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The Canadian federal election of 1993 was held on October 25 of that year. Fourteen parties competed for the 295 seats in the Canadian House Of Commons at that time. It was one of the most eventful elections in Canada 's history, with more than half of the electorate switching parties from the 1988 Election . The election was called by new Progressive Conservative Party leader Prime Minister Kim Campbell , near the end of her party's five-year mandate. Despite an unpopular legacy from the Brian Mulroney years, Conservative support had recovered in the lead-up to the election, and was near that of the rival Liberals when the Writs Were Issued . However, this momentum did not last, and the Conservatives suffered the most lopsided defeat for a governing party at the federal level, losing half their vote from 1988 and all but two of their 151 seats. The Tories would never recover their previous position in Canadian politics, and would eventually dissolve in 2003. The Liberals, led by Jean Chretien , won a strong majority in the House and formed the next government of Canada. The traditional third party, the New Democratic Party , collapsed to nine seats only one election after having its best performance ever. Two new parties emerged in this election. The sovereigntist Bloc Québécois won almost half the votes in Quebec and became the Official Opposition , while the Western-based Reform Party won nearly as many seats. The Bloc Québécois had been founded only three years before, and was competing in its first election. BACKGROUND leader Kim Campbell .]] leader Jean Chretien .]] The Liberal Party had dominated Canadian politics for much of the 20th century. The party had been in office for all but 22 years between 1896 and 1984 . The Conservatives only formed government five times in this period. In 1984, however, Brian Mulroney led the Progressive Conservatives to the most seats and second-largest majority in Canadian history, winning a majority of the seats in every province. Especially important was the Conservative breakthrough in Quebec, a province where they had been almost unelectable for much of the century. Between 1896 and 1984, the Conservatives had only managed to win the majority of seats in that province once, in the Election Landslide Of 1958 . Mulroney's government was based on a "grand coalition" of socially conservative populists from The West , fiscal conservatives from Atlantic Canada and Ontario , and Quebec Nationalists . Mulroney was re-elected in 1988, with a considerably smaller mandate. That election was almost wholly focused on the proposed Free Trade Agreement with the United States. Over the next five years, the popularity of Mulroney and his party collapsed. The Late 1980s Recession badly harmed the Canadian economy, as Unemployment increased dramatically and the federal budget Deficit grew. When the Conservatives had come to office in 1984, the federal deficit was at an unprecedented $34.5 billion. Despite pledges to reduce it, the deficit had grown to over $40 billion by 1993. The federal Debt had also grown to $500 billion.Bliss 312. In an attempt to restore the fiscal balance, Mulroney had brought in the highly unpopular Goods And Services Tax .80% of Canadians disapproved of the GST in a June 1993 poll. Woolstencroft 32. Mulroney had also promised to change the constitutional status quo in favour of increasing provincial autonomy. This was one of the most important reasons for his party's support in Quebec. He attempted to amend the constitution twice, but both reform proposals failed. The Meech Lake Accord failed when the provincial Legislatures of Newfoundland and Manitoba adjourned without bringing the issue to a vote. The Charlottetown Accord was overwhelmingly defeated by the Canadian people in a 1992 referendum. Moreover, the Mulroney government continued to be dogged by a series of major and minor Scandals . These factors combined to make Mulroney the least popular leader since opinion polling began in the 1940s.Bliss 308. The Progressive Conservative Party's popularity reached a low of just over 15% in 1991.Brooks 194. In February 1993, Mulroney announced his resignation as party leader. Minister Of Justice Kim Campbell quickly emerged as the leading candidate to replace Mulroney as party leader and prime minister. Despite a vigorous challenge from Environment Minister Jean Charest , Campbell emerged victorious from the June convention and became Canada's first female prime minister. The other traditional parties were also not faring well. The Liberals had selected veteran politician Jean Chrétien as their leader in 1990, but he proved to be unpopular, especially in his native Quebec. The New Democratic Party (NDP) had won a record 44 seats in 1988, and in the following few years, their support continued to grow. At one point, the NDP led the opinion polls. This helped the NDP win a series of victories at the provincial