2015 Canadian federal election
The 2015 Canadian federal election was held on October 19, 2015, to elect the 338 members of the House of Commons of the 42nd Parliament of Canada. In accordance with the maximum four-year term under a 2007 amendment to the Canada Elections Act, the writs of election for the 2015 election were issued by Governor General David Johnston on August 4. At 11 weeks, the ensuing campaign was one of the longest in Canadian history: It was also the first time since 1979 that a prime minister attempted to remain in office into a fourth consecutive Parliament and the first time since 1980 that someone attempted to win a fourth term of any kind as prime minister. This is also the most recent election in which a majority government was formed.
The Liberal Party won 184 seats, forming a majority government with its leader Justin Trudeau becoming prime minister. Trudeau and the rest of his cabinet were sworn in on November 4, 2015. The Conservative Party, led by incumbent Prime Minister Stephen Harper, won 99 seats, becoming the Official Opposition after nearly a decade on the government benches. The New Democratic Party, led by Tom Mulcair, won 44 seats, becoming the third-largest party in the House of Commons, after having formed the Official Opposition following the 2011 election. The Bloc Québécois won 10 seats, the Green Party won 1 seat, and Strength in Democracy lost all its seats.
The Liberal Party's increase of 148 seats from the previous election was the largest-ever numerical increase by a party in a Canadian election. Prior to the campaign, the Liberals had held only 36 seats—the fewest seats ever held at dissolution by any federal party that won the following election. The Liberals also became the first federal party in Canadian history to win a majority of seats without having been either the governing party or the Official Opposition in the previous parliament, and this was only the second time a party went from having the third-most seats to the most seats. It was the second largest number of seats won in a federal election for the Liberals, the best being 191 in 1949. This was the first election since 2000 in which the Liberals gained seats. It was also the first election since 1980 in which the Liberals won the most seats in Quebec, and the first election since 1968 in which the Liberals won the most seats in British Columbia. The election also had the highest voter turnout since 1993. Every party represented in the House of Commons except the Liberal Party recorded a decrease in its popular vote share. There was an increase in voter turnout among all age groups. The largest was among eligible voters aged 18 to 24, which increased 18.3 points, to 57.1%. Elections Canada reported that this was the biggest increase in turnout among this age group since it began making demographic turnout estimates.
Following the election, Harper conceded defeat to Trudeau and resigned as leader of the Conservative Party. Gilles Duceppe resigned as leader of the Bloc Québécois shortly after the election on October 22, 2015. Tom Mulcair announced his intention to remain leader of the NDP, but was forced to step down in October 2017, after losing a party vote on his leadership in the spring of 2016.
Background
The 2011 federal election resulted in the continuation of the incumbent Conservative government headed by Stephen Harper, while the New Democratic Party became Official Opposition and the Liberal Party became the third party. The Bloc Québécois won four seats and the Green Party won one seat. Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff and Bloc leader Gilles Duceppe resigned shortly after failing to win their own ridings. The Bloc Québécois lost official party status by failing to attain the minimum seats needed.Bob Rae was chosen as interim leader of the Liberal Party. In July 2011 Jack Layton, suffering from cancer, temporarily stepped down as leader of the NDP because of illness, indicating his intention to return for the reconvening of Parliament in September. Weeks later Layton died of cancer and was given a state funeral. In March 2012 Tom Mulcair was elected leader of the New Democratic Party. In April 2013 Justin Trudeau was elected leader of the Liberal Party. Bloc Québécois leader Daniel Paillé stepped down in December 2013 and was eventually replaced in June 2014 by Mario Beaulieu, who in turn was replaced by Duceppe in June 2015. In late 2014, MPs Jean-François Larose of the NDP and Jean-François Fortin of the Bloc formed the new political party Strength in Democracy. As set forth in the Fair Representation Act, the number of seats in the House of Commons to be contested in the 42nd Canadian federal election was 338, an increase of 30 seats from the 308 seats comprising the House of Commons of Canada of the 41st Parliament of Canada, at its dissolution.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper requested writs of election for a federal general election from Governor General David Johnston on August 2. The official proclamations were issued on August 4. The date of the vote is determined by the fixed-date Canada Elections Act. At 11 weeks, the campaign was the longest in modern Canadian history. As a result of the 2012 federal electoral redistribution, the number of electoral districts was increased to 338, with additional seats based on population assigned to Alberta, British Columbia, Ontario, and Quebec.
