In contrast with the political party systems of many nations, Canadian political parties at the federal level are often only loosely connected with parties at the provincial level, despite having similar names and policy positions. One exception is the

New Democratic Party The New Democratic Party (NDP; french: Nouveau Parti démocratique, NPD) is a federal political party in Canada. Widely described as social democratic,The party is widely described as social democratic: * * * * * * * * * * * * t ...

, which is organizationally integrated with most of its provincial counterparts including a shared membership.

Current parties

House of Commons

Represented parties

Registered parties

The following political parties are registered with

Elections Canada Elections Canada (french: Élections Canada)The agency operates and brands itself as Elections Canada, its legal title is Office of the Chief Electoral Officer (). is the non-partisan agency responsible for administering Canadian federal electio ...

and eligible to run candidates in future federal elections, but are not currently represented in the House of Commons.

Eligible parties

Eligible parties have applied to Elections Canada and met all of the legal requirements to be registered, other than running a candidate in a general election or by-election. Such parties are eligible to run candidates in federal elections but will not be considered "registered" by Elections Canada until they have registered a candidate in an election or by-election. As of August 2022, the following are eligible parties:

Non-party parliamentary groups

At various points both the House of Commons and Senate have included non-party

parliamentary group A parliamentary group, parliamentary party, or parliamentary caucus is a group consisting of some members of the same political party or electoral fusion of parties in a legislative assembly such as a parliament or a city council. Parliamentar ...

s, also called caucuses. These groups are unaffiliated with registered political parties, are not registered with Elections Canada, and do not run candidates in Canadian federal elections. Essentially, these parliamentary groups are equivalent to political parties in the legislative context, but do not exist in an electoral capacity. Parliamentary groups in the

House of Commons of Canada The House of Commons of Canada (french: Chambre des communes du Canada) is the lower house of the Parliament of Canada. Together with the Crown and the Senate of Canada, they comprise the bicameral legislature of Canada. The House of Common ...

are typically made up of MPs that separate from a party over leadership conflicts. Notable past parliamentary groups in the House of Commons include the

Ginger Group The Ginger Group was not a formal political party in Canada, but a faction of radical Progressive and Labour Members of Parliament who advocated socialism. The term ginger group also refers to a small group with new, radical ideas trying to act ...

(1924–1932; split from

Progressive Party Progressive Party may refer to: Active parties * Progressive Party, Brazil * Progressive Party (Chile) * Progressive Party of Working People, Cyprus * Dominica Progressive Party * Progressive Party (Iceland) * Progressive Party (Sardinia), Ita ...

Democratic Representative Caucus The Democratic Representative Caucus, also called the Democratic Representative Association, was a parliamentary group in the 37th Canadian Parliament consisting of Members of Parliament who left the Canadian Alliance in 2001 in protest against t ...

(2001–2002; split from

Canadian Alliance The Canadian Alliance (french: Alliance canadienne), formally the Canadian Reform Conservative Alliance (french: Alliance réformiste-conservatrice canadienne), was a centre-right to right-wing federal political party in Canada that existed u ...

), and Québec debout (2018; split from

Bloc Québécois The Bloc Québécois (BQ; , "Québécois people, Quebecer Voting bloc, Bloc") is a list of federal political parties in Canada, federal political party in Canada devoted to Quebec nationalism and the promotion of Quebec sovereignty movement, Que ...

Senate

The

Senate of Canada The Senate of Canada (french: region=CA, Sénat du Canada) is the upper house of the Parliament of Canada. Together with the Crown and the House of Commons, they comprise the bicameral legislature of Canada. The Senate is modelled after the B ...

currently has three non-party

s: the

Independent Senators Group The Independent Senators Group (ISG; french: Groupe des sénateurs indépendants) is a parliamentary group in the Senate of Canada. Established on March 10, 2016, the Independent Senators Group (ISG) is committed to a non-partisan Senate and the ...

(ISG), the

Canadian Senators Group The Canadian Senators Group (french: Groupe des sénateurs canadiens) is a parliamentary group of senators in the Senate of Canada founded on November 4, 2019, by eight senators from the Independent Senators Group, two from the Conservative Pa ...

(CSG), and the

Progressive Senate Group The Progressive Senate Group (french: Groupe progressiste du sénat) is a parliamentary group in the Senate of Canada. It was formed on November 14, 2019, out of the now-defunct Senate Liberal Caucus, which had been expected to lose official pa ...

(PSG). These three groups do not share a formal ideology, platform, or membership in any one political party; the caucuses primarily serve to provide organizational support and better leverage parliamentary resources. Conservative senators remain formally affiliated with the

Conservative Party of Canada The Conservative Party of Canada (french: Parti conservateur du Canada), colloquially known as the Tories, is a federal political party in Canada. It was formed in 2003 by the merger of the two main right-leaning parties, the Progressive Con ...