level. Under the leadership of Mike Harcourt , the New Democrats were elected in British Columbia , and in a surprise victory, Bob Rae led the party to office in Ontario. Within a few years, however, both these provincial governments became deeply unpopular, and support for the federal NDP also began to fall. In a deviation from their traditional position as staunch Federalists , the NDP chose to align itself with the Liberals and Conservatives on the "yes" side of the 1992 referendum. The greatest difference from 1988 was the rise of two new parties. After the failure of the Meech Lake Accord, Lucien Bouchard led a group of Conservative and Liberal MPs to form the Bloc Québécois. This party quickly gained the support of Quebec Sovereigntists and access to the networks of the provincial Parti Québécois . Gilles Duceppe won a 1990 by-election, and throughout the period leading up to the election, the Bloc polled as the most popular party in Quebec. The Reform Party Of Canada was a Western -based Populist party led by Preston Manning , the son of former Alberta Premier Ernest Manning . It originally campaigned under the slogan "the West wants in". Reform had nominated candidates in the 1988 election, but had failed to win any seats, and had had only a limited impact. Many in the West had been angered by Mulroney's focus on Quebec and were still antipathetic to the Liberals. Reform also drew support from former supporters of the NDP, the traditional voice of Western protest. Despite the stark ideological differences, Reform's unabashed populism struck a responsive chord in many NDP voters. In 1989, Deborah Grey won a by-election in an Edmonton -area riding to become the first Reform MP in parliament. As Conservative support collapsed over the next four years, Reform support increased and almost surpassed that of the Tories. It was obvious that Mulroney's "grand coalition" was about to implode. CAMPAIGN Pre-campaign An election had to be called in the fall of 1993, since Parliament's term would expire some time in September. Campbell did extensive campaigning during the summer, touring the nation and attending barbecues and other events. By the end of the summer, her personal popularity had increased greatly, far surpassing that of Chrétien.Woolstencroft 15. Support for the Progressive Conservative Party had also increased, and they were only a few points behind the Liberals, while Reform had been reduced to single digits. Campbell asked Governor General Ray Hnatyshyn to Dissolve Parliament on September 8, only a few weeks before Parliament was due to expire. In accordance with Canadian constitutional practice, Hnatshyn granted the request, beginning the seven-week campaign. Mulroney had taken two actions that would come back to haunt the Conservative campaign. Just before he left office, he staged a very lavish international farewell tour at taxpayer expense, without conducting official business. He also took longer than usual to hand over power to Campbell once he announced his resignation. The latter in particular seriously hampered the Tory campaign later on. By the time Campbell finally took power, there were only two-and-a-half months left in the Tories' five-year mandate. Campbell had almost no time to make up ground on the Liberals once her personal popularity wore off. At the ceremony at Rideau Hall , Campbell made the first of a series of remarks that would dog the Conservative campaign. When she was running for the party leadership, Campbell's frank honesty was seen as an important asset and a sharp contrast from Mulroney's highly polished style. However, during the campaign, Campbell repeatedly made statements that caused problems for the party. At the Rideau Hall event, she told reporters that it was unlikely that the deficit or unemployment would be much reduced before the "end of the century". Later in the campaign, she would famously state that 47 days were not enough to discuss the overhaul in social policy that she thought Canada needed. Unfortunately for Campbell, a reporter shortened the quote to "an election is no time to discuss serious issues." Progressive Conservatives The PC campaign was headed by chair John Tory and chief strategist Allan Gregg , both experienced Mulroney loyalists. It was the best-funded campaign, but it quickly ran into organizational problems. The party failed to get literature distributed to the local campaigns, forcing all of the PC candidates to print their own material, and preventing the party from putting forth a unified message.Woolstencroft 17. The Conservative campaign had been focused on three issues: job creation, deficit reduction, and improving quality of life. However, the party had little credibility on the first two, as over their time in office both unemployment and the deficit had increased dramatically. The party was also reluctant to propose new social programs, as in Quebec they had to appeal to nationalists who opposed federal government intervention, and