Official party status is a Canadian political jargon denoting political parties represented in the Parliament of Canada or provincial legislatures that are formally recognized as parliamentary caucuses. Such recognition usually comes with entitlement to a share of speaking time, allocation of committee membership, and funding for a caucus office. In parliamentary documents, this is sometimes referred to as being a recognized party (). It is analogous to opposition parties entitled to Short Money in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom or minority parties in the Parliament of Australia.
Current status Parties with official party status in their respective legislatures and their respective seat counts, as of the most recent general election
Assembly Government Official Opposition Parties With Status Parties Without StatusMost recent GE House of Commons 343 Liberal Conservative Bloc Québécois New Democratic April 28, 2025 1Senate 105 Government Rep. Conservative Independent S.G. 18 18 Newfoundland and Labrador 40 Prog. Conservative Liberal New Democratic October 14, 2025 Prince Edward Island 27 Prog. Conservative Liberal Green April 3, 2023Nova Scotia55 Prog. Conservative New Democratic Liberal November 26, 2024 New Brunswick 49 Liberal Prog. Conservative Green October 21, 2024Quebec125 Parti Québécois Liberal Conservative Québec solidaire October 3, 2022 Ontario 124 Prog. Conservative New Democratic Liberal Green February 27, 2025 Manitoba 57 New Democratic Prog. Conservative Liberal October 3, 2023 Saskatchewan 61 Saskatchewan New Democratic October 28, 2024Alberta87 United Conservative New Democratic May 29, 2023British Columbia93 New Democratic Conservative Green October 19, 2024 Yukon 21 Yukon Party New Democratic Liberal November 14, 2023 History Traditionally in Westminster-style parliaments, the only non-governmental member other than the speaker with a recognized status is the Leader of the Opposition. This would be the member who had the widest support among opposition MPs, who would take the lead in questioning the government during parliamentary debates, and who would traditionally be called upon by the Monarch or Governor General to attempt to form a government if the previous government lost the confidence of the House. As political parties became more formalized in the 20th century, some Westminster parliaments (particularly in Canada, but also elsewhere) began to recognize opposition political party caucuses as having a distinct role, where they would have their own opportunities to ask questions during parliamentary debates and have their own organizational budgets and offices within the parliament buildings.
Recognition in Parliament allows party caucuses certain parliamentary privileges. Generally official party status depends on winning a minimum number of seats (that is, the number of Members of Parliament or Members of the Legislative Assembly elected). The type of recognition and threshold needed to obtain it varies. However, the most coveted privileges are funding for party research offices and the right to ask questions during Question Period.
At the federal level in Canada, the idea of recognizing parties for official status started in 1963. Prior to this, the only opposition recognition was that of the Leader of the Opposition, effectively limiting "official status" to the Government and the largest Opposition party. It was not until 1970 that the Elections Act was amended to allow parties to register and thus have their party name on the ballot.
Most of the rules governing official party status are not laws, but are internal rules governing the legislatures. This is rooted in the principal of parliament being master of its own procedures. Therefore, the members of a legislature may, if they choose, pass a motion to dispense with the rules and grant official status to parties that would otherwise fail to qualify. There are many examples of this practice in multiple jurisdiction. In some instances, governing parties did this to prop up smaller parties in order to weaken their principal rivals.
Requirements for official party status Sometimes, the requirements for official party status are set out either in a law or in the parliament's Rules of Procedure. These rules may usually be changed or waived by a vote of the House (for instance, to allow some or all official party privileges to a party that does not meet the minimum requirements set out in the Rules).
+ Minimum seats required for official party status Assembly Minimum seats Additional requirements, alternative criteria and notes Canada – House of Commons 12 seats Canada – Senate 9 seatsRules of the Senate, November 2017, Appendix I. Alberta Legislative Assembly 4 seatsStatus has been granted to parties with only 2 seats a number of times. British Columbia Legislative Assembly 2 seats Manitoba Legislative Assembly 4 seats New Brunswick Legislative Assembly 5 seatsNew Brunswick, Legislative Assembly, Standing Rules of the Legislative Assembly of New Brunswick (17 June 1986) at s1 (definition of 'recognized party').Alternative criteria: 20% of the popular vote Newfoundland and LabradorHouse of Assembly 3 seats Additional requirement: fielded candidates in at least two-thirds of electoral districts (27 out of 40) Minimum applicable to number of members elected (not number of seats held), thus status not affected by mid-term floor-crossing or resignations Nova Scotia House of Assembly 2 seats Additional requirement: fielded candidates in at least three-quarters of the electoral districts(42 out of 55) and received at least 10% of the popular voteHouse of Assembly Act, RSNS 1989, c 1 (1992 Supp) s 2(1)(c).The official opposition not subject to additional requirements Ontario Legislative Assembly 12 seatsLegislative Assembly Act, RSO 1990, c L10, s 62(5), http://canlii.ca/t/53hkk.10% of seats in legislature, rounded to nearest whole number Prince Edward Island Legislative Assembly 1 seat No formal rule, but precedent shows that only one seat is required. Quebec National Assembly 12 seatsAlternative criteria: 20% of the popular vote Saskatchewan Legislative Assembly 2 seats Yukon Legislative Assembly 1 seatAdditional requirement: fielded candidates in at least two electoral districts
Special cases House of Commons Under the Canadian War Service Voting Regulations, 1944, membership standings in the House of Commons of eight or more were used to qualify leaders to appoint scrutineers for the special returning offices.