Historical parties

House of Commons

Registered parties

These are political parties which either ceased to exist before

was formed, or were once registered with Elections Canada but have become de-registered or ceased to exist due to dissolution.

Non-party parliamentary groups

Designations used by single candidates

* Nationalist Liberal (II) (Fleming Blanchard McCurdy), 1920 – McCurdy won a by-election under the Nationalist Liberal designation, but sat with the

National Liberal and Conservative Party The National Liberal and Conservative Party was the name adopted by the Conservative Party of Canada in 1920 after the end of the Unionist government of Robert Borden. The Conservatives, led by Arthur Meighen, adopted the name in the hope of makin ...

caucus * Protectionist (Joseph-Édouard Moranville), 1926 * Franc Lib (I) (Alfred Edward Watts), 1930 * Prohibition Party (Edwin Clarke Appleby), 1930 * ''

Parti national social chrétien The ''Parti National Social Chrétien'' (English: National Social Christian Party) was a Canadian political party formed by Adrien Arcand in February 1934. The party identified with antisemitism, and German leader Adolf Hitler's Nazism. The par ...

'' (Robert Rae Manville), 1934–1940 * Anti-Communist (I) (Jean Tissot), 1935 * Verdun (Hervé Ferland), 1935 * Veterans Party (Alloys Reginald Sprenger), 1935 * Technocrat (Joseph McCrae Newman), 1935 * Anti-Conscriptionist (Louis-Gérard Gosselin), 1940 * Social Credit-National Unity (Harry Watson Arnold), 1940 * National-Unity (Robert Rae Manville), 1940 * Trades Union (Nigel Morgan), 1945 * Autonomist candidate (Paul Massé), 1947 * Nationalist (II) (Adrien Arcand), 1949, 1953 * Christian Liberal (Howard A. Prentice), 1953 * Anti-Communist (II) (Patrick Walsh), 1953 * Canadian Democrat (Gerry Goeujon), 1957 *

National Credit Control John Bernard Ball ran as a National Credit Control candidate in the federal 1957 Canadian federal election, 1957 federal election in Canada in the Electoral district (Canada), riding of Regina City in Saskatchewan. He won 122 of the 40,813 votes cas ...

(John Bernard Ball), 1957 * ''Capital familial'' (Henri-Georges Grenier), 1957–1962 * Liberal Conservative Coalition (George Rolland), 1957 * ''Parti ouvrier canadien'' (Jean-Jacques Rouleau), 1958 *

League for Socialist Action The League for Socialist Action was a Trotskyist organization in Canada. It was known by several names throughout its history, including the International Left Opposition (Trotskyist) of Canada, the Workers Party of Canada, the Socialist Policy Gr ...

, 1961–1977 * Co-operative Builders of Canada (Edgar-Bernard Charron), 1962 * All Canadian Party (John Darby Naismith), 1962–1962 * ''Parti humain familial'' (Henri-Georges Grenier), 1964 * ''Droit vital personnel'' (Henri-Georges Grenier), 1965 * Progressive Workers Movement (Jerry Le Bourdais), 1965 * ''Esprit Social'' (Henri-Georges Grenier), 1967–1971 * Franc Lib (II) (Jean-Roger Marcotte), 1968 * National Socialist ( Martin K. Weiche), 1968 * New Canada Party (Fred Reiner), 1968 *

Nationalist Party of Canada The Nationalist Party of Canada is an unregistered far-right political party in Canada that was founded in 1977 by white supremacist Don Andrews. The party describes itself as white nationalist, and is known for its antisemitic and racist publi ...

(Bob Smith), founded 1977 *

Christian Democrat Party of Canada The Christian Democrat Party of Canada was a Canadian political party that organized briefly in 1981-82, in an attempt to start a right-wing populist party. The Christian Democrat Party was founded by Sydney Thompson, of Dunnville, Ontario. Thom ...

(Sydney Thompson), 1981 *

Work Less Party The Work Less Party (WLP) was a Canadian federal political party that became eligible for registration with Elections Canada on October 1, 2007. The federal Work Less Party was voluntarily de-registered on July 31, 2010, after applying for and be ...

( Betty Krawczyk), 2007–2010 *

Party for Accountability, Competency and Transparency The Party for Accountability, Competency and Transparency (french: links=no, Parti pour la Responsabilisation, la Compétence et la Transparence, abbreviated as PACT), formerly the Online Party of Canada (french: links=no, Parti Canadien en ligne, ...

