Canada holds general elections, colloquially referred to as federal elections since the 1940s (and as dominion elections from 1867 to the 1940s), for the purpose of determining the political leadership of its national government, the Government of Canada (or the "federal government"), through democratic means. The last general election was held in April 2025, through which the incumbent Liberal government led by new party leader Mark Carney was re-elected with a minority mandate.
This article provides a summary of results for Canadian general elections that has taken place since the nation was formed (via confederation) in 1867. Upon the call of such a general election, all seats in the Canadian House of Commons are vacated and contested in local elections to determine its new representative known as a member of Parliament (MP). As of the election held in 2025, there are 343 MPs in Canada.
Electoral system Like other Westminster-style parliamentary governments, Canadian voters exercise their democratic franchise indirectly by electing local representatives, known as members of Parliament (MPs), to the House of Commons, the lower house of the Parliament of Canada, via plurality voting (or the first-past-the-post system). All Canadian citizens age eighteen or above are entitled to vote in elections held for the electoral district they reside in. The head of the Canadian federal government, the prime minister of Canada, is typically the MP that leads the political party with the most seats in the House of Commons. They are normally chosen by virtue of being the leader of the political party with a majority of the seats in the legislature or having secured the needed support from other parties to command the confidence of Parliament.
Since 1929, Canadian federal elections have been held on Mondays, or on Tuesdays immediately after a Monday that is a statutory holiday. Section 4 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedom requires that a general election be held no later than five years after the previous election. Since the end of World War II, elections are usually held every three or four years. Under the fixed-date provisions of the Canada Elections Act, a federal election must be held on the third Monday in October in the fourth calendar year after the polling day of the previous election. However, the election may occur before that date if the governor general dissolves Parliament on the recommendation of the prime minister, either for a snap election or after Parliament expresses its lack of confidence through the rejection of a supply bill (which last occurred in 1979) or the adoption of a motion of no confidence (which last occurred in 2011).
Since 1920, all elections held for the purpose of electing MPs have been administered by the chief electoral officer, who heads the independent agency Elections Canada and is accountable to Parliament rather than to the government in power. Election finances has been regulated since the 1970s, and that function was separated from Elections Canada and transferred to the commissioner of Canada Elections in 1977.
Electoral dynamics Two political parties, the Liberal Party and the Conservative Party, have been the principal contenders for power in the 21st century. The same two partiesin the Conservative Party's case, along with its various previous incarnations and factionshave dominated politics in Canada by alternating governing between them to the exclusion of all other parties at the national level. Since 1921, however, the two main parties had to contend with other forces occasionally displacing them from second place, most recently in 2011 when the New Democratic Party displaced the Liberals to become the largest opposition party in Parliament.
With only two exceptions, transitions of power between the parties have always occurred as the result of general elections. The exception were in 1873 and in 1926, when the respective incumbent Conservative and Liberal government were brought down by scandals. In 1873, the Liberals formed government and secured an electoral mandate through a general election within two months. In 1926, the Conservative Party took power but failed to win the subsequent election that took place three months later.
Since the nation was formed in 1867, Canada has held forty-five general elections. The Liberals won the most seats in twenty-six elections, in seventeen instances attaining a majority of the seats. Rival Conservatives won the most seats in nineteen elections (once under the Unionist banner), attaining a majority of the seats in thirteen instances. In one instance in 1925, the Conservatives won the most seats, but the incumbent Liberals remained in office with the support of the third-place Progressive Party. In six elections, the largest party won the most seats and formed government despite having won a smaller share of the popular vote as their main rival. That was the case with the Progressive Conservative governments formed in 1957 and in 1979, and the Liberal governments formed following the elections of 1896, 1926, 2019 and 2021.
In addition to the two main parties, there has been significant parliamentary presence of smaller parties since 1921 when the Progressive Party (and its allied United Farmers movement) displaced the Conservatives as the largest opposition party. As the principal alternative to the two main party, the Progressive Party was supplanted by the Social Credit Party and the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF) in the 1930s, both formally entering Parliament in 1935, with the CCF and its official successor the New Democratic Party (NDP) having maintained a continual presence since, while the Social Credit Party ceased to be represented as of the 1980 election.
The presence of smaller parties unsurprisingly led to occasional minority parliaments, which remained a rare event until the end of the World War II. Of the twenty elections that took place in Canada's first eight decades, only three resulted in minority parliaments. The subsequent ten elections resulted in five minority parliaments, all within a fifteen-year timespan between the 1957 and 1972 general elections. After two decades of mostly majority governments, minority parliaments become common at the start of 21st century. Six of the eight elections since 2000 have resulted in minority parliaments, including the most recent three elections.
The Progressive Conservative Party suffered the most dramatic defeat ever experienced by a sitting government in the 1993 election when it went from a majority government with 169 seats to a group without official party status, having only won two seats. The downfall of the traditional Progressive Conservative Party in the 1990s was a result of discontent manifested in the populist Reform Party in western Canada and the separatist Bloc Québécois in Quebec. The Reform Party rebranded as the Canadian Alliance in 2000 before uniting with the Progressive Conservatives in 2003 to form the modern Conservative Party, which formed government shortly after in 2006. The Green Party secured it first seat in 2011, which it has held since, but has not since been able to expand its presence in a meaningful way.
