Canadian federal election, 1993

The Canadian federal election of 1993 was held on October 25th, 1993. In this election 295 seats in the Canadian House of Commons were competed for. One of the most eventful elections in Canadian history, more than half of the electorate switched parties from the 1988 election, and led to major change in the nation's politics.

Results

The 1993 election was the greatest defeat for a major party in Canadian history.{{ref|defeat}} The popular vote for the Progressive Conservatives fell from 43% to 16% while their seat count fell from 169 to 2. The Tories received over two million votes, almost as many as Reform and considerably more than the Bloc or NDP, however this support was evenly spread across the country and virtually nowhere was it concentrated enough to win seats. The two seats the Tories won were in St. John, New Brunswick, where popular mayor Elsie Wayne was elected, and in Sherbrooke, Quebec where the popular and charismatic Jean Charest was reelected. Former Progressive Conservative MP Gilles Bernier was also re-elected as an independent candidate in the Beauce riding in Quebec. Kim Campbell lost her own seat in Vancouver. 147 PC candidates failed to win the 15% of the vote that qualified them for funding from Elections Canada, and the party as a whole was left deeply in debt. In December 1993, Kim Campbell resigned as Tory leader, and was replaced by Jean Charest.

Related Topics:
St. John, New Brunswick - Elsie Wayne - Sherbrooke, Quebec - Jean Charest - Gilles Bernier - Beauce - Elections Canada

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The Liberals swept the Maritimes and Ontario, losing only a single seat in each region. They also won some seats in Quebec and in the West, propelling them to a strong majority of the seats in the House of Commons. The Bloc formed the Official Opposition, winning almost all the seats in francophone Quebec. Reform finished only two seats behind them, dominating Alberta and British Columbia and also winning four seats in Saskatchewan, and one in Manitoba and Ontario.

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The NDP won the fewest votes of any major party, and won only nine seats, mainly in their Western heartland. Those members who were elected were in heavily divided ridings, and on average winning NDP MPs only got 35.1% of the vote.{{ref|min}} The NDP had lost support in several directions. The strong antipathy towards the Progressive Conservatives, combined with the memory of the effect of vote splitting in 1988, led many NDP supporters to vote Liberal to ensure the Tories were defeated. Of those who voted NDP in 1988, 27% switched to the Liberals. Almost as many switched to Reform, despite the differences in ideology, Reform largely supplanted the NDP as the voice of Western discontent. 24% of those who voted NDP in 1988 switched to Reform. The NDP had never been a force in Quebec, but they had been supported by those who would not vote for either of the two major parties. These voters largely moved to the Bloc with 14% of NDP voters supporting the Bloc in 1993, and the NDP lost their only seat in the province.{{ref|NDP}}

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Fourteen registered political parties contested the election, a Canadian record. Few of these had any hope of winning a seat. One exception was the National Party. Founded by Mel Hurtig, it campaigned on a strongly nationalist platform focusing on opposition to NAFTA. The party failed to make a significant impression and disbanded after the election.

Related Topics:
National Party - Mel Hurtig

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