |
Nationalist Liberal | 1867 | 1921 | 1 / 215 (1891) | ||
Parti canadien | 1942 | 1944 | Anti-conscription | 1 / 245 (1942) | |
Québec debout | 2018 | 2018 | Formed when several MPs left the Bloc Québécois due to the leadership of Martine Ouellet. The group was dissolved after Ouellet lost a leadership review vote and resigned. | 7 / 338 (2018) |
These titles appear in official records, and may have appeared on ballots, but were only ever used as a personal brand by lone candidates.
These groups of Senators each sat together as a caucus, but were not affiliated with an active political party.
Name | Founded | Dissolved | Ideology | Largest caucus | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Liberal–Unionist | 1917 | 1921 | Members of the Liberal Party who supported Robert Borden's coalition government. | 4 / 96 (1919) | |
Nationalist Liberal | 1867 | 1921 | 2 / 72 (1867) | ||
Senate Liberal Caucus Caucus libéral du Sénat | 2014 | 2019 | Members of the Liberal Party who formed their own caucus after Justin Trudeau removed all senators from the Liberal Party's parliamentary caucus. | 32 / 105 (2014) | |
Senate Progressive Conservative Caucus Caucus progressiste-conservateur du Sénat | 2003 | 2016 | Members of the former Progressive Conservative Party who retained the caucus name after the party itself dissolved in 2003. | 5 / 105 (2005) |
The following parties do not appear on the federal election archive. [14] They either did not run candidates in any election or ran candidates as independents.
The Communist Party of Canada changed its name multiple times in its history. It was founded as the Communist Party of Canada in 1921. It was underground until 1924, and founded a public face, Workers' Party of Canada, from 1922 until 1924 when the Communist Party was legalized. From 1938 until 1943 its candidates ran under the banner Unity or United Progressive, and won two seats, both in Saskatchewan. The Communist Party was again banned in 1940, but from 1943 operated under the name Labor-Progressive Party. It won one seat under this name in a 1943 by-election, which it retained in 1945. In 1959 it reverted to the name Communist Party of Canada and has kept that name to the present.
The Marxist–Leninist Party of Canada unofficially uses the name "Communist Party of Canada (Marxist–Leninist)", but Elections Canada does not allow it to be registered by that name because of potential confusion with the Communist Party of Canada.
Labour Party candidates ran under numerous different designations:
During Robert Borden's coalition government of 1917–1920, the Liberal Party of Canada split into two groups: the Liberal–Unionist who supported the coalition and the Laurier Liberals who opposed it.
Some Liberal-Progressive candidates used the designations:
The Co-operative Commonwealth Federation used the name New Party from 1958 to 1961 while it was transitioning to become the New Democratic Party. In French, the party used a literal translation of its name, Fédération du Commonwealth Coopératif, from until 1955.
The first Conservative Party used several different names during its existence:
The second (and current) Conservative Party of Canada was a merger of the Canadian Alliance and the Progressive Conservative Party.
Some candidates for the Progressive Party of Canada used United Farmer designations:
The first Rhinoceros Party disbanded in 1993. When it was revived in 2006 it used the name "neorhino.ca". The party changed its name to Rhinoceros Party in 2010.
Some Ralliement créditiste used the name Ralliement des créditistes from 1963 to 1967. One candidate used the designation Candidats des électeurs in 1957 and 1958. Others used the name Union des électeurs, although this was never formally registered.
In the 1940 election, 17 candidates ran jointly with the Social Credit Party under the name New Democracy.
The Progressive Party of Canada, formally the National Progressive Party, was a federal-level political party in Canada in the 1920s until 1930. It was linked with the provincial United Farmers parties in several provinces, and it spawned the Progressive Party of Saskatchewan, and the Progressive Party of Manitoba, which formed the government of that province. The Progressive Party was part of the farmers' political movement that included federal and provincial Progressive and United Farmers' parties.
The Canadian social credit movement is a political movement originally based on the Social Credit theory of Major C. H. Douglas. Its supporters were colloquially known as Socreds in English and créditistes in French. It gained popularity and its own political party in the 1930s, as a result of the Great Depression.
The 1921 Canadian federal election was held on December 6, 1921, to elect members of the House of Commons of Canada of the 14th Parliament of Canada. The Union government that had governed Canada through the First World War was defeated, and replaced by a Liberal government under the young leader William Lyon Mackenzie King. A new third party, the Progressive Party, won the second most seats in the election.
The 1972 Canadian federal election was held on October 30, 1972, to elect members of the House of Commons of Canada of the 29th Parliament of Canada. It resulted in a slim victory for the governing Liberal Party led by Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, which won 109 seats, compared to 107 seats for the opposition Progressive Conservatives led by Robert Stanfield. Trudeau's Liberals experienced a decline in support as a result of rising unemployment.
