Canadian federal election, 2000

On November 28, 2000, Canada held a federal election. The Liberals had called the election a month before and throughout the campaign had been expected to easily win a third consecutive majority government, which they did. The election was regarded as a great success by Jean Chrétien and the Liberals, but as a failure for every other party. Without important issues or a very exciting campaign voter turn-out reached a record low.

The parties:

• The Liberals campaigned on their successful economic record and their relatively scandal-free seven years in office and were successful. The Liberals moved from 155 seats to 172 seats.

• The Canadian Alliance went into the election with great hopes. New leader Stockwell Day was expected to appeal far more to the crucial Ontario voters, and the Canadian Alliance was hoping for major improvements. The Alliance campaigned on tax cuts, an end to the federal gun registration program, and family values. The campaign was dogged with accusations of wanting to introduce a two-tier health care system and for threatening gay rights and abortion rights, all of which they denied. The Alliance ended up winning only two Ontario ridings. This lead to the eventual downfall of Day the next year. They did, however, retain their official opposition status and improved by six seats moving from 60 to 66.

• The Bloc Québécois failed to attract much interest in their campaign, and Gilles Duceppe, despite performing well in the debates, was not a very popular leader in Quebec. The Bloc's seats fell from 44 to 38.

• The New Democratic Party campaigned intensely on the issue of medicare, but failed to make much headway with voters. Their seat count fell from 21 to 13.

• The Progressive Conservatives despite great hope of regaining their lost glory under retread leader Joe Clark had a very disappointing election, falling from 20 to 12 seats and being almost exclusively confined to the Maritime provinces.

Election Results

	Popular Vote	Seats
Liberals	40.8%	172
CA	25.5%	66
Bloc	10.7%	38
PC	12.2%	12
NDP	8.5%	13

Preceded by: 1997 Canadian election

Canadian federal elections