2004 Canadian federal election

← 2000 June 28, 2004 (2004-06-28) 2006 →
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308 seats in theHouse of Commons 155 seats needed for a majority
Opinion polls
Turnout	60.9% ( 3.2pp)
First party Second party   Leader Paul Martin Stephen Harper Party Liberal Conservative Leader since November 14, 2003 March 20, 2004 Leader's seat LaSalle—Émard Calgary Southwest Last election 172 seats, 40.85% 78 seats, 37.68% Seats before 168 72 Seats won 135 99 Seat change 33 27 Popular vote 4,982,220 4,019,498 Percentage 36.73% 29.63% Swing 4.12pp 8.05pp   Third party Fourth party   Leader Gilles Duceppe Jack Layton Party Bloc Québécois New Democratic Leader since March 15, 1997 January 24, 2003 Leader's seat Laurier Toronto—Danforth Last election 38 seats, 10.72% 13 seats, 8.51% Seats before 33 14 Seats won 54 19 Seat change 21 5 Popular vote 1,680,109 2,127,403 Percentage 12.39%[i] 15.68% Swing 1.67pp 7.17pp
Results by electoral district, shaded by winners' vote share Results by province and territory
The Canadian parliament after the 2004 election
Prime Minister before election Paul Martin Liberal Prime Minister after election Paul Martin Liberal

The2004 Canadian federal election was held on June 28, 2004, to elect members to theHouse of Commons of Canada of the38th Parliament ofCanada. TheLiberal government ofPrime MinisterPaul Martin lost itsmajority but was able to continue in office as aminority government after the election. This was the first election contested by the newly amalgamatedConservative Party of Canada, after it was formed by the tworight-of-centre parties, theProgressive Conservative Party and theCanadian Alliance.

On May 23, 2004, thegovernor general,Adrienne Clarkson, on the advice of Martin, ordered the dissolution of the House of Commons, triggering anearly election despite the Liberals being only three and a half years into their five-year mandate. Earlier, the election result was widely expected to be a fourth consecutive majority government for the Liberals, but early in 2004 Liberal popularity fell sharply due to the emerging details of thesponsorship scandal. Polls even started to indicate the possibility of a Conservative minority government. In the end, the Liberals won a minority government, though they were well short of a majority and lost nearly three dozen seats. This was the last time any party in Canada won four consecutive terms in government until2025, which was also won by the Liberals. It was also the first election since1988 in which the NDP won any seats inOntario.

On election day, polling times were arranged to allow results from most provinces to be announced more or less simultaneously, with the exception ofAtlantic Canada, whose results were known before the close of polling in other provinces due to theBritish Columbia Supreme Court's decision inR v Bryan.

Until thesponsorship scandal, most pundits were predicting that newPrime MinisterPaul Martin would lead theLiberal Party of Canada to a fourthmajority government, possibly setting a record for number of seats won.

However, polls released immediately after the scandal broke showed Liberal support down as much as 10% nationwide, with greater declines in its heartland ofQuebec andOntario. Although there was some recovery in Ontario andAtlantic Canada, Liberal hopes of making unprecedented gains in the west faded. The unpopularity of some provincial Liberal parties may also have had an effect on federal Liberal fortunes. In Ontario, for instance, theprovincial Liberal government introduced an unpopular budget the week of the expected election call, and their federal counterparts then fell into a statistical dead heat with theConservatives in polls there. The Liberals were also harmed by high-profileparty infighting that had been plaguing the party since Martin's earlier ejection from Cabinet by now-former Prime Minister Jean Chrétien.

In the final months of 2003, theProgressive Conservatives and theCanadian Alliance were running a distant third and fourth, respectively, in public opinion polls.

Many pundits predicted that the combination of the popular and fiscally conservative Martin, along with continued vote-splitting on the right, could have led to the almost total annihilation of the Progressive Conservatives and Canadian Alliance. This fear prompted those two parties to form a unitedConservative Party of Canada, which was approved by the members of the Canadian Alliance on December 5, 2003, and controversially by the delegates of the Progressive Conservatives on December 6, 2003.

