Official party status

Official party status refers to the Canadian practice of recognizing political parties in the Parliament of Canada and the provincial legislatures. In official documents, this is sometimes referred to as being a recognized party (French: parti reconnu). The type of recognition and threshold needed to obtain it varies. However, the most coveted privileges are funding for party research offices and the right to ask questions during Question Period.

Recognition in Parliament allows parties certain parliamentary privileges. Generally official party status is dependent on winning a minimum number of seats (that is, the number of Members of Parliament or Members of the Legislative Assembly elected).

Federally, the idea of recognizing parties for official status started in 1963. Prior to this, the only opposition recognition was that of the Leader of the Opposition, effectively limiting "official status" to the Government and the largest Opposition party. It was not until 1970 that the Elections Act was amended to allow parties to register and thus have their party name on the ballot.

Rules on official party status are not laws, but are internal rules governing the legislature. Therefore, the members of a legislature may, if they choose, pass a motion to dispense with the rules and grant official status to parties that would otherwise fail to qualify. There are many examples of this practice.

Since 1985, a party must have at least 12 seats to be recognized as an official party in the House of Commons. Recognition means that the party will get time to ask questions during question period, and money for research and staff (both are proportional to the number of seats.)

In the Senate, a party must have five seats and must be registered by Elections Canada. Once the party has been recognized in the Senate, it retains its status even if it becomes deregistered, so long as it keeps at least five seats. This rule means that the rump Progressive Conservative Party caucus in the Senate qualified for official status after the rest of that party merged into the Conservative Party of Canada.

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