Elections in Canada

Not to be confused withElections Canada.

For national general election results, seeList of Canadian federal general elections.

Canadaholdselectionsfor legislatures or governments in several jurisdictions: for thefederal (national) government,provincial and territorial governments,andmunicipal governments.Elections are also held forself-governing First Nationsand for many other public and private organizations includingcorporationsandtrade unions.Municipal elections can also be held for both upper-tier (regional municipalityorcounty) and lower-tier (town, village, or city) governments.

Formal elections have occurred in Canada since at least 1792, when bothUpper CanadaandLower Canadahad their first elections. Canada's first recorded election was held in Halifax in 1758 to elect the1st General Assembly of Nova Scotia.

All Canadian citizens aged 18 or older who currently reside in Canada as of the polling day(or at any point in their life have resided in Canada, regardless of time away) may vote in federal elections.The most recent Canadian federal election occurred onSeptember 20, 2021.

Elections for other levels of government may have additional residency or ownership requirements. For example, some municipalities allow both residents and non-resident landowners to vote.

Electoral regulatory bodies

See also:Canadian electoral systemandFixed election dates in Canada

Elections in Canada (federal, provincial, or Territorial) are organised by their respective election regulatory bodies as follows:

Canadian electoral regulatory bodies
Jurisdiction	Electoral regulatory body (year established)	Periodic oversight of legislative seat contests in any given election	Date of most recent major election	Next major election scheduled for / required by
Federal	Elections Canada(1920)	Lower house:All 338 seats in theHouse of Commons of Canada(every 4 years, on the third Monday of October)	20 September 2021	20 October 2025
British Columbia	Elections BC(1995)	Unicameral: All 87 seats in theLegislative Assembly of British Columbia(every 4 years, on the third Saturday of October)	24 October 2020	19 October 2024
Alberta	Elections Alberta(1977)	Unicameral: All 87 seats in theLegislative Assembly of Alberta(every 4 years, on the last Monday of May)	29 May 2023	31 May 2027
Saskatchewan	Elections Saskatchewan(1959)	Unicameral: All 61 seats in theLegislative Assembly of Saskatchewan(every 4 years, on the last Monday of October)	26 October 2020	28 October 2024
Manitoba	Elections Manitoba(1980)	Unicameral: All 57 seats in theLegislative Assembly of Manitoba(every 4 years, on the first Tuesday of October)	3 October 2023	5 October 2027
Ontario	Elections Ontario(1919)	Unicameral:All 124 seats in theLegislative Assembly of Ontario(every 4 years, on the first Thursday of June)	2 June 2022	4 June 2026
Quebec	Élections Québec(1945)	Unicameral: All 125 seats in theNational Assembly of Quebec(every 4 years, on the first Monday of October)	3 October 2022	5 October 2026
Nova Scotia	Elections Nova Scotia(1991)	Unicameral: All 55 seats in theNova Scotia House of Assembly(every 4 years, on the third Tuesday of July)	17 August 2021	15 July 2025
New Brunswick	Elections New Brunswick(1967)	Unicameral: All 49 seats in theLegislative Assembly of New Brunswick(every 4 years, on the third Monday of October)	14 September 2020	21 October 2024
Newfoundland and Labrador	Elections Newfoundland & Labrador(1991)	Unicameral: All 40 seats in theNewfoundland and Labrador House of Assembly(every 4 years, on the second Tuesday of October)	25 March 2021	14 October 2025
Prince Edward Island	Elections Prince Edward Island(1965)	Unicameral: All 27 seats in theLegislative Assembly of Prince Edward Island(every 4 years, on the first Monday of October)	3 April 2023	4 October 2027
Northwest Territories	Elections NWT(1997)	Unicameral: All 19 seats in theLegislative Assembly of the Northwest Territories(every 4 years, on the first Tuesday of October)	14 November 2023	5 October 2027
Yukon	Elections Yukon(2002)	Unicameral: All 19 seats in theYukon Legislative Assembly(every 4 years, on the first Monday of November)	12 April 2021	3 November 2025
Nunavut	Elections Nunavut(2003)	Unicameral: All 22 seats in theLegislative Assembly of Nunavut(every 4 years, on the last Monday of October)	25 October 2021	27 October 2025

National (federal) elections

TheParliament of Canadahas twochambers:theHouse of Commonshas 338 members, elected for a maximum four-year term in single-seatelectoral districts,and theSenatehas 105 members appointed by thegovernor generalon theadviceof theprime minister.Senators are given permanent terms (up to age 75) and thus often serve much longer than the prime minister who was primarily responsible for their appointment.

