The NDP won the fewest votes of any major party, and only nine seats — three short of the requirement for official party status. This was a substantial drop from its record performance in 1988. Those members who were elected were in heavily divided ridings mostly in the party's traditional Western heartland. On average, winning NDP MPs only got 35.1% of the vote.^[22] Ultimately, the NDP only retained 34.99% of the votes it received in the 1988 election, even less than the 38.58% of the vote that the Progressive Conservatives retained.

The NDP lost support in several directions. One was because of unpopular NDP provincial governments led by Bob Rae in Ontario and Michael Harcourt in British Columbia, which reflected badly on their federal counterparts. In 1988, the peak of federal NDP support was a major asset to the success of their provincial affiliates; however they ended up became a huge liability because of recessions and scandals. Not coincidentally, the federal NDP was routed in both these provinces; they lost all 10 of their Ontario MPs and all but two of their British Columbia MPs—more than half of the party's caucus in the Commons. Defeated MP Steven Langdon had called upon Rae to resign, having spent the 1993 election campaign disassociating himself from the Ontario NDP's measures. The Ontario NDP would be heavily defeated in 1995, while the British Columbia NDP rebounded long enough to survive until it was almost wiped out in 2001.

The NDP was also indirectly hampered by the nationwide collapse of the Conservative vote. Even though it was obvious by November that Chrétien would be the next prime minister, the memory of vote splitting in 1988 (a major factor in the Conservative win that year) still resonated with many NDP supporters. This, along with the widespread antipathy toward Mulroney caused many NDP supporters to vote Liberal to ensure the Conservatives would be defeated. Of those who voted NDP in 1988, 27% switched to the Liberals.

Almost as many NDP voters switched to Reform. Despite sharp differences in ideology, Reform's populism struck a chord with many NDP voters. Twenty-four percent of those who voted NDP in 1988 switched to Reform. While Dave Barrett, argued that the party should be concerned with Western alienation rather than focusing its attention on Quebec, his platform was not adopted since he was not elected leader at the 1989 convention. The NDP also supported the Charlottetown Accord, which Barrett referred to as a mistake since it was unpopular in Western Canada. Many NDP supporters went over to Reform, which raised the issue of Western alienation and was strongly opposed the Accord.

The NDP had never been a force in Quebec, but they had been supported by those who would not vote for either the Liberals or Progressive Conservatives. Audrey McLaughlin, who defeated Barrett for the leadership, made efforts to make inroads in Quebec but this proved fruitless and likely contributed to Western discontent. These voters largely moved to the Bloc, with 14% of NDP voters supporting the Bloc in 1993. The NDP lost their only seat in the province, which it had gained in a 1990 by-election, as Phil Edmonston opted not to see re-election because he disagreed with the party's support for the Charlottetown Accord.^[23]

[

Legacy

The 1993 election led to a major upheaval in Canadian politics. Since Confederation in 1867, Canada had been a two-party system, with the Liberals and Conservatives alternating in government. Since the 1920s there had generally also been one or more third parties in the House of Commons. None of these parties came close to winning power. Only the CCF/NDP had any long-term success. In fact, it gained enough strength to wield the balance of power in the Liberal minority governments of the 1960s and 1970s.

The 1993 election fundamentally changed this arrangement. Ontario and Quebec are guaranteed a majority of seats in the Commons under both Constitution Acts. Due to this factor and their large majority of the Canadian population, it is nearly impossible to form even a minority government without strong support in one or both provinces. The Liberals were the only party with a strong base in both provinces, thus making them the only party that could possibly form a government. The Liberals dominated Canadian politics for the next decade, retaining almost all of its Ontario ridings while also making gains in Quebec. They would not be seriously challenged until 2004, with the sponsorship scandal and party infighting reducing them to a minority government. However, their strong support in Ontario was credited with allowing them to remain the largest party in the House of Commons. Though the party was defeated in 2006, it still held the majority of Ontario's ridings.

The opposition was divided between four parties, and for the first time ever, the party that was the Official Opposition did not have a majority of the opposition seats. A further irony can be seen in that "Her Majesty's Loyal Opposition" consisted of a separatist party. Some political scientists felt that the new five-party parliament was an example of a multi-party system. Others, noting that no party other than the Liberals had a realistic chance of forming government, felt that Canada had moved to a dominant-party system.

In December 1993, Kim Campbell resigned as Conservative leader and was replaced by Charest, the only surviving member of the previous Cabinet. Under Charest, they rebounded to 20 seats in 1997. However, they would never even approach their previous standing in Canadian politics. Despite the brief comeback of Joe Clark as leader in 1998, they were largely reduced to a rump in the Atlantic provinces and Quebec; winning only two seats outside this region in the next two elections. Ironically, after the Progressive Conservatives routed the Liberals in 1984, there was considerable talk that the Liberals would follow their UK counterparts into oblivion.

The Reform Party became the Official Opposition in the 1997 election. Although Reform was now the major voice of the right in Canada, it was still seen as too extreme for the liking of most Ontarians and thus had little chance of dislodging the Liberals. It was also hampered in Quebec because Manning could not speak French. In 2000, the party dissolved into the Canadian Alliance, but even then won only two seats outside its Western heartland (both in Ontario).