The new Conservative Party pulled well ahead of the NDP in the polls just before the election, although its support remained below the combined support that the Progressive Conservatives and the Alliance had as separate parties. On March 20, the Conservatives electedStephen Harper as their new leader.

The Conservatives gained more ground in polls after Harper became leader, and the poll results in the weeks before the election had them within one to two points of the Liberals, sometimes ahead, sometimes behind them. Party supporters hoped that the voters would react negatively to the Liberal attacks on what they called Harper's "hidden agenda", and that anger over the sponsorship scandal and other Liberal failures would translate to success at the polls.

Late in the campaign, the Conservatives began to lose some momentum, in part due to remarks made by MPs.Scott Reid, the party's language critic, said that the policy ofofficial bilingualism was unrealistic and needed to be reformed.^[1]Rob Merrifield, health critic, suggested that women ought to have mandatory family counseling before they choose to have an abortion.^[2]Randy White was quoted as saying "to heck with the courts" in reference toReference Re Same-Sex Marriage, suggesting the party would overturn same-sex marriage.^[3]Cheryl Gallant drew controversy when she comparedabortion to the beheading ofIraq WarhostageNick Berg,^[4] and called for the repeal of recently amended hate laws that include sexual orientation as one of the protected groups.^[5] Additionally, the Liberal Party began airing controversial TV ads. Harper was also criticized for his position supporting the American-led2003 invasion of Iraq. The term "hidden agenda", used commonly in the 2000 election to refer to Stockwell Day, began surfacing with increasing regularity with regard to Harper's history of supporting privatized health care. Further damaging the Conservative campaign was a press release from Conservative headquarters that suggested that Paul Martin supportedchild pornography.

Although on the eve of the election the party was polling slightly ahead of the Liberals everywhere west of Quebec, it had dropped in support, polling behind or on par with Liberals everywhere except the West (Alberta, British Columbia, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba), where it held onto its traditional support.

All together the new Conservatives fell from the combined Canadian Alliance-Progressive Conservative vote in 2000 of 37%, to only 29% of the vote, yet still gained 21 extra seats, finishing in second-place with 99 seats.

Before the announcement of the merger of the Canadian Alliance and Progressive Conservative Party, some were predicting that theNDP would form theofficial opposition because the party was polling ahead of both right-of-centre parties. A new leader (Jack Layton) and clearsocial democratic policies helped revitalize the NDP. Polls suggested that the NDP had returned to the 18% to 20% level of support it enjoyed in the1984 election and1988 election. Layton suggested that the NDP would break their previous record of 43 seats won under former leaderEd Broadbent.

The NDP focused the campaign on winning ridings in Canada's urban centres, hoping especially to win seats in centralToronto,Hamilton,Ottawa andWinnipeg. The party's platform was built to cater to these regions and much of Layton's time was spent in these areas.

The campaign stumbled early when Layton blamed the deaths of homeless people on Paul Martin, prompting the Liberals to accuse the NDP of negative campaigning. The NDP benefited from the decline in Liberal support, but not to the same extent as the Conservatives. There was an increasing prospect that NDP voters would switch to the Liberals to block a Conservative government. This concern did not manifest itself in the polls, however, and the NDP remained at somewhat below 20 percent mark in the polls for most of the campaign.

The NDP achieved 15% of the popular vote, its highest in 16 years. However, it only won 19 seats in the House of Commons, two less than the 21 won in 1997, and far short of the 40 predicted. There was criticism^{[according to whom?]} that Layton's focus on urban issues and gay rights marginalized the party's traditional emphasis on the poor, the working class, and rural Canadians. Long-time MPLorne Nystrom and several other incumbents from the Prairie provinces were defeated, with the NDP being shut out ofSaskatchewan for the first time since1965. Layton won his own seat in a tight race, while Broadbent was returned to Parliament after many years of absence.

TheBloc Québécois (BQ) had managed their best showing back in 1993, but they lost seats to the Liberals in 1997 and 2000, prompting pundits to suggest a decline in support for Quebec sovereignty. The Bloc continued to slide in the polls in most of 2003 after the election of the federalistQuebec Liberal Party at theNational Assembly of Quebec underJean Charest, and during the long run-up to Paul Martin becoming leader of the federal Liberals.

