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Canadian general election, 2006

Canadian federal election, 2006
Canada
← 2004 January 23, 2006 (2006-01-23) 2008 →

308 seats in the 39th Canadian Parliament
155 seats were needed for a majority
Opinion polls
Turnout 64.7% (Increase3.8pp)
  First party Second party
  Stephen Harper G8 2007.jpg Paul Martin in 2006.jpg
Leader Stephen Harper Paul Martin
Party Conservative Liberal
Leader since March 20, 2004 November 14, 2003
Leader's seat Calgary Southwest LaSalle—Émard
Last election 99 seats, 29.63% 135 seats, 36.73%
Seats before 98 133
Seats won 124 103
Seat change Increase26 Decrease30
Popular vote 5,374,071 4,479,415
Percentage 36.27% 30.23%
Swing Increase6.64pp Decrease6.50pp

  Third party Fourth party
  Gilles Duceppe2.jpg Jack-Layton-Cropped-2008-10-09.jpg
Leader Gilles Duceppe Jack Layton
Party Bloc Québécois New Democratic
Leader since March 15, 1997 January 24, 2003
Leader's seat Laurier—
Sainte-Marie
Toronto—Danforth
Last election 54 seats, 12.39% 19 seats, 15.68%
Seats before 53 18
Seats won 51 29
Seat change Decrease2 Increase11
Popular vote 1,553,201 2,589,597
Percentage 10.48% 17.48%
Swing Decrease1.91pp Increase1.80pp

Canada 2006 Federal Election.svg

Prime Minister before election

Paul Martin
Liberal

Prime Minister-designate

Stephen Harper
Conservative


Paul Martin
Liberal

Stephen Harper
Conservative

The 2006 Canadian federal election (more formally, the 39th General Election) was held on January 23, 2006, to elect members of the House of Commons of Canada of the 39th Parliament of Canada. The Conservative Party of Canada won the greatest number of seats: 40.3% of seats, or 124 out of 308, up from 99 seats in 2004, and 36.3% of votes: up from 29.6% in the 2004 election.

The election resulted in a minority government led by the Conservative Party with Stephen Harper becoming the 22nd Prime Minister of Canada. By proportion of seats, this was Canada's smallest minority government since Confederation. Despite this it was the longest-serving minority government overall.

Voter turnout was 64.7%.

An investigation by Elections Canada into improper election spending by the Conservative Party became widely known as the In and Out scandal. Charges were eventually dropped in a plea deal.

This unusual winter general election was caused by a motion of no confidence passed by the House of Commons on November 28, 2005, with Canada's three opposition parties contending that the Liberal government of Prime Minister Paul Martin was corrupt. The following morning Martin met with Governor General Michaëlle Jean, who then dissolved parliament, summoned the next parliament, and ordered the issuance of writs of election. The last set January 23, 2006, as election day and February 13 as the date for return of the writs. The campaign was almost eight weeks in length, the longest in two decades, in order to allow time for the Christmas and New Year holidays.


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