In 2003, the Canadian Alliance under Stephen Harper and the Progressive Conservatives under Peter MacKay agreed to merge, creating the Conservative Party of Canada. The new party, led by Harper, was able to reduce the Liberals to a minority government in 2004 by capitalizing on the sponsorship scandal, though it was not able to reach the combined totals of the Tories and Alliance in 2000. However, it formed its first government, a minority, in early 2006 with Harper as prime minister, just over two years after the merger. Key to its victory was being able to make inroads into the eastern part of Canada as well as distancing itself from its Reform legacy with a more moderate agenda, winning a significant number of seats in Ontario and making a breakthrough in Quebec.

The NDP also recovered somewhat, regaining official party status in 1997. However, it would take another decade for the party to reach the same level of support it enjoyed in the 1980s. As in 1993, vote splitting with the Liberals had hurt the NDP in the 2000 and 2004 elections. While they propped up the Liberal minority government after the 2004 election, the NDP moved to distance itself from the Liberals, including uniting with the other opposition parties to bring down the Liberals and force the 2006 election, where the NDP were able to make substantial gains in the House of Commons.

The Bloc Québécois failed to propel the sovereigntist side to victory in the 1995 Quebec referendum and also lost Official Opposition status in the 1997 election and dropped more seats in 2000. However, it remained a significant presence in the House of Commons, bolstered in recent years by the sponsorship scandal. The party nearly tied its 1993 vote total in 2004, but lost support to a resurgent Conservative Party in 2006.

[

National results

This election, like all previous Canadian elections, was conducted under a single-member plurality (or first past the post) system in which the country was carved into 295 electoral districts, or ridings, with each one electing one representative to the House of Commons. Those eligible to vote cast their ballot for a candidate in their electoral district and the candidate with the most votes in that district became that riding's Member of Parliament. The party that elects the most candidates forms the government by appointing its party leader as Prime Minister and its Members of Parliament to the Cabinet of Canada.

For a complete list of MPs elected in the 1993 election, see 35th Canadian parliament.

177	54	52	9	2	1
L	B	R	N	P	O

[

Results by province

[

Ten closest ridings

1. Edmonton Northwest, AB: Anne McLellan (LIB) def Richard Kayler (REF) by 12 votes
2. Bourassa, QC: Osvaldo Nunez (BQ) def Denis Coderre (LIB) by 67 votes
3. Edmonton North, AB: John Loney (LIB) def Ron Mix (REF) by 83 votes
4. Simcoe Centre, ON: Ed Harper (REF) def Janice Laking (LIB) by 123 votes
5. Edmonton East, AB: Judy Bethel (LIB) def Linda Robertson (REF) by 203 votes
6. Winnipeg Transcona, MB: Bill Blaikie (NDP) def Art Miki (LIB) by 219 votes
7. Moose Jaw—Lake Centre, SK: Allan Kerpan (REF) def Rod Laporte (NDP) by 310 votes
8. Edmonton—Strathcona, AB: Hugh Hanrahan (REF) def Chris Peirce (LIB) by 418 votes
9. La Prairie, QC: Richard Bélisle (BQ) def Jacques Saada (LIB) by 476 votes
10. Souris—Moose Mountain, SK: Bernie Collins (LIB) def Doug Heimlick (REF) by 499 votes
10. Verdun—Saint-Paul, QC: Raymond Lavigne (LIB) def Kim Beaudoin (BQ) by 499 votes

[

Notes

[

See also

Articles on parties' candidates in this election:

Independents Abolitionists Canada Party Commonwealth

Greens Libertarians National Party Natural Law

New Democrats Progressive Conservatives Reform Party

[

References

• The Canadian General Election of 1993. ed. Alan Frizzell, Jon H. Pammett, and Anthony Westell. Ottawa: Carleton University Press, 1994.
  • Clarkson, Stephen "Yesterday's Man and His Blue Grists: Backward into the Future."
  • Ellis, Faron and Keith Archer. "Reform: Electoral Breakthrough."
  • Pammett, Jon H. "Tracking the Votes."
  • Whitehorn, Alan. "The NDP's Quest for Survival."
  • Woolstencroft, Peter. "'Doing Politics Differently': The Conservative Party and the Campaign of 1993."
• Chief Electoral Officer of Canada. Canada's Electoral System Ottawa: Elections Canada, 2001. ISBN 0-662-65352-1
• Forsythe, R., M. Frank, V. Krishnamurthy and T.W. Ross. Markets as Predictors of Election Outcomes: Campaign Events and Judgement Bias in the 1993 UBC Election Stock Market in Canadian Public Policy vol. XXIV, no. 3, 1998.
• Bliss, Michael. Right Honourable Men: The Descent of Canadian Politics from Macdonald to Mulroney. New York: HarperCollins, 1996.
• Brooks, Stephen. Canadian Democracy: An Introduction. Second Edition. Toronto: Oxford University Press Canada, 1996.

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