National elections are governed by theCanada Elections Actand administered by an independent agency,Elections Canada.Using theplurality voting system,Canadiansvote for their localMember of Parliament(MP), who represents one specificconstituencyin the House of Commons. The leader of the party most likely to hold the confidence of the House of Commons becomes the prime minister.

Most MPs are members of apolitical party,although candidates may stand for election asindependentsunaffiliated with any political party. Since the practice of listing candidates' party affiliation on ballots began with the1972 election,the Canada Elections Act has required that all local candidates be directly approved by the leader of their affiliated party, effectively centralizing the candidate nomination process.Once candidates are elected, sitting members of parliament are permitted to "cross the floor"switching party affiliation without having to first resign and restand for office under their new affiliation. Sitting members may also be dismissed from or voluntarily leave their party and become independents. As a result, the distribution of seats by party affiliation often fluctuates in between elections.

Although several parties are typically represented in parliament, Canada has historically hadtwo dominant political parties:theLiberal Partyand theConservative Party,which was preceded by theProgressive Conservative Partyand theConservative Party (1867–1942).Every government sinceConfederationhas been either Liberal or Conservative with the exception of theUnionistgovernment duringWorld War I,which was a coalition of Conservatives and Liberals. However, in the 2011 federal election, the (NDP) New Democratic Party of Canada, came a close second, only behind by a few seats. While other parties have sometimes formed theOfficial Opposition,the41st Parliament (2011-2015)was the first in which the Liberals did not form either the government or the Official Opposition.

If a government loses aconfidence motion,traditionally the prime minister will ask the governor general to call an election and the governor general follows that advice. However, the viceroy's compliance is not assured; the governor general also has the right to seek out another party leader who might be able to command the confidence of the House and ask them to form a government. This happened in 1926 and is referred to as theKing–Byng Affair.

The five-year time limitation is strictly applied to the life of the parliament or assembly in question—this body is not deemed to have been formed until the return of thewritsand ceases to exist the moment it isdissolved.It is therefore possible to run slightly longer than five years betweenelection days,as was the case between the1930and1935 elections.Although the law has allowed for a five-year gap between elections, there have in fact only been two five-year gaps in the last 50 years: between 1974 and 1979 and between 1988 and 1993, and there have in fact been six general elections since 2000.

It is also possible for a general election to be delayed should Canada be embroiled in awarorinsurrection.This provision was enacted to allow Prime Minister SirRobert Bordento delay a federal election for about a year duringFirst World War.Since then, the provision has only been used twice, both times by provincial governments—Ontariodelayed an electionfor a few weeks in the year following the Armistice in 1918. Saskatchewan was the only jurisdiction to delay a general election by more than a year, due toWorld War II,but held anelection in 1944,six years after the previous vote.

The Canadian population generally misunderstands the electoral system, with most citizens believing they vote to directly elect their prime ministers.Certain politicians have taken advantage of this misconception of how governments are formedand attempts to correct erroneous claims are often delegitimized as politically motivated.

Results

Further information:2021 Canadian federal election

Hugo Cyr found in 2017 that the Canadian media's habit of announcing, before polls close on election nights, which party will form the next government misrepresents the process of the governor general or lieutenant governors appointing cabinet or executive councils, respectively, "as automatic, merely a matter of arithmetic".

