Canada's electoral history from 1867 to today

Canada (Federal)How did we vote in Canada?
(Detailed results)

by Maurice Y. Michaud (he/him)

Canada :: Recorded events and races
Jurisdiction Elections Referendums
Juri. Year Assem. General By-Elections
Elec Races Elec Races
Min Max Min Max N Accl. n Acc? N Accl. n Acc? Minis. Q Races
1 CA 1867 2024 1 44 44 11,384 263 11,121 0 646 1,013 366 647 0 145 3 31
The MMP simulator can be run on all the general elections in this jurisdiction.

"Acc?" stands for missing data (namely races entered as having been won by acclamation when in fact the results are unknown), while "Minis." shows the number of ministerial by-elections.

A small handful of by-elections that did not really occur was added to this database to record when someone's election was overturned and the seat was handed over to the challenger who had lost. The results for a few by-elections are missing for this jurisdiction.

Up until the middle of the 20th century, unseating a member was commonplace and the mechanism to challenge someone's election seems to have been very lax when viewed through presentist lens, as many by-elections were held merely because the challenger — often the government or the defeated incumbent — did not like the result. What's more, newly appointed ministers had to resign and run in a ministerial by-election. Therefore, by-elections were far more frequent than they are today.
Capital city Ottawa Largest city Toronto
Confederation  1 Jul 1867 Population (2024 est.) 41,288,599
Territorial integrity 31 Mar 1949 Area 9,984,670 km2 (3,855,100 mi2)
General Elections (44)
1867, 1872, 1874, 1878, 1882, 1887, 1891, 1896, 1900, 1904, 1908, 1911, 1917, 1921, 1925, 1926, 1930, 1935, 1940, 1945, 1949, 1953, 1957, 1958, 1962, 1963, 1965, 1968, 1972, 1974, 1979, 1980, 1984, 1988, 1993, 1997, 2000, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2011, 2015, 2019, 2021 
 7 Aug 1867 (First)
20 Sep 2021 (Last)
20 Oct 2025 (Next)
Electoral systems 1867–1968: FPTP, PAL
1968–2024: FPTP
Partisan assembly Yes
Last by-elections 16 Sep 2024 Current government
  LIB  
Minority
Detailed election results for an assembly
Assembly
Limiter
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 These inclusions do not apply to the statistics.
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© 2019, 2024 :: PoliCan.ca (Maurice Y. Michaud)
Pub.: 20 Aug 2024 05:00
Rev.: 25 Aug 2024 19:01 (but data presented dynamically)