46th Canadian Federal Election

The 46th Canadian federal election will elect members of the House of Commons to the 46th Canadian Parliament. The '' Canada Elections Act'' requires that the election be held no later than October 15, 2029, but it may be called earlier.

Date of the election

Under the fixed-date provisions of the '' Canada Elections Act'', a federal election must be held on the third Monday in October in the fourth calendar year after the polling day of the previous election. The previous election was held in 2025, therefore an election must occur on October 15, 2029; however, the election may occur before the fixed deadline if the governor general dissolves Parliament on the recommendation of the prime minister, either for a snap election or after the government loses a vote on a supply bill (which has not happened since 1979) or a specific motion of no confidence (which has not happened since 2011). Early elections are more likely to occur during minority governments because the prime minister does not control a majority in the House of Commons and thus is more likely to lose votes in the House.

Background

In the 2025 Canadian federal election, the incumbent Liberal Party led by Prime Minister Mark Carney won a plurality of seats but failed to win enough seats to gain a parliamentary majority, continuing their six-year tenure as a minority government and marking the third consecutive term of a Liberal minority government. The party won a majority government in 2015, after almost ten years of Conservative leadership, but later it was reduced to a minority government in the 2019 election and remained as such in 2021.

The Conservative Party continued as the Official Opposition, with party leader Pierre Poilievre losing re-election in his seat of Carleton after nearly 21 years to Liberal candidate Bruce Fanjoy. Damien Kurek, the Conservative member of Parliament–elect for the riding of Battle River—Crowfoot, announced his intentions to resign on May 2, 2025, allowing Poilievre to run in a by-election. Kurek must wait 30 days after election results are published in the Canada Gazette in order to officially resign, and plans to run for the Alberta seat again in the next general election. On May 6, Andrew Scheer became the leader of the Official Opposition, as Poilievre could not officially hold the title without a seat in Parliament.

Jagmeet Singh, the leader of the New Democratic Party, also lost his seat, with the party winning just seven seats, resulting in the loss of the party's official party status for the first time since 1993. As a result, Singh announced his intention to resign from the leadership of the NDP once an interim leader was chosen. On May 5, Don Davies was chosen by the party's Federal Council as interim leader of the NDP until the next leadership election.

Jonathan Pedneault, the co-leader of the Green Party, was not elected to a seat in Parliament, with the party winning just one seat and receiving its lowest share of the popular vote since 2000. As a result, Pedneault announced his resignation as co-leader shortly after the election.

Notes

References

{{Elections in Canada

Federal, 46
2029