Although the leader of the political party that wins the plurality of seats in the elected chamber of parliament is typically called by thegovernor generalorlieutenant governorto form a government, this is not a requirement. The relevant viceroy must appoint ashead of governmentwhomever commands theconfidenceof the elected house. This means a party that does not win the plurality of seats in an election can still govern if it allies itself with another party or other parties in the same legislative chamber, so as to, combined, hold the majority of seats, whether forming acoalition governmentor not.

Fixed dates

See also:Fixed election dates in Canada

Section 4of theCanadian Charter of Rights and Freedomslimits the term of any federal, provincial, or territorial parliament to a maximum of five years after the return of the writs of the last election. On November 6, 2006, theParliament of Canadaamended theCanada Elections Actto introduce a requirement that each federal general election must take place on the third Monday in October in the fourth calendar year after the previous poll, starting with October 19, 2009.Since then, allprovinces and territorieshave enacted similar legislation establishing fixed election dates.

These laws, nevertheless, do not curtail the power of the governor general or a provincial lieutenant governor to dissolve a legislature prior to the fixed election date on the advice of the relevant first minister or due to amotion of no confidence.

By-elections and referenda

By-electionscan be held between general elections when seats become vacant through the resignation or death of a member. The date of the by-election is determined by the governor general, who must call it between 11 and 180 days after being notified of the seat vacancy by theSpeakerof the House of Commons.

The federal government can also hold nationwidereferendumson major issues. The last federal referendum was held in 1992, on proposed constitutional changes in theCharlottetown Accord.On occasion, one particular issue will dominate an election, and the election will in a sense be a virtual referendum. The most recent instance of this was the1988 election,which was considered by most parties to be a referendum onfree trade with the United States.

Qualifications

Every Canadian citizen 18 years of age or older has the right to vote, except for theChief Electoral Officerand the Deputy Chief Electoral Officer. In theCanada Elections Act,inmates serving a sentence of at least two years were prohibited from voting, but on October 31, 2002, theSupreme Court of Canadaruled inSauvé v. Canadathat such a law violated thesection 3 of the Charter,and was rendered of no force or effect.

The federalNational Register of Electorsis updated to reflect various changes in the Canadian population, including address changes, reaching voting age, naturalization, and death.Every year, about 3,000,000 address changes are processed by Elections Canada from information obtained from theCanada Revenue Agency,Canada Post(via the National Change of Address service), provincial and territorial motor vehicle registrars, and provincial electoral agencies with permanent voters lists. Every year, about 400,000 Canadians reach voting age and 200,000 Canadians die, resulting in changes to the National Register of Electors based on information obtained from the Canada Revenue Agency, provincial and territorial motor vehicle registrars, and provincial electoral agencies with permanent voters lists. Additionally, over 150,000 individuals a year become naturalized Canadians, and are added to the National Register of Electors by Elections Canada based on information obtained fromCitizenship and Immigration Canada.

Canadian citizens abroad

TheSupreme Court of Canada's 2019 decision inFrank v Canada (AG)ruled that non-resident citizens have the right to vote regardless of time living outside of Canada.

WhileSection Three of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedomsprovides that "every citizen of Canada has the right to vote",in practice only those citizens 18 years of age or older who resided in Canadaorhad been abroad for fewer than five years were eligible to vote in federal elections from 1993 to 2019.The five-year limit was originally enacted as part of Bill C-114,An Act to Amend the Canada Elections Act,in 1993; these amendments extended the special ballot to certain prisoners, and Canadians "living or travelling" abroad.Exemptions to the five-year limit existed for members of theCanadian Armed Forces,employees of the federal or a provincial government stationed abroad, employees of certain international organizations, and their cohabitants.

Jean-Pierre Kingsley,then the Chief Electoral Officer of Canada for 15 years, explicitly recommended in his 2015 official post-election report that Parliament remove the five-year limit by amendment, but no action was taken.

