Introduction to Political Parties in Canada

1. Political Parties Review

2. What is a political party? According to the Canada Elections Act a political party is defined as: "an organization one of whose fundamental purposes is to participate in public affairs by endorsing one or more of its members as candidates and supporting their election."

3. What does that mean? A political party wants to be involved in making up the government of Canada A political party is made up of people who support each other by nominating individuals to run for office. A political party shares a common belief or ideology. They have a platform

4. Platform A political platform is what the party believes in and stands for It may include statements of what they will do if elected

5. How do you form a party? signed membership declarations of 250 members it must have endorsed one or more confirmed candidates for a general election or by-election.

6. Conservative Party The Conservative Party of Canada is a creation of the merger of both the Canadian Alliance and the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada. The merger of the parties took place in December 2003 after the Conservative Party Agreement-in-Principle between the current Prime Minister Stephen Harper (then leader of the CA), and Peter MacKay (then leader of the Progressive Conservative Party). The party currently forms the government of Canada in a minority position. Party headquarters are in Ottawa Ontario, and the party's official website is www.conservative.ca.

7. Liberal Party of Canada Canada's oldest continuously running federal political party is the Liberal Party of Canada. Founded July 1, 1867, the Liberal Party has often been the party to lead Canada. This centre-left party has its headquarters in Ottawa Ontario, and is currently the Official Opposition in the Canadian Parliament. The interim Leader of the Liberal Party is Michael Ignatieff, and the official website can be found at www.liberal.ca

8. NDP The New Democratic Party, which was founded on June 17, 1961, currently holds seats in the House of Commons and forms the governments of Manitoba and Saskatchewan. The federal NDP are a centre-left party lead by Jack Layton, and the party headquarters are in Ottawa Ontario. Visit the federal NDP website at www.ndp.ca

9. Bloc Quebecois The Bloc Quebecois are a centre-left party that is devoted to the goal of sovereignty for Quebec. It only runs candidates in Quebec and does currently have seats in Parliament. Founded in 1991 the current party leader is Gilles Duceppe. The party headquarters are in Montreal Quebec. Visit their official website at www.blocquebecois.org.

10. Green Party The largest of the federally registered political parties without seats in the House of Commons, the Green Party of Canada was founded in 1983 around a green platform. The current party leader is Elizabeth May, and the party headquarters are in Ottawa Ontario. The Greens try to run candidates in every riding during the federal elections. In 2008 the Green Party received 940,747 total votes but won no seats. The official site for the Green Party can be found at www.greenparty.ca