Canadian federal election, 2000

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The 2000 Canadian federal election was held on November 27, 2000, to elect 301 Members of Parliament to the House of Commons of Canada.

The governing Liberal Party of Canada won a third consecutive majority government easily, as they had been expected to do when the election was called in October, and throughout the campaign. The election was regarded as a great success by Prime Minister Jean Chrétien and the Liberal Party, but a failure for every other party. Without important issues or a very exciting campaign, voter turn-out reached a record low.

Voter turn-out: 64.1% (corrected from initial reporting of 61.2%)

The parties:

• The Liberal Party campaigned on its successful economic record and relatively scandal-free seven years in office. They regained some of the ground in Atlantic Canada that they lost to the NDP and PC parties during the 1997 election due to a change to unemployment rules that hurt seasonal workers. In Quebec, the Liberals also managed to capture nearly half of the province's seats at the expense of the Bloc. Overall, the Liberals increased their number of seats in the House of Commons from 155 seats to 172 seats.

• The Canadian Alliance went into the election with great hopes. New leader Stockwell Day was expected to appeal far more to the crucial Ontario voters, and the Canadian Alliance was hoping for major improvements. The Alliance campaigned on tax cuts, an end to the federal gun registration program, and family values. The campaign was dogged by accusations that the party would allow private health care to operate along-side the public Medicare system and introduce two-tier health care, and for threatening gay rights and abortion rights, all of which the party denied. Day's personal image also suffered, particularly due to gaffes along the campaign trail. The Alliance ended up winning only two Ontario ridings. This led to the eventual downfall of Day the next year. At one point, the Alliance was at 30.5% in the polls, and some thought they could win the election. While they did not do so, they did, however, retain their official opposition status, and increased their numbers in the House of Commons by six seats, from 60 to 66.

• The Bloc Québécois failed to attract much interest in their campaign, and Gilles Duceppe, despite performing well in the debates, was not a very popular leader in Quebec. The Bloc Québécois's seat total fell from 44 to 38.

• The New Democratic Party campaigned intensely on the issue of medicare, but failed to make much headway with voters. Their seat count fell from 21 to 13. The NDP's vote remained high in eastern Canada, especially Nova Scotia, where it traditionally has not done so well.

• The Progressive Conservative Party aimed to regain its former place in Canadian politics under the leadership of former Prime Minister Joe Clark. The PC Party had a very disappointing election, falling from 20 to 12 seats, and being almost exclusively confined to the Maritime provinces and Newfoundland. It won the 12 seats needed for Official party status in the House of Commons, however. Failure to win 12 seats would have marginalized the party in the House of Commons, and likely led to a more rapid decline.

On election night, controversy arose when a CBC producer's gratuitously sexist comment about Stockwell Day's daughter-in-law, Juliana Thiessen Day, was accidentally broadcast on the Canadian networks' pooled election feed from Day's riding.

National results

|- |bgcolor="cadetblue"|     |- |bgcolor="lightskyblue"|     |- |bgcolor="sandybrown"|     |- |bgcolor="#9999FF"|     |- |bgcolor="yellowgreen"|     |- |bgcolor="tan"|     |- |bgcolor="lavender"|     |- |bgcolor="indianred"|     |- |bgcolor="tomato"|     |- |bgcolor="gainsboro"|    

11.0%

2.39%

10.0%

6.13%¹

0.04%

0.38%

0.08%

0.28%

Party		Party leader	# of candidates	Seats				Popular vote
				1997	Dissolution	Elected	% Change	#	%	Change |- |bgcolor="lightcoral"|	Liberal	Jean Chrétien	301	155	161	172	align="right"
5,252,031	40.85%	align="right"
Canadian Alliance	Stockwell Day	298	60	58	66	align="right"
3,276,929	25.49%	align="right"
Bloc Québécois	Gilles Duceppe	75	44	44	38	align="right"
1,377,727	10.72%	align="right"
New Democrats	Alexa McDonough	298	21	19	13	align="right"
1,093,868	8.51%	align="right"
Progressive Conservative	Joe Clark	291	20	15	12	align="right"
1,566,998	12.19%	align="right"
Green	Joan Russow	111	align="right"
align="right"
align="right"
align="right"
104,402	0.81%	align="right"
Marijuana	Marc-Boris St-Maurice	73	*	align="right"
align="right"
*	66,258	0.52%	* |- |bgcolor="powderblue"|	Canadian Action	Paul T. Hellyer	70	align="right"
align="right"
align="right"
align="right"
27,103	0.21%	align="right"
Natural Law	Neil Paterson	69	align="right"
align="right"
align="right"
align="right"
16,577	0.13%	align="right"
Marxist-Leninist	Sandra L. Smith	84	align="right"
align="right"
align="right"
align="right"
12,068	0.09%	align="right"
Communist	Miguel Figueroa	52	*	align="right"
align="right"
*	8,776	0.09%	* |- |bgcolor="gainsboro"|	Independent		29	1	4	align="right"
align="right"
17,445	0.14%	align="right"
No affiliation		57	align="right"
align="right"
align="right"
align="right"
37,591	0.29%	align="right"
	Vacant				align="right"
Total		1,808	301	301	301	-	12,997,185	100%	align="right"
Sources: http://www.elections.ca [History of Federal Ridings since 1867]

Notes:

"% change" refers to change from previous election

• Party did not nominate candidates in the previous election

¹ - percentage change from Reform Party of Canada in previous election.