In May 2014, theOntario Superior Court of Justiceruled in favour of Canadian expatriates Gillian Frank and Jamie Duong's claim that the five-year limit was an unconstitutional restriction on theright to vote,in violation of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, leading to a period of fourteen months during which all Canadian expatriates could apply to be on the register of electors.However, the decision was reversed 2-1 on appeal at theCourt of Appeal for Ontarioon July 20, 2015, in a judicial opinion citing Canada's history of using a residence-basedelectoral districtsystem and a justification based onsocial contracttheory, which held that the five-year limit was a permissible limitation of the constitutional right to vote underSection One.In response to the appellate court ruling,Elections Canadaimplemented changes in August 2015 to require expatriates already on the register to declare an intended date of return.The decision from the Court of Appeal was subsequently appealed to theSupreme Court of Canada,which announced on April 14, 2016 that it would hear the case.The court ultimately overturned the appellate court's decision, with the majority finding that "the disenfranchisement of long-term non-resident citizens not only denies them a fundamental democratic right, but also comes at the expense of their self-worth and their dignity."

Length of election campaigns

The length of election campaigns can vary, but under the Elections Act, the minimum length of a campaign is 36 days and the maximum length of the campaign is 50 days.Alsosection 5 of theCharterrequires that the Parliament sit at least once every twelve months, and thus a campaign would have to conclude in time for returns to be completed and parliament to be called into session within twelve months of the previous sitting. The federal election date must be set on a Monday (or Tuesday if the Monday is a statutory holiday).

The first two elections, the1867 electionand the1872 election,took place over several weeks.

The 1872 election was both the second shortest and the longest campaign in history. Parliament was dissolved on July 8, 1872, while the writ was dropped on July 15, 1872. Voting occurred from July 20 to October 12. Therefore, the campaign started 12 days after dissolution of Parliament and 5 days after the writ, and was concluded 96 days (13 weeks plus 5 days) after dissolution and 89 days after the writ.

Every subsequent election has occurred on a single day. Of these elections, the longest election campaign, in terms of days from dissolution to election day, was that of1926 election,following theKing–Byng Affair,which lasted 74 days.

In terms of days from writ to election day, the longest campaign had been the1980 election,which lasted 66 days. It was surpassed by the2015 election,which was 78 days long from writ to election day, making it the longest campaign for a one-day election, exceeded in length only by that of 1872.

Prior to the adoption of the minimum of 36 days in law, there were six elections that lasted shorter periods of time. The last of these was the1904 electionwhich occurred many decades before the minimum was imposed.

In practice, the prime minister will generally keep a campaign as brief as is legal and feasible, because spending by parties is strictly limited by the Elections Act. The maximum spending by each party is increased by 1/37th of the maximum for each day that the campaign exceeds 37 days. The1997,2000and2004 electionswere all of the minimum 36 days in length which has led to a common misconception that electionsmustbe 36 days long. However, prior to 1997, elections averaged much longer: aside from the 47-day campaign for the1993 electionand the 51-day campaign for the1988 Election,the shortest election period afterWorld War IIwas 57 days and many were over 60 days in length.

Much speculation had surrounded how long the campaign for the39th federal electionwould be in 2006, especially as it became certain the election would be called in the weeks preceding Christmas 2005. The government ofJoe Clark,which fell on December 13, 1979, recommended a campaign of 66 days for theresulting election,and nothing legal barred a similarly lengthened campaign. In the end, the 2006 election was called on November 29, 2005, for January 23, 2006 — making a 55-day-long campaign.

Provincial and territorial

System

All of Canada's provinces and territories use the sameplurality voting systemused in federal elections (First-past-the-post voting). However, since elections are monitored and organized by independent provincial and territorialelection commissiona,a province may it'selectoral systemshould its parliament wish to do so. This would not require permission from the federal government or the Parliament of Canada. Federal elections formerly used mixture of first past the post andPlurality block voting;provincial elections formerly used a variety of electoral methods See "Electoral reform" below.

In the ten provinces andYukon,elections are contested by candidates either representing political parties or running as independents. Territorial elections in theNorthwest TerritoriesandNunavutare held on a fully non-partisan basis, due to those territories' use of aconsensus governmentmodel.