! colspan="2" style="text-align:left;" | Party !! BC !! AB !! SK !! MB !!ON !! QC !! NB !! PE !! NS !! NL !! Territories!! Total
! colspan="2" style="text-align:left;" | Total
! style="text-align:right;" |42
! style="text-align:right;" |34
! style="text-align:right;" |14
! style="text-align:right;" |14
! style="text-align:right;" |121
! style="text-align:right;" |78
! style="text-align:right;" |10
! style="text-align:right;" |4
! style="text-align:right;" |11
! style="text-align:right;" |7
! style="text-align:right;" |3
! style="text-align:right;" |338
Campaign slogans
Election campaign
Leaders' debates
Traditionally, party leaders participated in at least two nationally televised debates during the federal election – at least one each in English and French. These debates were produced by a consortium of Canada's major television networks. In May 2015, the Conservatives said they would not participate in the consortium debates and instead would take part in as many as five independently staged debates in the run-up to the fall federal election. Ultimately, the Conservatives agreed to participate in a French-language debate organized by the consortium of broadcasters as one of their five debates. The New Democratic Party confirmed that Tom Mulcair would accept every debate where the prime minister was present. The NDP had previously confirmed its intention to participate in both of the consortium debates before Stephen Harper withdrew but ultimately only participated in the French language consortium debate which included the Conservatives. Liberal leader Justin Trudeau attended the Maclean's, Globe and Mail, and French consortium debates; and the Liberals confirmed he would attend the other debates. The Bloc Québécois attended the French language consortium debate and confirmed its attendance at the French-language TVA debate. The Green Party attended the Maclean's and French language consortium debates, and confirmed its intention to participate in the English language consortium debate. Strength in Democracy, which had the same number of seats in the House of Commons at dissolution as the Greens and Bloc Québécois, were not invited to participate in any of the televised debates. The leaders of the party objected to their exclusion and launched a petition demanding that all parties represented in Parliament be invited to the debates. Other minor parties without representation in the House of Commons were not invited to participate in any of the televised debates.| Subject | Participants | Date | Organizer | Moderator | Location | Notes |
| General | Harper, May, Mulcair, Trudeau | Paul Wells | Toronto | The debate included live translations into French, Italian, Mandarin, Cantonese and Punjabi. Aired live on City stations, CPAC, and Omni Television stations ; streamed live at the Maclean's website and all networks' websites, Facebook and YouTube; and on Rogers Media news radio stations. | ||
| Economy | Harper, Mulcair, Trudeau | David Walmsley | Calgary | The first half of the 90-minute debate covered five central themes on the economy: jobs, energy and the environment, infrastructure, housing and taxation. The second half consisted of follow-up questions and questions sent in by voters. Aired live nationwide on CPAC in both official languages with an additional English feed in Ontario on CHCH, streamed live on The Globe and Mail | ||
| General | Duceppe, Harper, May, Mulcair, Trudeau | September 24 | Consortium and | Anne-Marie Dussault | Montreal | The debate included live translation into English. Aired live in French on and stations, and participant networks' websites; and in English on CBC News Network, CTV News Channel, and participant networks' websites. |
| Harper, Mulcair, Trudeau | Aurea Foundation and Facebook Canada | Rudyard Griffiths | Toronto | Bilingual debate on Canada's foreign policy hosted as part of the foundation's regular Munk Debates. The debate consisted of six 12-minute segments, with two leaders debating for the first seven minutes and the third leader brought in to the debate for the final five. Aired on CPAC in both official languages with an additional English feed in Ontario on CHCH, streamed live on the Munk Debates website, and distributed on Facebook. | ||
| General | Duceppe, Harper, Mulcair, Trudeau | Quebecor Media | Pierre Bruneau | Montreal | The debate focused on three themes: the economy, national security and Canada's place in the world, and social policies; the format consisted of six rounds of four-minute debate between two leaders, with an open debate section at the end of each theme. Aired live in French on TVA stations, Le Canal Nouvelles, and streamed on the TVA Nouvelles website; Aired with simultaneous interpretation to English on CPAC. |