On
November 28,
2000 Canada held a
federal election[?]. The Liberals had called the election a month before and throuhgout the campaign had been expected to easily win a third consecutive
majority government[?], which they did. The elction was regarded as a great success by
Jean Chrétien and the
Liberals, but as a failure for everyone else. Without important issues or a very exciting campaign
voter turnout[?] reached arecord 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 in to 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 a major improvements. The Alliance campainged on tax cuts, and end to the Federal gun registration program, and family values. The campaign was doged with accusations of wanting to introduce a two-tier healthcare system[?] and for threatening gay rights and abortion rights, all of which they denied. The Alliance ended up winning only two minor Ottawa Valley[?] ridings and fail to make any real progress. This lead to the eventual downfall of Day the next year. The Alliance improved by only 6 seats moving from 60 to 66. They did, however, retain their official opposition status.
- The Bloc Quebecois 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 intensively on the issue of medicare, but failed to make much headway with voters. Their seat count fell from 21 to 13.
Results:
- Seats Popular Vote %
- Liberals 172 40.8
- Canadian Alliance 66 25.5
- Bloc Quebecois 38 10.7
- NDP 13 8.5
- PC 12 12.2
See also 1997 Canadian Election[?]