Results of the 1993 Canadian federal election

The 1993 Canadian federal election was held on October 25, 1993, to elect members to the House of Commons of Canada of the 35th Parliament of Canada. The incumbent Progressive Conservative Party of Prime Minister Kim Campbell, in office since June 1993,^[1] was defeated by the Liberal Party of Canada under the leadership of Jean Chrétien. The Progressive Conservatives were reduced from 156 to just 2 seats.

The emergence of the Bloc Québécois and the Reform Party took critical support from the PCs. The New Democratic Party had their worst ever results and this election remains and the only election where the party polled fewer than one million votes. The Liberals won a majority of seats, and was able to from a majority government. The strength of third parties in this election was unprecedented for Canadian politics.^[2]

In total, 194 out of 295 ridings changed hands.

Results by region

Atlantic Canada

The Liberals won 30 of the 31 seats in Atlantic Canada. The other seat was St. John in New Brunswick, which Elsie Wayne held for the PCs against the national swing.^[3]

Quebec

Quebec was dominated by the Bloc Québécois, which won enough seats to form the Official Opposition.^[4] Liberals won 19 seats in and around the Island of Montreal, but their gains from the Progressive Conservatives were minimal, with 8 exceptions; Bonaventure—Îles-de-la-Madeleine, Laval West, Outremont, Pierrefonds—Dollard, Pontiac—Gatineau—Labelle, Saint-Maurice, Vaudreuil and Verdun—Saint-Paul. Progressive Conservative Minister of Industry Jean Charest held his seat of Sherbrooke, being the only MP from his party to survive the BQ surge. Former PC MP Gilles Bernier held Beauce as an Independent on a narrow majority against the insurgent BQ. He had been barred by Kim Campbell from running under the PC banner due to fraud charges, of which he was later acquitted.

Ontario

In Ontario, the Liberals won 98 of 99 seats. The exception being Simcoe Centre, which was won by Ed Harper from the Reform Party. The results were attributed to the vote splitting between the PCs and Reform which allowed the Liberals to be victorious in many of the marginal ridings in rural Southern Ontario. In many cases the Progressive Conservatives were pushed into third place in their own seats. The NDP performed particularly poorly in Ontario due to the unpopularity of Premier Bob Rae losing all of their seats to the Liberals.^[5]

Western Canada

In Western Canada, the Progressive Conservatives were wiped out.^[6] The New Democratic Party was replaced by the Reform Party as the party representing Western alienation. The Liberals won all but two seats in Manitoba. . In the far west the Reform Party dominated, winning 22 of 26 seats in Alberta and 24 of 32 in British Columbia.

The Liberals won 5 seats in British Columbia and 4 in Alberta, pale in comparison to their domination of Eastern Canada. In Saskatchewan, the NDP bucked the national trend and held onto most of their seats there. The only seats the NDP won in British Columbia were Burnaby—Kingsway and Kamloops amid the unpopularity of the provincial NDP government.

Northern Canada

In the Northwest Territories, Liberal MP Ethel Blondin-Andrew was re-elected with an increased majority. In Yukon, New Democratic Party leader Audrey McLaughlin held her seat with a decreased majority. Former Mayor of Whitehorse Don Branigan took the Liberals into second place.

Seats changing hands

Progressive Conservative to Liberal (77) Annapolis Valley—Hants Bonaventure—Îles-de-la-Madeleine Bramalea—Gore—Malton Brampton Brandon—Souris Burlington Cambridge Carleton—Charlotte Central Nova Cumberland—Colchester Dauphin—Swan River Don Valley East Don Valley North Don Valley West Durham Edmonton North Elgin—Norfolk Erie Etobicoke Centre Etobicoke—Lakeshore Fredericton—York—Sunbury Fundy—Royal Guelph—Wellington Halifax West Halton—Peel Hamilton—Wentworth Hastings—Frontenac—Lennox and Addington Huron—Bruce Kitchener Lachine—Lac-Saint-Louis Lanark—Carleton Laval West Lincoln London West London—Middlesex Madawaska—Victoria Markham—Whitchurch—Stouffville Mississauga South Mississauga West Niagara Falls Oakville—Milton Ontario Outremont Oxford Parry Sound—Muskoka Perth—Wellington—Waterloo Peterborough Pierrefonds—Dollard Pontiac—Gatineau—Labelle Portage—Interlake Provencher Regina—Wascana Richmond Rosedale Saint-Maurice Sarnia—Lambton Scarborough Centre Scarborough East Selkirk—Red River Simcoe North Souris—Moose Mountain South Shore St. Catharines St. John's East St. John's West St. Paul's Timiskaming—French River Vancouver Centre Vancouver South Vaudreuil Verdun—Saint-Paul Victoria—Haliburton Waterloo Wellington—Grey—Dufferin—Simcoe Winnipeg South York—Simcoe