However, things progressively changed during 2003, partly because of the decline in popularity of theLiberal Party of Quebec government ofJean Charest, and partly because support forindependence in Quebec rose again (49% in March).^{[citation needed]} The tide took its sharp turn when, in February 2004, the sponsorship scandal (uncovered in considerable part by the Bloc) hit the Liberal federal government.

These events led to a resurgence of the BQ, putting it ahead of the pack once again: according to anIpsos-Reid poll carried out forThe Globe and Mail andCTV between the June 4 and 8, 50% of Quebecers intended to vote for the BQ against 24% for the Liberals.

Speculation was ongoing about the possibility of the Bloc forming alliances with other opposition parties or with an eventual minority government to promote its goals ofsocial democracy and respect of the autonomy of provinces. Leader Gilles Duceppe stated that the Bloc, as before, would co-operate with other opposition parties or with the government when interests were found to be in common, but that the Bloc would not participate in a coalition government.

TheGreens ran candidates in all 308 ridings for the first time in its history. The party won twice as many votes in this election than it had over the previous 21 years of its history combined, although it failed to win a seat. It also spent more money than in the previous 21 years, and although much of this money was borrowed, the Greens' share of the popular vote enabled them to receive federal funding.

These are the official slogans for the 2004 campaigns. The optional parts of the mottos (sometimes not used for efficiency) are put in brackets.

Important issues in the election:

• Sponsorship scandal: badly hurt the Liberals in the polls and the theme of widespread corruption was used by all opposition parties, especially the Bloc.
• Health care: all parties support Canada's government-administered health care system but acknowledge that improvements must be made to meet new demographic challenges and to reduce long wait times. Transfer payments to the provinces have been cut substantially to 16% by the federal Liberal government and it was difficult for Paul Martin to reconcile these cuts with his plan to improve the system.
• Fiscal imbalance: all major parties except the Liberals claimed that there was a monetary imbalance between Ottawa and the provinces and spoke of plans to reduce it, the Bloc Québécois probably being the strongest denouncer of the situation.
• Taxation: for the Conservatives, significantly lowering taxes, to stimulate the economy, was a central issue. The Conservatives also promised to end "corporate welfare" and replace it with tax cuts for all businesses. The Liberals, Communist Party and NDP opposed large tax cuts and argued that money should instead be spent to improve social programs.
• Child care: The Liberals and NDP promised national child care programs.
• Parliamentary reform: The Conservatives accused the Liberals of perpetuating "undemocratic practices" in Parliament, by limiting the powers of MPs. Martin called for some reform, but not to the satisfaction of the Conservatives. The Conservatives promised an elected Senate and standing committee and provincial review of judicial appointments. The NDP spoke of abolishing the Senate.
• Electoral reform: Conservatives promised fixed election dates. The NDP promoted the idea ofproportional representation voting.
• Same-sex marriage: The Bloc Québécois and the NDP strongly favoured same sex marriage. The NDP considers it a human rights issue, and requires its MPs to either support legislation favouring same-sex marriage or abstain on such questions. The Bloc, on the other hand, treats it as a matter of conscience, allowing its members free votes on the issue. The Liberals sent the issue to be ruled upon by the Supreme Court, and the Liberal caucus was publicly divided on the issue. The majority of Conservative candidates opposed it; the Conservative party's official stance was for the issue to be resolved by a free vote in the Commons.
• National Missile Defence: theBush administration in the U.S. wanted Canada to join the missile shield. The Conservatives strongly supported such a plan while the Bloc and the NDP opposed it. Although the Liberals reiterated past opposition to the weaponization of space, they did not have an expressed opinion on the shield.
• 2003 invasion of Iraq: the Conservatives supported the United States over Iraq, while the other parties generally opposed it.
• Gun registry: The Conservatives strongly opposed the gun registry while the other parties support it.
• Marijuana: The Liberals have introduced measures to decriminalize possession of small quantities of marijuana, a move generally supported by the other opposition parties. The Conservative Party opposes such legislation. The Bloc Québécois is more explicit in its support for decriminalization, while the NDP wishes to study the issue and consider going beyond mere decriminalization.
• Abortion: This was not a significant issue in this election. Abortion is legal in Canada after Parliament's failure to pass legislation to replace previous restrictions ruled illegal by the courts. Many Conservatives and a few Liberals oppose abortion. The Liberals tried to use it as a wedge issue after comments from pro-life Conservatives, but it did not change the outcome.
• Ontario budget: The introduction by theLiberal government ofDalton McGuinty of "Ontario Health Premiums" was very unpopular, despite Mr. McGuinty's claim that this new tax was necessary because of the budgetary deficit left by the previousProgressive Conservative government. The Conservatives and the NDP capitalized on this and other unpopular fiscal and tax-related policy to attack the Liberals at the federal level.