Other lists of Canadian elections
Federal by-elections – held in select electoral districts to fill vacancies midterms caused by death of resignation General elections are held in each province and territories to elect their respective provincial government. For a timeline of all provincial elections, see Timeline of Canadian elections. General elections in the Province of Canada – eight general elections were held between 1841 and 1864 in the Province of Canada, the British colony that was the largest predecessor of Canada Elections have been held in what is now Canada since as early as 1758, when the colony of Nova Scotia elected its first general assembly. Of the four original provinces: Twenty-two general elections were held in Nova Scotia prior to Confederation Twenty-one general elections were held in New Brunswick prior to Confederation, beginning in 1785 Thirteen general elections were held in Upper Canada (now part of Ontario) between 1792 and 1836 for the Legislative Assembly of Upper Canada Fifteen elections were held in Lower Canada (now part of Quebec) between 1792 and 1834 for the Legislative Assembly of Lower Canada
List of federal elections
In the following table, seats won by related predecessor or allied parties (and, in limited cases, historical parties with analogous objectives, each specifically noted) are grouped together, as follows: Liberal Liberal-Progressive in formal coalition (1926–1930) Conservative Progressive Conservative Party (1942–2000), Reform Party (1993–1997), Canadian Alliance (2000) NDP Independent Labour Party (1921, 1930), Cooperative Commonwealth Federation (1932–1958) Bloc Québécois Anti-Confederation Party (1867), Bloc populaire (1945) Social Credit New Democracy (1940), Ralliement créditiste (1965–1968) Progressive United Farmers and other farmer banners (1921–1930), Liberal-Progressive (1935–1953)
No.Year Date Resulting prime minister Lib NDP Bloc Other Total seats of parliament Turn-out % Info 1st1867Aug 7–Sep 20 62 100 18 0 180 74.32nd1872Jul 20–Oct 12 95 100 5200 70.33rd1874 12965 12 206 69.64th1878 63134 920669.15th1882 73134 421170.36th1887 80124 1121570.17th1891 90 118 7 215 64.48th1896 117 86 10213 62.99th1900 128 79 6213 77.410th1904 137 75 2214 71.611th1908 133 85 3221 70.012th1911 85 132 4221 70.213th1917 82 153 0235 75.014th1921 118 49 3 58 +3 7235 67.715th1925 100 115 22 +2 6245 66.416th1926 116 +8 91 11 +12 7245 67.717th1930 88+3 134 2 3+9 7245 73.518th1935 173 39 7 17 45245 74.219th1940 179 398 10 3 6245 69.920th1945 118+8 66 28 2 13 1 9245 75.321st1949 191 41 13 10 1 6262 73.822nd1953 169 51 23 15 1 6265 67.523rd1957 105 112 25 19 4265 74.124th1958 49 208 8 –265 79.425th1962 99 116 19 30 1265 79.026th1963 128 95 17 24 1265 79.227th1965 131 97 21 5+9 2265 74.828th1968 155 72 22 0+14 1264 75.729th1972 109 107 31 15 2264 76.730th1974 141 95 16 11 1264 71.031st1979 114 136 26 6 0282 75.732nd1980 147 103 32 0282 69.333rd1984 40 211 30 1282 75.334th1988 83 169 43 0295 75.335th1993 177 2 +52 9 54 1295 69.636th1997 155 20 +60 21 44 1301 67.037th2000 172 12 +66 13 38 0301 64.138th2004 135 99 19 54 1308 60.939th2006 103 124 29 51 1 308 64.740th2008 77 143 37 49 2308 58.841st2011 34 166 103 4 1308 61.142nd2015 184 99 44 10 1338 68.343rd2019 157 121 24 32 4338 67.044th2021 160 119 25 32 2338 62.345th2025 169 144 7 22 1343 69.5
Notes
Further reading – covers federal elections of 1878, 1896, 1911, 1917, 1926, 1945, 1957, 1968, 1988, and 2004
Graphs of results Share of seats (stacked bars) +Canada's general elections – Seat shareYear Share of seats Total 1867 180 1872 200 1874 206 1878 206 1882 211 1887 215 1891 215 1896 213 1900 213 1904 214 1908 221 1911 221 1917 235 1921 235 1925 245 1926 245 1930 245 1935 245 1940 245 1945 245 1949 262 1953 265 1957 265 1958 265 1962 265 1963 265 1965 265 1968 264 1972 264 1974 264 1979 282 1980 282 1984 282 1988 295 1993 295 1997 301 2000 301 2004 308 2006 308 2008 308 2011 308 2015 338 2019 338 2021 338 2025 343 Liberal Lib.-Prog. Progressive Green
NDP CCF Labour Anti-Confed. Ind./Others
Conservative/PC Reform/Alliance Bloc Quebecois Social Credit
Share of popular votes (line graph)
See also
List of political parties in Canada Voter turnout in Canada
References