{{Politics of Canada In

Canadian politics The politics of Canada functions within a framework of Parliamentary system, parliamentary democracy and a federation, federal system of Parliament of Canada, parliamentary government with strong democratic traditions. Canada is a constitutio ...

, a leadership convention is held by a political party when the party needs to choose a

leader Leadership, is defined as the ability of an individual, group, or organization to "", influence, or guide other individuals, teams, or organizations. "Leadership" is a contested term. Specialist literature debates various viewpoints on the co ...

due to a vacancy or a challenge to the incumbent leader.

Overview

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

, leaders of a party generally remain that party's ''de facto'' candidate for

Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

until they die, resign, or are dismissed by the party. In the federal

New Democratic Party The New Democratic Party (NDP; , ) is a federal political party in Canada. Widely described as social democratic,The party is widely described as social democratic: * * * * * * * * * * * * * The Editors of ''Encyclopædia Britann ...

(NDP) and some provincial NDPs, the position of party leader was treated as all other positions on the party's executive committee, and open for election at party conventions generally held every two years although incumbent leaders rarely face more than token opposition. Usually, outgoing leaders of a Canadian political party remain as leaders until their successor is chosen at a leadership convention. However, in some circumstances, such as the death or immediate resignation of a leader, that is not possible, and an interim leader is appointed by the party for the duration of the leadership campaign. In a few instances where a single leadership candidate has been unopposed by the entry deadline, the leadership convention has instead served as a venue for the membership to

ratify Ratification is a principal's legal confirmation of an act of its agent. In international law, ratification is the process by which a state declares its consent to be bound to a treaty. In the case of bilateral treaties, ratification is usuall ...

the candidate. Even in such situations, however, the convention must still take place before the candidate can assume the formal and permanent leadership of the party, even if they are already serving as the party's interim leader. Traditionally, each

riding association An electoral district association (), commonly known as a riding association () or constituency association, is the basic unit of a political party at the level of the electoral district An electoral (congressional, legislative, etc.) distr ...

of a party holds a special meeting to elect a fixed number of delegates to represent it at a leadership convention. These meetings would often select "alternate delegates" or "alternates", who would attend the convention but vote only if one of the delegates from the riding association was unable to attend. In addition, delegates are often selected by the party's youth and women's associations in each riding, and party associations at university and college campuses. In addition to the elected delegates, a large number of ''ex officio'' delegates attend and vote at leadership conventions. These ''ex officio'' delegates are automatically entitled to attend by virtue of being an elected member of parliament for that party, a member of an affiliated party in a provincial legislature, a member of the party's national or provincial executive, of the executive of an affiliated women's or youth organization. Because of the implementation of " one member one vote" (OMOV) systems and proportional delegate elections by most parties, conventions have declined in importance. In recent years, the result of the vote is either known before the convention, or the voting does not take place at the venue. In a pure "one-member one-vote" system, each party member casts a ballot to elect the leader, and all ballots have equal weight. Modified OMOV systems may allow all members to vote but may weight the votes differently in order to ensure equality among ridings regardless of party membership or to guarantee a proportion of the vote to historically important constituencies (such as labour in the case of the NDP). The

Liberal Party of Canada The Liberal Party of Canada (LPC; , ) is a federal political party in Canada. The party espouses the principles of liberalism,McCall, Christina; Stephen Clarkson"Liberal Party". ''The Canadian Encyclopedia''. and generally sits at the Centrism, ...

held the first leadership convention in 1919, electing

William Lyon Mackenzie King William Lyon Mackenzie King (December 17, 1874 – July 22, 1950) was a Canadian statesman and politician who was the tenth prime minister of Canada for three non-consecutive terms from 1921 to 1926, 1926 to 1930, and 1935 to 1948. A Liberal ...

. Prior to that the leader of the party was chosen by the party's parliamentary

caucus A caucus is a group or meeting of supporters or members of a specific political party or movement. The exact definition varies between different countries and political cultures. The term originated in the United States, where it can refer to ...