in the West had to appeal to Reform supporters who opposed government intervention in general. Liberals The Liberals had long since prepared for the campaign. They had amassed a substantial campaign warchest, almost as large as that of the Tories. On September 19, the Liberals made an unprecedented move by releasing their entire platform, quickly named the Red Book . This document gave a detailed account of exactly what the Liberals would do if they were in office. Several years of effort had gone into the creation of the document, which was unprecedented for a Canadian party.Clarkson 36. Several days later, the Conservatives released the hastily assembled ''A Taxpayer's Agenda'', but the Liberals had captured the reputation of being the party with ideas. The Liberals were also consistently well organized and on message, in contrast to the Conservative campaign, which the ''Globe and Mail'' on September 25 stated was "shaping up to be the most incompetent campaign in modern political history.""Fill in the Blanks." '' The Globe And Mail .'' September 25, 1993 pg. D6. Reform The Reform Party had little money and few resources, but had developed an extensive grassroots network in much of the West and Ontario. Reform's lack of funds led them to fly economy class, stay in cheap hotels, and rely on prepackaged lunches, but this helped endear them to money conscious fiscal conservatives.Ellis and Archer 67. The campaign was managed by seasoned professional Rick Anderson . Some Reformers had been annoyed that the moderate former Liberal and Ottawa insider had been made campaign manager, but he quickly proved highly able.Ellis and Archer 69. Leaders Debates Over the course of the campaign, Conservative support steadily bled away to the other parties. The Leaders Debate s were held October 3rd and 4th, and were generally regarded as inconclusive, with no party gaining a boost from them. The most memorable moment involved Lucien Bouchard continuously questioning Campbell about the real deficit in the 1993 budget, and Campbell dodging the question. The French debates were held on the first night. Manning, who did not speak French, read prepared opening and closing remarks, but did not participate in the debate itself. Chrétien ad By October, the Conservatives were considerably behind the Liberals in the polls. The consensus was that the Liberals were on their way to at least a Minority Government , and would probably win a majority without dramatic measures. Even at this point, Campbell was still far more personally popular than Chrétien. Polling found that a considerable number of potential Liberal voters held negative opinions about Chrétien. Believing they had no other way to keep the Liberals from winning a majority, Gregg and Tory decided to launch a Series Of Commercials Attacking Chrétien . The second ad, which premiered on October 14, showed unflattering close-ups of Chrétien with lines like "I'd be embarrassed if he were Prime Minister." Many felt that the commercials were targeting Chrétien's facial paralysis, and they generated an immediate and severe backlash from all sides of the spectrum, including some Tory candidates. Campbell ordered the ads pulled within 24 hours over Tory and Gregg's objections. However, she didn't apologize and lost a chance to contain the backlash. The ad was largely regarded as the final nail in the Conservatives' coffin. Their support plummeted into the teens, all but assuring that the Liberals would win a majority government short of a complete meltdown. Chrétien turned the situation to his advantage, comparing his opponents to the children who teased him when he was a boy. "When I was a kid people were laughing at me," he said at an appearance in Nova Scotia . "But I accepted that because God gave me other qualities and I'm grateful." Chrétien's approval ratings shot up, nullifying the only advantage the Conservatives still had over him. Reform also found itself embroiled in controversy when Toronto-area candidate John Beck made a series of anti-immigrant remarks in an interview with Excalibur, the York University student paper. York students confronted Manning with the remarks. Within an hour, Beck was forced to withdraw his candidacy."Reform Candidate Quits." '' The Globe And Mail .'' October 14, 1993 pg. A6. ISSUES The most important issue of the 1993 election was the economy."without a doubt" the most important issue. Frizzell, Pammett, & Westell 2. The nation was mired in the Late 1980s Recession , and Unemployment was especially high. The federal deficit was also extremely high, and both the Reform and Progressive Conservatives focused on cutting it as the path to economic health. Reform proposed deep cuts to federal programs in order to do this, while the Progressive Conservatives were less specific. The Liberals also promised cuts, focusing on the unpopular and expensive plan to buy new military helicopters to replace the aging Sea Kings . They also promised new programs