(formerly Online Party) (Michael Nicula), 2012–2016 *

Alliance of the North The Alliance of the North (french: Alliance du Nord) was a Canadian social conservative and right-wing populist political party, originating from the province of Quebec. In the 2015 federal election, the party nominated its leader François Béla ...

(François Bélanger), 2013–2019 * The Bridge Party of Canada (David Berlin), 2015–2017 * Seniors Party of Canada (Margaret Leigh Fairbairn), 2014–2016 *

Canada Party The Canada Party was a short-lived political party in Canada that nominated 56 candidates in the 1993 federal election and one candidate in a 1996 by-election. It was unable to win any seats. The party was populist and ran on a platform of bank ...

(II) ( Jim Pankiw) 2015–2016

Senate

Unofficial designations and parties who never ran candidates

The following parties do not appear on the federal election archive. They either did not run candidates in any election or ran candidates as independents. *

Aboriginal Peoples Party of Canada The Aboriginal Peoples Party of Canada (APP) was a Canadian political party that was founded in 2005. The party was conceived by University of Lethbridge student Myron Wolf Child. It held its founding meeting on August 21, 2005, in St. Albert, ...

(founded in 2005) * Action Canada (founded in 1971) *

Canadian Labour Party The Canadian Labour Party (CLP) was an early, unsuccessful attempt at creating a Labour candidates and parties in Canada, national labour party in Canada. Although it ran candidates in the federal elections of 1917 Canadian federal election, 1917, ...

, 1917–1929 * Canadian Party for Renewal, 1993 *

Canadian Union of Fascists The Canadian Fascist Party was a fascist political party based in the city of Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada in the 1930s. The formative core of the party was a splinter group from the Canadian Nationalist Party that found the principles of corporat ...

, 1930s *

Christian Credit Party The Christian Credit Party was a short-lived Canadian political party founded in 1982 by perennial candidate and social credit activist, John Turmel who has, at various times, been involved in the Social Credit Party of Canada, the Green Party of C ...

, 1982–1983 *

Christian Freedom Party of Canada The Christian Freedom Party of Canada, also known as the Christian Freedom/Social Credit Party of Canada, was an unregistered Canadian political party that was active from 1988 to 1996. It grew out of the Social Credit Party of Canada, and for most ...

, c. 1988 – c. 1996 (an extension of the Social Credit Party) * Movement for an Independent Socialist Canada, 1974 *

National Party of Canada The National Party of Canada was a short-lived Canadian political party that contested the 1993 federal election. The party is not related to the earlier National Party that was founded in 1979. Formation Founded and led by Edmonton, Albert ...

(I), 1979–1980s *

New Capitalist Party {{short description, Political party in Canada The New Capitalist Party was a short-lived political party in Canada that nominated three candidates in Toronto-area ridings in the 1965 federal election. The party was founded by Frank O'Hearn, who ...

, 1965 *

New Constitution Party of Canada Neo-Nazism () is the post World War II ideology that promotes white supremacy and specifically antisemitism.Hamm, Mark SAmerican Skinheads: The Criminology and Control of Hate Crime Westport, CT: Praeger Publishers, 1993. In Canada, neo-Nazism has ...

(an unregistered party founded in 2015) *

North American Labour Party The North American Labour Party was a Canadian political party that nominated candidates in federal elections in the 1970s. However, because it was not a registered political party under the rules of Elections Canada, its candidates were consider ...

, 1970s *

National Unity Party The National Unity Party, National United Party, Party of National Unity or National Unity Front may refer to: * National United Party of Afghanistan (founded 2003) * National Unity Party (Albania) * National United Party (Armenia), defunct * Natio ...

, 1938–1949 * People's Co-operative Commonwealth Federation 1945 * Option Canada (founded in 1991) * Revolutionary Workers League, 1977–1989 *

Workers' Communist Party of Canada The Workers' Communist Party (french: Parti communiste ouvrier) was a Canadian Marxist–Leninist political party, founded in 1975 under the name Communist (Marxist–Leninist) League of Canada (''Ligue communiste (marxiste-léniniste) du Canad ...

, 1972–1980

Pre-confederation political parties

* Reform Party (pre-Confederation)

Name changes

;Communist Party The Communist Party of Canada changed its name multiple times in its history. It was founded as the Communist Party of Canada in 1921. It was underground until 1924, and founded a public face, Workers' Party of Canada, from 1922 until 1924 when the Communist Party was legalized. From 1938 until 1943 its candidates ran under the banner Unity or United Progressive, and won one seat. The Communist Party was again banned in 1940, but from 1943 operated under the name

Labor-Progressive Party The Labor-Progressive Party (french: Parti ouvrier-progressiste) was the legal Front organization, front of the Communist Party of Canada from 1943 to 1959. Origins and initial success In the 1940 Canadian federal election, 1940 federal elect ...