Results by province

|- |bgcolor="lightcoral"|     > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > |- |bgcolor="yellowgreen"|     |- |bgcolor="tan"|    

Party name			BC	AB	SK	MB	ON	QC	NB	NS	PE	NL	NU	NT	YK	Total
Liberal	Seats:	5	2	2	5	100	36	6	4	4	5	1	1	1	172 |- |bgcolor="lightcoral"|	Popular vote:	27.7	20.9	20.7	32.5	51.5	44.2	41.7	36.5	47.0	44.9	69.0	45.3	32.9	40.8 |- |bgcolor="cadetblue"|	Canadian Alliance	Seats:	27	23	10	4	2	align="right"
	align="right"
align="right"
align="right"
align="right"
	align="right"
align="right"
66 |- |bgcolor="cadetblue"|	Vote:	49.4	58.9	47.7	30.4	23.6	6.2	15.7	9.6	5.0	3.9		17.6	27.0	25.5 |- |bgcolor="lightskyblue"|	Bloc Québécois	Seats:						38								38 |- |bgcolor="lightskyblue"|	Vote:						39.9								10.7 |- |bgcolor="sandybrown"|	New Democrats	Seats:	2	align="right"
2	4	1	align="right"
1	3	align="right"
align="right"
align="right"
align="right"
align="right"
13 |- |bgcolor="sandybrown"|	Vote:	11.3	5.4	26.2	20.9	8.3	1.8	11.7	24.0	9.0	13.1	18.3	26.9	32.1	8.5 |- |bgcolor="#9999FF"|	Progressive Conservative	Seats:	align="right"
1	align="right"
1	align="right"
1	3	4	align="right"
2	align="right"
align="right"
align="right"
12 |- |bgcolor="#9999FF"|	Vote:	7.3	13.5	4.8	14.5	14.4	5.6	30.5	29.1	38.4	34.5	8.1	10.1	7.6	12.2
Total seats:			34	26	14	14	103	75	10	11	4	7	1	1	1	301
Parties that won no seats:
Green	Vote:	2.1	0.5	0.4	0.2	0.9	0.6		0.1	0.3		4.5			0.8
Marijuana	Vote:	0.7	0.2		0.1	0.3	1.0	0.1	0.4						0.5 |- |bgcolor="powderblue"|	Canadian Action	Vote:	0.8	0.1	0.2	0.2	0.2									0.2 |- |bgcolor="lavender"|	Natural Law	Vote:	0.1				0.1	0.3	0.2		0.1	0.1				0.1 |- |bgcolor="indianred"|	Marxist-Leninist	Vote:	0.1				0.1	0.2		0.1						0.1 |- |bgcolor="tomato"|	Communist	Vote:	0.1			0.3	0.1	0.1								0.1 |- |bgcolor="gainsboro"|	Other	Vote:	0.4	0.4		1.0	0.6	0.2		0.2	0.1	4.4			0.4	0.4

Source: [Elections Canada]

Seat by seat results

• Canadian federal election, 2000 (candidates)

Notes

• Number of Parties: 11
• * First appearance: Marijuana Party of Canada
• * Reappearance after hiatus: Communist Party of Canada
• * Final appearance: Natural Law Party of Canada, Progressive Conservative Party of Canada
• * First-and-only appearance: Canadian Reform Conservative Alliance

10 closest ridings

1. Champlain, QC: Marcel Gagnon (BQ) def. Julie Boulet (Lib) by 15 votes
2. Laval Centre, QC: Madelein Dalphond-Gurial (BQ) def. Pierre Lafleur (Lib) by 42 votes
3. Leeds—Grenville, ON: Joe Jordan (Lib) def. Gord Brown (CA) by 55 votes
4. Saskatoon—Rosetown—Biggar, SK: Carol Skelton (CA) def. Dennis Gruending (NDP) by 68 votes
5. Yukon, YT: Larry Bagnell (Lib) def. Louise Hardy (NDP) by 70 votes
6. Tobique—Mactaquac, NB: Andy Savoy (Lib) def. Gilles Bernier (PC) by 150 votes
7. Regina—Lumsden—Lake Centre, SK: Larry Spencer (CA) def. John Solomon (NDP) by 161 votes
8. Regina—Qu'Appelle, SK: Lorne Nystrom (NDP) def. Don Leier (CA) by 164 votes
9. Palliser, SK: Dick Proctor (NDP) def. Don Findlay (CA) by 209 votes
10. Matapédia—Matane, QC: Jean-Yves Roy (BQ) def. Marc Bélanger (Lib) by 276 votes
10. Cardigan, PE: Lawrence MacAulay (Lib) def. Kevin MacAdam (PC) by 276 votes

See also

Articles on parties' candidates in this election: >

Marxist-Leninists Canadian Action Canadian Alliance

Communists Liberals Natural Law

New Democrats Progressive Conservatives Christian Heritage

Preceded by: 1997 federal election

Canadian federal elections

Followed by: 2004 federal election

External links

• [Elections Canada: 2000 election]
• [Predicting the 2000 Canadian Election] by Elmer G. Wiens

 

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