Since the early 1950s, parties other than the government and official opposition had been granted limited rights by a series of rulings in the House of Commons. Following an amendment to the Senate and House of Commons Act in 1963, the leaders of parties with twelve or more recognized members in the House of Commons began to be paid an additional stipend above that paid to all members of the House of Commons. Such recognized parties have also received research funding since 1968.
In 2001, the Speaker, Peter Milliken, ruled against full party recognition for the Progressive Conservative/Democratic Representative (PC/DR) Coalition, which had been formed by the 12 members of the recognized PC Party and 8 independent members of the Democratic Representative Caucus, who had left the larger Canadian Alliance caucus. Milliken identified the features of a recognized party as having 12 or more members, appointing slate of House officers as official spokespeople, and working as a cohesive unit under the same banner but noted the practice related to the recognition of parties rather than parliamentary groups. The Speaker could not grant the PC/DR Coalition full party recognition because the group disavowed the title of being a party.
A party must have at least 12 seats to be recognized as an official party in the House of Commons. Recognition means that the party's caucus is permitted to ask questions during question period more frequently (although this is determined by the Speaker), and money for research (proportional to the number of seats).
Senate In the Senate, a group must have nine seats to be recognized. If the group was registered by Elections Canada in the last 15 years, it is called a recognized party. Otherwise, it is called a recognized parliamentary group, as is the case of the Independent Senators Group, which has been granted some privileges like those of a party.
Prior to 2017, when the Senate adopted a rules amendments to recognize parliamentary groups not affiliated with a political party, the Senate used political party recognition rules first adopted in 2002. The 2002 rules defined a recognized party as having five or more members in the Senate and required that the party be registered by Election Canada at the time of initial recognition. However, once the party was recognized in the Senate, it could retain its status even if it became deregistered, so long as it kept at least five members. In response to a question in an earlier debate about third political party recognition, Jack Austin, at the time the chair of the Senate Rules Committee, stated that the number of five was chosen as a proportional equivalent to the House of Commons 12-member rule.
The second part of the 2002 rule meant that the rump Progressive Conservative caucus in the Senate would have been able to qualify for official status after the rest of that party merged into the Conservative Party except that the initial PC caucus in 2004 after the merger only had three members.
Alberta In the general elections of 1997, 2001, and 2008, the Alberta New Democratic Party (NDP) failed to win the requisite four seats to gain official party status in the Legislative Assembly of Alberta. Nevertheless, the governing Progressive Conservatives (PCs) granted party status to the NDP after each election.
British Columbia After the 2001 general election, new B.C. Premier Gordon Campbell, leader of the British Columbia Liberal Party, was criticized for his decision not to grant official party status to the NDP. It was the only opposition party in the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia but it had won only two of 79 seats in the last election.
Since the 2013 election, the Green Party of British Columbia has held their first seat as their then-leader Andrew Weaver was elected in Oak Bay-Gordon Head district. After the 2017 election, Weaver was re-elected and they gained two more seats, thus overall had three seats when the minimum for official party status was four. However, after the party entered a confidence and supply agreement with the New Democratic Party to allow the NDP to form government, it was granted official party status with reduced funding. The Legislative Assembly still recognized the Greens as an official party, after the agreement ended, retaining the threshold for official status at 2 seats.
New Brunswick In New Brunswick, parties require 5 seats or 20% of the popular vote to get official party status. However, parties with one to four seats have been allowed time in Question Period with consent of other parties.
Ontario Following the 1999 Ontario general election, the Ontario New Democratic Party fell to nine seats in the Ontario Legislative Assembly, down from 17 in 1995. The rules at the time of the election called for parties to hold 12 seats to maintain party status. Prog. Conservative Premier Mike Harris, citing the reduction in seats from 130 to 103 (-20.76%) between elections, subsequently lowered the required number of seats for official party status from 12 to 8 (33 1/3%). The mathematically corresponding cut would therefore have been from 12 seats to 9 seats (25%, slightly higher than the seat reduction) or 10 seats (16 2/3%, slightly lower). In the 2019 fall economic statement, Doug Ford's government changed the rules to 10% of the total number of seats in the Assembly, so it is currently set at 12.