. It won one seat under this name in a 1943 by-election, which it retained in 1945. In 1959 it reverted to the name Communist Party of Canada and has kept that name to the present. The Marxist–Leninist Party of Canada unofficially uses the name "Communist Party of Canada (Marxist–Leninist)", but Elections Canada does not allow it to be registered by that name because of potential confusion with the Communist Party of Canada. ;Labour Party Labour Party candidates ran under numerous different designations: * Conservative-Labour (1872–1875) * Farmer Labour * Farmer-United Labour * Labour-Farmer * Liberal-Labour (1926–1968) * National Labour (1940) * United Farmers-Labour (1920) * United Farmers of Ontario-Labour (1919–1940) ;Liberal Party During Robert Borden's coalition government of 1917–1920, the Liberal Party of Canada split into two groups: the

Liberal–Unionist Liberal–Unionists were supporters of the Liberal Party of Canada who, as a result of the Conscription Crisis of 1917 rejected Sir Wilfrid Laurier's leadership and supported the coalition Unionist government of Sir Robert Borden. Much of th ...

who supported the coalition and the

Laurier Liberals Prior to the 1917 federal election in Canada, the Liberal Party of Canada split into two factions. To differentiate the groups, historians tend to use two retrospective names: * The Laurier Liberals, who opposed conscription of soldiers to supp ...

who opposed it. ;Liberal-Progressive Some Liberal-Progressive candidates used the designations: *Liberal-Labour-Progressive or *National Liberal Progressive. ;New Democratic Party The Co-operative Commonwealth Federation used the name New Party from 1958 to 1961 while it was transitioning to become the New Democratic Party. In French, the party used a literal translation of its name, ''Fédération du Commonwealth Coopératif'', from until 1955. ;Conservative Party The first Conservative Party used several different names during its existence: *

Liberal-Conservative Party The Liberal-Conservative Party (french: le Parti libéral-conservateur) was the formal name of the Conservative Party of Canada until 1873, and again from 1922 to 1938, although some Conservative candidates continued to run under the label as la ...

(some MPs until 1911), * Unionist Party (1917–1921), *

(1920–1921), * National Government (1940), * Progressive Conservative Party (1942–2003) The second (and current) Conservative Party of Canada was a merger of the Canadian Alliance and the Progressive Conservative Party. ;Progressive Party and United Farmers Some candidates for the Progressive Party of Canada used United Farmer designations: *

Farmer A farmer is a person engaged in agriculture, raising living organisms for food or raw materials. The term usually applies to people who do some combination of raising field crops, orchards, vineyards, poultry, or other livestock. A farmer mig ...

(1925 & 1930), *

United Farmers of Canada The United Farmers of Canada was a radical farmers organization. It was established in 1926 as the United Farmers of Canada (Saskatchewan Section) as a merger of the Farmers' Union of Canada and the Saskatchewan Grain Growers' Association.MacPh ...

, *

United Farmers of Alberta The United Farmers of Alberta (UFA) is an association of Alberta farmers that has served different roles in its 100-year history – as a lobby group, a successful political party, and as a farm-supply retail chain. As a political party, it forme ...

, or *

United Farmers of Ontario The United Farmers of Ontario (UFO) was an agrarian and populist provincial political party in Ontario, Canada. It was the Ontario provincial branch of the United Farmers movement of the early part of the 20th century. History Foundation and r ...

. ;Rhinoceros Party The first Rhinoceros Party disbanded in 1993. When it was revived in 2006 it used the name "neorhino.ca". The party changed its name to Rhinoceros Party in 2010. ;Social Credit Party and ''Ralliement créditiste'' Some ''Ralliement créditiste'' used the name ''Ralliement des créditistes'' from 1963 to 1967. One candidate used the designation ''Candidats des électeurs'' in 1957 and 1958. Others used the name Union des électeurs, although this was never formally registered. In the 1940 election, 17 candidates ran jointly with the Social Credit Party under the name

New Democracy New Democracy, or the New Democratic Revolution, is a concept based on Mao Zedong's Bloc of Four Social Classes theory in Chinese Communist Revolution, post-revolutionary China which argued originally that democracy in China would take a path ...

Notes

References

External links

Registered Political Parties and Parties Eligible for Registration
{{DEFAULTSORT:List Of Federal Political Parties In Canada

Political parties A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific ideological or pol ...

Current parties

House of Commons

Represented parties

Registered parties

Eligible parties

Non-party parliamentary groups

Senate

Historical parties

House of Commons

Registered parties

Non-party parliamentary groups

Designations used by single candidates

Senate

Unofficial designations and parties who never ran candidates

Pre-confederation political parties

Name changes

See also

Notes

References

External links