The Social Credit Party of Canada, colloquially known as the Socreds, was a populist political party in Canada that promoted social credit theories of monetary reform. It was the federal wing of the Canadian social credit movement.
There have been various groups in Canada that have nominated candidates under the label Labour Party or Independent Labour Party, or other variations from the 1870s until the 1960s. These were usually local or provincial groups using the Labour Party or Independent Labour Party name, backed by local labour councils made up of many union locals in a particular city, or individual trade unions. There was an attempt to create a national Canadian Labour Party in the late 1910s and in the 1920s, but these were only partly successful.
The 1968 Canadian federal election was held on June 25, 1968, to elect members of the House of Commons of Canada of the 28th Parliament of Canada.
Historically in Quebec, Canada, there were a number of political parties that were part of the Canadian social credit movement. There were various parties at different times with different names at the provincial level, all broadly following the social credit philosophy; at various times they had varying degrees of affiliation with the Social Credit Party of Canada at the federal level.
The Parti crédit social uni was a provincial political party in the Canadian province of Quebec. It existed on two occasions, from 1969 to around 1971 and from 1979 to 1994. The party's leader in both periods was Jean-Paul Poulin. The PCSU was not formally aligned with the Social Credit Party of Canada.
David Réal Caouette was a Canadian politician from Quebec. He was a Member of Parliament (MP) and leader of the Social Credit Party of Canada and founder of the Ralliement des créditistes. Outside politics he worked as a car dealer.
The Ralliement créditiste du Québec was a provincial political party in Quebec, Canada, that operated from 1970 to 1978. It promoted social credit theories of monetary reform, and acted as an outlet for the expression of rural discontent. It was a successor to an earlier social credit party in Quebec, the Union des électeurs which ran candidates in the 1940s.
Les Démocrates was a provincial political party in Quebec, Canada, founded by former Ralliement créditiste du Québec leader Camil Samson and former Progressive Conservative Party of Canada federal cabinet minister Pierre Sévigny on November 18, 1978. It was renamed the Parti démocrate créditiste on January 1, 1980, a reference to the social credit theory of monetary economics. Samson joined the Liberal Party of Quebec on September 2, 1980. Sévigny remained as party leader and initially campaigned prior to the 1981 Quebec election but he did not stand as a candidate himself and the party was unable to field a slate of 10 candidates and dissolved prior to the election.
Fabien Roy was a Canadian politician who was active in Quebec in the 1970s. Roy was elected to the National Assembly of Quebec and the House of Commons of Canada, and advocated social credit theories of monetary reform.
The 1965 Canadian federal election was held on November 8, 1965 to elect members of the House of Commons of Canada of the 27th Parliament of Canada. The Liberal Party of Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson was re-elected with a larger number of seats in the House. Although the Liberals lost a small share of the popular vote, they were able to win more seats, falling just short of a majority.
Camil Samson was a politician in Quebec, Canada, Member of the National Assembly of Quebec (MNA), and leader of the Ralliement créditiste du Québec and other political parties.
The Union nationale was a conservative and nationalist provincial political party in Quebec, Canada, that identified with Québécois autonomism. It was created during the Great Depression and held power in Quebec from 1936 to 1939, and from 1944 to 1960 and from 1966 to 1970. The party was founded by Maurice Duplessis, who led it until his death in 1959.
In 1963, the Quebec wing of the Social Credit Party of Canada split off from the national party as the Ralliement des créditistes. The split had its roots in a long-standing dispute between the de facto leader of the Ralliement, Réal Caouette, and the party's national leader, Robert N. Thompson. At the party's 1960 leadership convention, held two years after the party lost all of its seats in the House of Commons of Canada, Thompson defeated Caouette for the leadership. The party returned to Parliament in the 1962 federal election, but all but four of its 30 MPs came from Quebec. Under the circumstances, Thompson was all but forced to name Caouette as deputy leader of the party. The relationship was strained, however, and the strain was exacerbated when the party failed to make any gains in its old heartland of the Prairies in the 1963 federal election. Only Thompson and three others were elected outside of Quebec, while 20 Socreds were elected in Quebec. The two factions of the party were not re-united until October 1971.
Fernand Grenier was a Canadian politician from Quebec.
Jean-Paul Poulin was a politician in the Canadian province of Quebec. He was active in the Canadian social credit movement and led the Parti crédit social uni through four general elections at the provincial level.
Although there are often provincial parties with similar names or aims as national political parties, Canadian parties are not generally well-integrated ... Despite the general lack of formal ties, however, there is often significant overlap between supporters of provincial and national parties of the same name.