Parties

All Canadian provinces and Yukon, have electoral systems dominated by majorpolitical parties.In most provinces the leading parties are the same parties prominent at the federal level. However, the provincial party may or may not have an official affiliation with the federal party of the same name. Thus, names of provincial parties can sometimes be misleading when associating a provincial party with a national party, although the respective ideologies are usually fairly similar.

TheConservative Party of Canadahas no provincial wings and none of the current provincial Progressive Conservative Parties are formally linked with the federal party as they all predate the 2003 establishment of the federal party, which resulted in the formal disbanding of theProgressive Conservative Party of Canada.Some provincial parties (such as Alberta) formally broke off links with the federal party prior to the merger.

In British Columbia, Alberta and Quebec the provincial Liberal parties are independent of theLiberal Party of Canada,while in the other provinces, the provincial Liberal parties are autonomous entities that retain formal links with the federal party.

All provincial wings of theNew Democratic Partyare fully integrated with the federal party, and members of the provincial party are automatically also members of the federal party. TheGreen Partyhas provincial counterparts that are directly affiliated but do not share membership or organizational structure and support.

InSaskatchewanandYukon,the political parties, theSaskatchewan Partyand theYukon Party,respectively, have no federal counterpart, although they are both ideologically conservative.

Results

The following table summarizes the results of the most recentprovincial and territorialelections. A link to complete lists for each province and territory is below. The winning party is indicated inboldand by the coloured bar at the left of the table.

This table shows the party standings as a result of the most recent election, and not the current representation in legislatures; refer to the articles on the individual houses for the current state.

Province or territory	Date of most recent election		Progressive Conservative	Liberal	New Democrat	Green	Other Conservative Party	Other	Total seats
Northwest Territories	November 14, 2023							191	19
Manitoba	October 3, 2023		22	12	34				57
Alberta	May 29, 2023				38		49 (United Conservative Party)		87
Prince Edward Island	April 3, 2023		22	3		2			27
Quebec	October 3, 2022			212			90 (Coalition Avenir Québec)	11 (Québec Solidaire) 3 (Parti Québécois)	125
Ontario	June 2, 2022		83	82	31	1		1 (Independent)	124
Nunavut	October 25, 2021							221	22
Nova Scotia	August 17, 2021		31	17	6			1 (Independent)	55
Yukon	April 12, 2021			82	3		8 (Yukon Party)		19
Newfoundland & Labrador	March 25, 2021		13	22	2			3 (Independent)	40
Saskatchewan	October 26, 2020				13		48 (Saskatchewan Party)		61
British Columbia	October 24, 2020				57	2	28 (BC United3)		87
New Brunswick	September 14, 2020		27	17		3	2 (People's Alliance)		49

For lists of general elections in each province and territory, see the infobox at the bottom of the article.

¹Note:Nunavutdoes not have political parties, and political parties in theNorthwest Territorieswere disbanded in 1905. MLAs in both territories are elected asindependentsand the legislatures function under aconsensus governmentmodel.

²Note: Provincial Liberal parties that are not affiliated with the federal Liberal Party of Canada.

³Note: Formerly known as theBritish Columbia Liberal Party.

Municipal

Main article:Municipal elections in Canada

Municipal elections are held in Canada for the election of local governments. Most provinces hold all of their municipal elections on the same date. Candidates are elected through eitherwardorat-largesystems, every two, three or four years, depending on the province.Plurality block votingis used in at-large elections and where wards elect multiple members; otherwiseFirst past the postis used. (London, Ontario did adoptInstant-runoff votingbut has been banned from using that system.)

A minority of locations in Canada have localpolitical partiesorelection slates,while most locations elect onlyindependents,or where the candidate has party ties, no party identification is allowed on the ballot.

Senate nominee (Alberta)

Main article:Alberta Senate nominee election

Adopted and attempted electoral reform

See also:Canadian electoral system § Voting Reform

Canada is now the only major country in the world to use onlyFirst past the postin its federal and provincial elections. But in past times other systems were used or debated.

By one count, at the provincial level there have been ten instances of electoral reform in Canadian history. All of them were achieved by passage of normal legislation, without referendum.There have been no instances in Canadian history of electoral reform being achieved after the holding of a referendum.