such as a limited Public Work s programme and a national Child Care program. The Reform Party called for a "Zero in Three" plan that would reduce the deficit to zero in three years. The Liberals had a far more modest plan to reduce the deficit to 3% of GDP by the end of their first term. All opposition parties pledged to repeal the Goods And Services Tax . Once elected, however, the Liberals reneged on this pledge to much outcry, stating the Conservatives had understated the size of the deficit. Instead the tax was replaced with the Harmonized Sales Tax in some provinces. The 1988 election had been almost wholly focused on the issue of the Free Trade Agreement with the United States, and similarly, the 1993 election was preceded by the agreement on the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). The Liberals opposed NAFTA and promised to try and renegotiate the FTA, but this was not a central campaign theme. The NDP did focus on opposition to NAFTA, but the Canadian people mostly felt that the free trade debate was over. When in office, the Liberals signed on to NAFTA with little opposition. Similarly, while constitutional issues had dominated the national debate for several years, two failed reform proposals led most to support giving the issue a rest. Chrétien promised not to reopen the constitution, and that under the Liberals any change would be incremental in nature. In Quebec the election was seen as a prelude to the next Quebec election and the Referendum On Secession that was sure to follow. The Reform Party advanced proposals in a number of areas that challenged the status quo. It proposed extensive reform to Canada's parliamentary system, including more Free Vote s, Recall Election s, and change to the Senate . The party also advocated a reduction in Immigration levels and a retreat from Official Bilingualism .Brooks 194. FINANCES The election was held under the Election Expenses Act Of 1974 . This forced parties to disclose most donations, but put few limits on who could donate and how much could be given. Individual donations up to $1,150 were given a Tax Credit , encouraging such pledges. The Conservatives had the largest budget, spending $10.4 million on their national campaign; the Liberals spent $9.9 million, while the NDP spent $7.4 million. The Bloc and Reform spent far less, both spending less than $2 million on their national campaigns.Ron Eade "Election Spending." '' The Ottawa Citizen .'' April 29, 1994. pg. A.1 Actual election spending is far larger than these numbers indicate: each candidate raised substantial amounts of money independently of the national campaign. In this era there were also large expenses, such as polling and fundraising costs, that did not need to be disclosed. The different parties drew their funding from different sources. In the year of the election, two traditional parties, the Liberals and Conservatives, each received about 60% of their funding from corporations and the rest from individuals. For the NDP half of the funding came from individuals, and a third came from Trade Union s. The Reform Party relied almost wholly on individual donations, with only some 12% coming from corporations. The Bloc relied almost solely on individual donations, as its party charter barred donations from corporations. The NDP had by far the most donors, with over 65,000, but the average donation was only $80. By contrast the 45,000 Conservative donors gave more than $200 on average.Brooks 207. The Liberals quickly recouped their election expenses once they were in government. The Liberals held a substantial advantage in funding for the next two elections as they enjoyed the majority of corporate campaign contributions after the collapse of the Progressive Conservatives. Until 2003 when Jean Chrétien passed Bill C-24 , which banned business donations and provided a subsidy to each party based on their popular vote, the Liberals did not see the need to develop a system of extensive grassroots fundraising like the other parties. The Bloc and Reform had spent little during the campaign, and also received more support once their prominent position in parliament was made clear. One of the Reform Party's successful developments was its extensive grassroots fundraising network, which is still used by its latest incarnation (in a merger with the Progressive Conservatives), the Conservative Party Of Canada . The NDP and Conservatives had more problems after the vote. The NDP found itself deeply in debt, but recouped some of it by selling their Ottawa headquarters to the Ukrainian Embassy . The Conservatives, despite cutting back on spending late in the campaign, were some $7.5 million in debt by the end of the election, and it took years to clear this burden. The heavy debt load would hamper the party's ability to campaign in subsequent elections, and this would lead to its eventual merger with Reform's successor, the Canadian Alliance . MINOR PARTIES Fourteen registered political