In 2004, a federal party required 155 of the 308 seats to form a majority government in Canada. The Liberals came short of this number, winning 135. Until extremely close ridings were decided on the west coast, it appeared as though the Liberals' seat total, if combined with that of the left-wingNew Democratic Party (NDP), would be sufficient to hold a majority in the House of Commons. In the end, the Conservatives won Vancouver Island North, West Vancouver-Sunshine Coast, and New Westminster-Coquitlam, after trailing in all three ridings, as preliminary results were announced through the evening.

As a result, the combined seat count of the Liberals and the NDP was 154, while the other 154 seats belonged to the Conservatives, Bloquistes, and one independentChuck Cadman (previously a Conservative). Rather than forming a coalition with the NDP, the Liberal party led a minority government, obtaining majorities for its legislation on an ad hoc basis. Nevertheless, as the showdown onBill C-48, a matter of confidence, loomed in the spring of 2005, the Liberals and NDP, who wanted to continue the Parliament, found themselves matched against the Conservatives and the Bloc, who were registering no confidence. The bill passed with the Speaker casting the decisive tie-breaking vote.

Voter turnout nationwide was 60.9%, the lowest in Canadian history at that time,^[6] with 13,683,570 out of 22,466,621 registered voters casting their ballots. The voter turnout fell by more than 3pp from the 2000 federal election which had 64.1% turnout.^[7]

Elections to the38th Canadian Parliament (2004)^[8][9][10]

Party		Leader	Candidates	Votes						Seats
				#	±	%	Change (pp)			2000	2004	±
	Liberal	Paul Martin	308	4,982,220	269,811	36.73	-4.12			172	135 / 308	37
	Conservative[a 1]	Stephen Harper	308	4,019,498	824,429	29.63	-8.04			78	99 / 308	21
	New Democratic	Jack Layton	308	2,127,403	1,033,535	15.68	7.18			13	19 / 308	6
	Bloc Québécois	Gilles Duceppe	75	1,680,109	302,382	12.39	1.67			38	54 / 308	16
	Green	Jim Harris	308	582,247	477,845	4.29	3.48
	Independent		65	64,864	9,828	0.48	0.05			–	1 / 308	1
	Christian Heritage	Ron Gray	62	40,335	40,335	0.30	New
	Marijuana	Marc-Boris St-Maurice	71	33,276	32,982	0.25	-0.27
	Progressive Canadian	Ernie Schreiber	16	10,872	10,872	0.08	New
	Canadian Action	Connie Fogal	45	8,807	18,296	0.06	-0.15
	Marxist–Leninist	Sandra L. Smith	76	8,696	3,372	0.06	-0.03
	Communist	Miguel Figueroa	35	4,426	4,350	0.03	-0.04
	Libertarian	Jean-Serge Brisson	8	1,949	1,949	0.01	New
Total			1,685	13,564,702		100.00%
Rejected ballots				118,868	20,544
Turnout				13,683,570	686,385	60.91%	0.27
Registered voters				22,466,621	1,223,148

  = went to a judicial recount

  = election contested on grounds of irregularities

  = turnout is above national average

  = Incumbent had switched allegiance

  = Not incumbent; was previously elected to the House

  = Incumbency arose from by-election gain

  = Multiple candidates