Reforms and attempted reforms are outlined below.

Multiple-member districts replaced by single-member districts -- federal elections, all provinces, two territories various dates

At various times in the 19th and 20th centuries, federal elections and those held in every province used multi-member districts to elect all or some of its members. The systems used includedBlock Voting,Single transferable voting,Limited votingand a system where each seat was filled through a separate contest. Limited voting usually resulted in mixed multi-party representation, according representation to both the majority and at least the largest minority. STV resulted in mixed multi-party representation and every candidate that had quota were elected, thus every party with substantial backing in the district got some representation.Block voting and single-winner contests usually (but not always) resulted in one-party sweeps of the district's seats.

Now federal elections — and all provincial and territorial elections — use only single-member districts, a situation that came about through electoral reform.

Eleven ridings elected multiple MPs (two at a time) at one time or another, between 1867 and 1968. These were Ottawa, West Toronto, Hamilton, Halifax (NS), Cape Breton (NS), Pictou (NS), St. John City and County (NB), Victoria and three in PEI: King's County, Queen's County and Prince County.

All the provinces and territories (except Nunavut) once used multiple-member districts. Most of the multiple-member districts elected just two, but others elected 5 to 7 or more. Ten MLAs were elected in the Winnipeg district from 1920 to 1949.

The provinces and territories switched to electing all their members in single-member districts elected throughFirst past the postin these years:

• Quebec 1867
• Ontario 1926
• North-West Territories 1894 (see1891 North-West Territories general election)
• Yukon 1903
• Manitoba 1954
• Alberta 1956
• New Brunswick 1967
• Saskatchewan 1967
• Newfoundland and Labrador 1975
• Nova Scotia 1978
• BC 1990
• PEI 1996
• (PEI's elections were special cases. Each district elected two members. At one time voters who owned property in the district voted for the Councilman while voters resident in the district joined with the property-owners to vote for the Assemblyman. Later the exact same voters were allowed to vote for each of the two members in a district but still each seat was filled in separate contest.)

1886, 1890 Ontario used Limited Voting in Toronto

Toronto's three MPPs were elected throughLimited voting,where each voter could cast up to two votes. (Later Toronto MPPs were elected in two-seat districts, with each seat elected separately through single-winner First Past The Post voting. This ended in 1926 when all the MPPs in the province began to be elected in single-member districts.)

1909-1921 Alberta partially adopted Block Voting system

For the 1909, 1913 and 1921 election Alberta adopted multiple-member city-wide districts in one or both of the cities of Edmonton and Calgary. Alberta's two army representatives were elected in 1917 in one contest. Also in 1921, the city of Medicine Hat was a two-seat district. Voters cast multiple votes under thePlurality block votingto electMLAs.

1914 Manitoba adopted multi-member districts, later brought in STV/FPTP then STV/IRV

In 1914, the three Winnipeg districts --Winnipeg Centre,Winnipeg SouthandWinnipeg North— were each given a second member. Each seat was filled through a separate contest. The same system was used in the 1915 election.

In 1920Winnipegwas made into a ten-member city-widedistrict.Manitoba began to useSingle transferable votingin the new district. Later the province adoptedAlternative Votingin single-member rural districts.

In 1949 Winnipeg was divided into three four-seat districts. St. Boniface got a second member and switched from AV to STV to elect its MLAs.

1924 Alberta adopted STV/AV system

After the election of theUnited Farmers of Albertain 1921, Alberta maintained its existing mixture of multi-member districts and single-member districts. In 1924 Alberta adoptedSingle transferable votingin the cities' multi-member districts and theInstant-runoff votingsystem in single-member rural districts. (It was the first instance in North America where all the members in a legislature were elected through non-plurality methods.) This mixed system was in use until 1956. In 1956 the province brought in consistent single-member districts andFirst past the postelections. Medicine Hat reverted to being a single-member district before the 1930 election (IRV was then used there).