Progressive Conservative to Bloc Quebecois (46) Abitibi Ahuntsic Anjou—Rivière-des-Prairies Argenteuil—Papineau Beauharnois—Salaberry Beauport—Montmorency—Orléans Bellechasse Berthier—Montcalm Blainville—Deux-Montagnes Bourassa Brome—Missisquoi Champlain Charlesbourg Charlevoix Chateauguay Chicoutimi Drummond Frontenac Gaspé Hochelaga—Maisonneuve Joliette Jonquière Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup La Prairie Laurentides Laval Centre Laval East Lévis Lotbinière Louis-Hébert Manicouagan Matapédia—Matane Mégantic—Compton—Stanstead Mercier Portneuf Québec Quebec East Richmond—Wolfe Rimouski—Témiscouata Roberval Saint-Hyacinthe—Bagot Saint-Jean Témiscamingue Terrebonne Trois-Rivières Verchères—Les Patriotes

Progressive Conservative to Reform (35) Athabasca Calgary Centre Calgary North Calgary Northeast Calgary Southeast Calgary Southwest Calgary West Capilano—Howe Sound Cariboo—Chilcotin Crowfoot Delta Edmonton Northwest Edmonton Southwest Edmonton—Strathcona Elk Island Fraser Valley East Fraser Valley West Kindersley—Lloydminster Lethbridge Lisgar—Marquette Macleod Medicine Hat North Vancouver Okanagan Centre Peace River Prince George—Peace River Red Deer Simcoe Centre St. Albert Surrey—White Rock—South Langley Swift Current—Maple Creek—Assiniboia Vegreville Wetaskiwin Wild Rose Yellowhead

New Democrat to Liberal (17) Beaches—Woodbine Brant Churchill Edmonton East Essex—Windsor Nickel Belt Oshawa Prince Albert—Churchill River Saskatoon—Dundurn Saskatoon—Humboldt Sault Ste. Marie Thunder Bay—Atikokan Timmins—Chapleau Trinity—Spadina Vancouver East Victoria Windsor—St. Clair New Democrat to Reform (17) Comox—Alberni Esquimalt—Juan de Fuca Kootenay East Kootenay West—Revelstoke Mission—Coquitlam Moose Jaw—Lake Centre Nanaimo—Cowichan New Westminster—Burnaby North Island—Powell River Okanagan—Shuswap Port Moody—Coquitlam Prince George—Bulkley Valley Saanich—Gulf Islands Skeena Surrey North Yorkton—Melville Liberal to Bloc Quebecois (1) Shefford New Democrat to Bloc Quebecois (1) Chambly

References

1. See List of prime ministers of Canada. The two prime ministers with shorter times in office were Charles Tupper in 1896 and John Turner in 1984. Arthur Meighen also served a shorter time in 1926, but his total time was longer including his first term in 1920-21.
2. Bélanger, Éric (2004). "The Rise of Third Parties in the 1993 Canadian Federal Election: Pinard Revisited". Canadian Journal of Political Science / Revue canadienne de science politique. 37 (3): 581–594. ISSN 0008-4239.
3. . CBC News. 2004-02-16. Archived from the original on 2005-12-01.
4. "Bloc Québécois forms the Opposition in 1993 election". Canadian Broadcasting Corporation Digital Archives. 26 October 1993. from the original on 19 February 2015. Retrieved 26 May 2013.
5. "Bob Rae's arise and tumble as Ontario's initial NDP premier, as told by Maclean's archives". Canada Breaking News | Top Stories | Political | Business | Entertainment | Sport. 2018-05-29. Retrieved 2024-04-07.
6. Martin, Lawrence (2010-11-23). "Opinion: The 1993 election changed everything". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved 2023-03-18.

See also