parties contested the election, a Canadian record. Jackson and Jackson argue that the proliferation of minor parties was an outgrowth of the single-issue political movements that had come to prominence in Canada in the 1980s.Robert J. Jackson and Doreen Jackson. ''Politics in Canada'' 1998 ed. 400. For instance, the environmentalist, anti-abortion, and anti-free trade movements all had closely associated parties. Each candidate required a $1000 deposit, an increase from $200 in the last election. If the candidate did not win 15% of the vote, which none of the minor parties did, these deposits would be forfeit. Parties that nominated 50 candidates qualified as official parties and, most importantly, received government subsidies for advertising.Richard Mackie "Voters Find Uncommon Views on the Fringe." ''The Globe and Mail.'' Tuesday, October 5, 1993. pg. A6. The smaller parties were not invited to the main leaders debate, something Mel Hurtig of the National Party complained vehemently about. There was a debate between the leaders of seven of the minor parties on October 5, which was broadcast on CBC Newsworld . The National Party and the Natural Law Party did not attend. Few of these parties had any hope of winning a seat. One exception was the National Party. Founded by Mel Hurtig, a prominent , the Abolitionist Party , and the Party For The Commonwealth Of Canada , which was formed by supporters of U.S. politican Lyndon LaRouche . This election was also the last time that the Social Credit Party attempted to run candidates in an election. The party had been in headlong decline since losing its last Member of Parliament in 1980, and was now led by Fundamentalist Christian preacher Ken Campbell . However, the party failed to nominate at least 50 candidates and was deregistered by Elections Canada. RESULTS . The blue is Progressive Conservative, the red Liberal, and the orange NDP]] Progressive Conservatives The election was an unmitigated disaster for Canada's oldest party. Their popular vote nearly disappeared, falling from 43% to 16%. Campbell was defeated in her Vancouver riding by rookie Liberal Hedy Fry —only the third time in Canadian history that a sitting prime minister lost an election and was unseated at the same time (it previously happened to Arthur Meighen twice, in 1921 and 1926 ). All the members of the Cabinet lost their seats except for Charest, who won re-election in Sherbrooke, Quebec ; it is also noteworthy that many prominent ministers such as Michael Wilson , Don Mazankowski , Joe Clark , and John Crosbie did not seek re-election. The only other Conservative to win was Elsie Wayne , the popular mayor of Saint John, New Brunswick . Gilles Bernier , who had served two terms as a Conservative from Beauce, Quebec ; was also reelected, but was forced to run as an independent after Campbell barred him from running under the PC banner due to fraud charges. The Conservatives did receive over 2 million votes, almost as many as Reform and far ahead of the Bloc or NDP. However, this support was spread out across the country, and was not concentrated in enough areas to translate into seats. For example, they were shut out of Ontario for the first time in party history. Mulroney's former riding, . The party as a whole was left deeply in debt. Without official party status, the PCs lost access to funding and had a considerably reduced role in the Commons. Liberals The Liberals swept Newfoundland, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island; only Wayne's win in New Brunswick denied them a clean sweep of Atlantic Canada. They won all but one seat in Ontario; only a 123-vote loss to Reform in Simcoe Centre denied the Liberals the first clean sweep of Canada's biggest province by a single party. Ontario replaced Quebec (see below) as the main bastion of Liberal support; even after the Liberals lost power in 2006 , they still won the most seats in Ontario. In the West, the Liberals dominated Manitoba, winning all but two seats. They also won seats in Alberta for the first time in an election since 1968 ( Anne McLellan in Edmonton Northwest , John Loney in Edmonton North and Judy Bethel in Edmonton East ). The Liberals also held onto the seat in Alberta that they had when the writ was dropped, which they picked up in 1990 when David Kilgour crossed the floor from the Conservatives. However, the Liberals were unable to regain their traditional dominant position in Quebec even though they were led by a Quebecer. This was in part due to the staunchily federalist Chrétien's opposition to the Meech Lake Accord , which was revealed when Leadership Rival Paul Martin pressed him on the issue back in 1990. While the Liberals dominated Montreal, they lost to the Bloc in most of the rest of the province. Although Chrétien was elected in his old riding of Saint-Maurice , a strongly nationalist riding (he had previously represented this riding from 1963 to 1986; he had represented Beauséjour, New Brunswick