1922 House of Commons elections

Canadian MPWilliam Charles Goodintroduced legislation in the House of Commons in June 1922 that would have seenInstant-runoff votingused in each riding where more than two candidates were competing and he also called for demonstration multi-member districts in to provide experience ofproportional representation.However the bill was talked out and nothing was changed.

1952, 1953 BC elections usedInstant-runoff votingelectoral system

In 1952, BC adopted theAlternative Voting system.It retained its mixture of single-member districts and multi-member districts. In the later, it held separate contests for each seat.preferential ballotswas used for the first time in a BC general election. After 1953 election the province returned to its previous electoral system, a mixture of single-member and multi-member districts, of Block Voting and FPTP, which in turn was replaced by consistent FPTP single-member-district contests in 1990.

2004 Quebec proposed electoral reform

The Liberal government of Quebec proposed electoral reform in 2004, which was scheduled to be passed in the fall of 2006 without a referendum. The project was postponed due to divergent views on how to improve it.

2005 BC Single Transferable Vote referendum

Main article:2005 British Columbia electoral reform referendum

In a 2005 referendum 57.7% of British Columbians voted in favour of theSingle Transferable Votesystem. However the government required a vote of 60% to pass the change, and the vote result was ignored.

2005 PEI Provincial MMP referendum

Main article:2005 Prince Edward Island electoral reform referendum

Prince Edward Island held a referendum in 2005 regarding the adoption ofmixed member proportional representation.The motion was defeated.

2007 Ontario MMP referendum

Main article:2007 Ontario electoral reform referendum

A referendum was held in Ontario in 2007 on the question of whether to establish amixed member proportional representation(MMP) system for elections to theLegislative Assembly of Ontario.The vote was strongly in favour of the existingplurality votingor first-past-the-post (FPTP) system.

2008 New Brunswick referendum

Main article:2008 New Brunswick electoral reform referendum

A referendum on the issue of electoral reform in New Brunswick was proposed for 2008 by theProgressive Conservative Party,but the party was defeated in the September 2006 election and the new Liberal government cancelled the vote.

2009 BC Proportional Representation Vote referendum

Main article:2009 British Columbia electoral reform referendum

A referendum for theproportional representation(PR) system was held in British Columbia on May 12, 2009. The adoption of PR was defeated, with 61% of voters preferring First past the post (FPTP) over Proportional Representation.

2015 federal election

Main article:2015 Canadian federal election

In the 2015 federal election, both of the main opposition parties (the federal Liberals and NDP) promised to implement electoral reform no later than the next scheduled election. The NDP has long supportedMixed Member Proportional,a hybrid system proposed by the Law Commission in which voters would cast two ballots (one for a riding representative and one for their preferred party, with member elected from a regional and open list).

By comparison, the Liberals led byJustin Trudeaupromised to review numerous electoral reform options through an"all party parliamentary committee"and to implement the changes in time for the next election. Trudeau promised to make the 2015 election "Canada's lastfirst-past-the-post election".There are differences between the political parties over which alternative system would be better.

67% of Canadians voted in 2015 for parties that promised to replace the voting system. 88% of experts brought forward by the Liberal government recommending a proportional representation voting system, and 96% rejected Trudeau's preferredInstant-runoff votingsystem.On December 1, 2016, the all party Special Committee on Electoral Reform released its final report, recommending that the government design a system of proportional representation with agallagher indexscore of 5 or less, and hold anational referendumwith that system against the current system. The Liberal members of the all party special-committee urged Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to break his promise to change Canada's voting system.

On February 1, 2017, the new Liberal Minister of Democratic Institutions, Karina Gould, announced that Trudeau instructed her that a change of voting system would no longer be in her mandate. She claimed a lack of broad consensus among Canadians in favour of one particular type of electoral voting and that the various political parties could not agree on a new system as reasons for the abandonment of the 2015 election promise.On May 31, 2017, the House of Commons officially rejected the final report of the all party special-committee by a vote of 146-159, with the Conservatives, NDP, BQ, and Greens voting to concur in the report, and the Liberals voting not to, notably, two Liberal MPs,Sean CaseyandNathaniel Erskine-Smithbroke whipand voted to concur in the report.

During the 2015 election campaign, the Liberal Party of Canada made a promise to implement a process to review the costs of campaign platforms in future elections.It was implemented within an omnibus bill passed in 2017, with responsibility assigned to theParliamentary Budget Office.

2016 Prince Edward Island electoral reform referendum

Main article:2016 Prince Edward Island electoral reform referendum

The 2016 Plebiscite on Democratic Renewalwas a non-bindingreferendumheld in theCanadian provinceofPrince Edward Islandbetween October 27 – November 7, 2016. The referendum asked which of fivevoting systemsresidents would prefer to use in electing members to theLegislative Assembly of Prince Edward Island.The referendum was conducted using Instant runoff voting, and no option was the choice of a majority in the first count. After three options were eliminated due to being un-electable, mixed member proportional representation received more than 52% support on the final count. But government ignored the result, holding another referendum in 2019.

2018 British Columbia Electoral Reform Referendum

Main article:2018 British Columbia electoral reform referendum

In accordance to campaign promises, the BC NDP (In a confidence and supply agreement with the Greens) scheduled a plebiscite to be held between October 22 and November 30, 2018, with voting done through mail for those registered to vote.61.3% of voters voted for retaining First Past The Post.

2019 Prince Edward Island Electoral Reform Referendum

Main article:2019 Prince Edward Island electoral reform referendum

the 2019 referendum ended in defeat. On the question "Should Prince Edward Island change its voting system to a mixed member proportional voting system?", 52 percent voted against change while only 48 percent voted in favour. But neither side took a majority of votes in 60 percent of the districts so government did not consider it a clear decision.In 2021/2022, PEI again investigated switching away from the FPTP system.

2022 Quebec proposed electoral reform

CAQFrançois Legaultwas elected on a promise to reform the electoral system within a year of his victory in 2018. On September 25, 2019,Minister of JusticeSonia LeBelpresented Bill 39,An Act to establish a new electoral systemwhich aims to replace theFirst-past-the-postelectoral system in favour of amixed-member proportional representation system.According to the bill, theNational Assemblywould have kept 125 members. Of the 125 members, 80 would have been elected by receiving a plurality of votes in single-member districts matching the 78federal ridingswith the addition of 2 unique districts:Îles-de-la-MadeleineandUngava). The remaining 45 members would have been chosen according to their order in a regional party list. All 17regions of Québecwould have been guaranteed at least one MNA.

Bill 39 was intended to be debated in the legislature before June 2021. The bill's implementation would have been contingent on popular support expressed in a referendum held on the same day as the general election.Was this referendum successful, then the first legislature to be elected undermixed-member proportionalwould have been the 44th, in October 2026 at the latest. On April 28, 2021, Justice Minister LeBel informed a legislative committee hearing that the government would not move forward with a referendum on electoral reform in 2022. LeBel blamed theCOVID-19 pandemicfor altering the government's timeline and could not commit to providing an alternate date for the referendum, effectively ending discussions about electoral reform in Quebec.

See also

• Canadian electoral calendar
• Canadian electoral system
• Canadian House of Commons Special Committee on Electoral Reform
• Democracy Day (Canada)
• Electronic voting in Canada
• Fair Vote Canada
• Federal political financing in Canada
• List of Canadian federal electoral districts
• List of Canadian federal general elections
• List of elections in the Province of Canada(pre-Confederation)
• List of federal by-elections in Canada
• List of political parties in Canada
• Historical federal electoral districts of Canada
• Referendums in Canada
• Timeline of Canadian elections
• Voter turnout in Canada
• Longest Ballot Committee

See also Category: Electoral reform in Canada

External links

• Elections Canada
• CBC Digital Archives—Voting in Canada: How a Privilege Became a Right
• CBC Digital Archives—Campaigning for Canada
• Canadian Governments Compared
• U.S. State Department estimates of Canadian elections
• Canada Elections Atlas - Federal