since returning to the Commons in 1990), his reputation in his home province never recovered. They also did not do as well as hoped in British Columbia, although they dominated Vancouver. Even with these disappointments, the Liberals won 177 seats -- the third-best performance in party history -- and a strong majority in the Commons. Bloc Québécois The Bloc won 54 seats, winning half the vote in Quebec and nearly sweeping the Francophone ridings there. This was the best showing by a third party since the 1921 Election when the Progressive Party won 60 seats. Despite only running candidates in Quebec, their strong showing in that province and the fragmentation of the national vote made them the second-biggest party in the Commons. This allowed Bouchard to become Leader Of The Opposition . This was especially impressive since the Bloc had been formed only three years before. Reform Reform had a major breakthrough, inheriting nearly all of the Progressive Conservatives' support in the West. The party won all but four seats in Alberta and dominated British Columbia as well. Reform also won four seats in Saskatchewan and one seat in Manitoba. It probably would have won many more seats in Saskatchewan and Manitoba had it not been for a strong tide of Liberal support. However, Reform's agenda was seen as too extreme for the liking of most of the country east of Manitoba. Reform had a large amount of support in rural central Ontario--the base of past provincial Tory governments-- but this only translated into one seat there, its only seat in the whole province. For the most part, Vote Splitting with the Tories allowed the Liberals to sneak up the middle and win in this largely socially conservative area. Even their one victory in Ontario, in Simcoe Centre came by a wafer-thin 123-vote margin. They were also shut out of Atlantic Canada and did not run candicates in Quebec. Despite winning only one seat east of Manitoba, Reform's heavy concentration of Western support netted it 52 seats. However, the Bloc's concentration of support in Quebec was slightly larger, leaving Reform three seats short of making Manning Leader of the Opposition. Nonetheless, the election was a tremendous success for a party that only won 2.1 percent of the national vote in the previous election. In one stroke, Reform replaced the PCs as the major right-wing party in Canada and replaced the NDP as the voice of Western discontent. New Democrats 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.Whitehorn 52. The NDP had 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 peaking 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 recession and scandals. The Ontario NDP would be heavily defeated in 1995, while the British Columbia NDP managed to survive until 2001. The NDP was also indirectly hampered by the nationwide collapse of the Conservative vote. It was obvious by the beginning of October that Chrétien would be the next prime minister. However, the memory of vote splitting in 1988 (a major factor in the Conservative win that year) and the widespread antipathy toward the Tory government 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 the 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. 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. The NDP thus lost their only seat in the province.Support numbers come from Pammett. LEGACY headline after the election.]] 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. Neither of these parties came close to winning power, leading to what is sometimes called a two-and-a-half-party system. The 1993 election fundamentally changed this arrangement. Due to the way seats in the House of Commons are distributed, it is impossible to win a majority government, and very difficult to win a minority government, without substantial support in Ontario and/or Quebec. 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 Conadian politics for the next decade, and would not be seriously challenged until 2004 , when they were reduced to a minority government. 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. Over the next elections, the Progressive Conservatives under Charest and then Joe Clark recovered somewhat, but never regained their former standing. The Reform Party became the Official Opposition in the 1997 Election , but it could not win seats east of Manitoba and thus had no chance of governing. In 2000, the party dissolved into the Canadian Alliance , which only made limited gains. 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 formed its first government, a Minority , in early 2006 with Harper as prime minister, just over two years after the merger. 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. The Bloc Quebecois 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 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 . RESULTS BY PROVINCE NOTES SEE ALSO Articles on parties' candidates in this election: REFERENCES
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