. The historical Conservative Party used a leadership convention to select R.B. Bennett as party leader in 1927. The

Parti Québécois The Parti Québécois (PQ; , ) is a sovereignist and social democratic provincial political party in Quebec, Canada. The PQ advocates national sovereignty for Quebec involving independence of the province of Quebec from Canada and establishi ...

was the first political party in Canada to adopt an OMOV system. Most provincial and federal parties adopted forms of OMOV in the 1990s. Until 2003, when it adopted an OMOV system, every biennial convention of the

Co-operative Commonwealth Federation The Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF; , FCC) was a federal democratic socialism, democratic socialistThe following sources describe the CCF as a democratic socialist political party: * * * * * * and social democracy, social-democ ...

and of its successor, the New Democratic Party, in the twentieth century was a leadership convention. However, in practice, contested elections were only held in the NDP when there was a declared leadership race. Both the modern Conservative Party and the NDP have instituted "one-member one-vote" systems in recent years. In 2003, the federal NDP used a modified system where the vote was calculated so that ballots cast by labour delegates had 25% weight in the total result while votes cast by party members had 75%. While this modification is still used by some provincial sections of the NDP, the federal NDP now uses a pure OMOV process without a carve-out for labour affiliates. In 2004, the modern Conservative Party adopted the Progressive Conservative Party system of OMOV, where each riding had equal weight in a point system, with each riding being assigned 100 points, regardless of the number of votes cast in that riding. The party's other predecessors, the

Reform Party of Canada The Reform Party of Canada () was a right-wing populism, right-wing populist and conservative List of federal political parties in Canada, federal political party in Canada that existed from 1987 to 2000. Reform was founded as a Western Canada- ...

and

Canadian Alliance The Canadian Alliance (), formally the Canadian Reform Conservative Alliance (), was a centre-right to right-wing federal political party in Canada that existed under that name from 2000 to 2003. The Canadian Alliance was the new name of the ...

, had pure OMOV systems. In 2021, the party constitution was amended to award one point per vote cast in a riding, up to a maximum of 100 points. The Liberals were the last federal party to select their leaders using delegated conventions, though more recent Liberal conventions used a system where delegates in a riding were apportioned by

proportional representation Proportional representation (PR) refers to any electoral system under which subgroups of an electorate are reflected proportionately in the elected body. The concept applies mainly to political divisions (Political party, political parties) amon ...

. In 2009 the Liberal Party approved a constitutional amendment requiring future leadership elections to be conducted using a modified OMOV system in which each riding is accorded equal weight. The 2009 convention that ratified

Michael Ignatieff Michael Grant Ignatieff ( ; born May 12, 1947) is a Canadian author, academic and former politician who served as leader of the Liberal Party and leader of the Opposition from 2008 until 2011. Known for his work as a historian, Ignatieff has ...

's leadership was conducted under the old rules. The last delegated Liberal convention to feature a contested race was the 2006 convention that chose Stéphane Dion. The

Bloc Québécois The Bloc Québécois (, , BQ) is a centre-left politics, centre-left and list of federal political parties in Canada, federal political party in Canada devoted to Quebec nationalism, Quebecois nationalism, social democracy, and the promotion o ...

has used a pure OMOV system since 1997.

Recent federal conventions

The

Conservatives Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilizati ...

held their most recent leadership election on September 10, 2022 due to

Erin O’Toole Erin Michael O'Toole (born January 22, 1973) is a Canadian lawyer, former military officer and politician who was the leader of the Conservative Party of Canada and the Leader of the Official Opposition (Canada), leader of the Official Opposi ...

’s resignation as party leader following the party's poorer-than-expected showing in the 2021 federal election. The Conservatives elected Pierre Poilievre as its new leader on the first ballot. The

held its most recent leadership election on October 1, 2017, due to incumbent leader Thomas Mulcair having lost a vote on a

leadership review In Canadian politics, a leadership review is a vote held at a political party convention in which delegates decide whether to endorse the incumbent party leader or schedule a leadership convention to elect a new leader. In most parties at present, ...

at the New Democratic Party's federal convention held in

Edmonton Edmonton is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Alberta. It is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Central Alberta ...

Alberta Alberta is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Canada. It is a part of Western Canada and is one of the three Canadian Prairies, prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to its west, Saskatchewan to its east, t ...

on April 10, 2016. The NDP chose Jagmeet Singh as its new leader. The

held its most recent leadership election on January 17, 2019 and chose Yves-François Blanchet as leader. The

Green Party A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as environmentalism and social justice. Green party platforms typically embrace Social democracy, social democratic economic policies and fo ...

held its most recent leadership election between September 26 and October 3, 2020 and chose Annamie Paul as leader on the eighth ballot. With Paul's resignation as leader on November 10, 2021, necessitating a future leadership election. The Liberals held its most recent recent leadership election between February 26 and March 9, 2025, following Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's announcement of his intention to resign. Mark Carney was elected as leader on the first ballot with 86% of the vote.

External links

List of Leadership Conventions (Parliament of Canada site)
Political terminology in Canada *

Overview

Recent federal conventions

See also

Active federal parties

Defunct federal parties

Provincial parties

Alberta

British Columbia

Manitoba

New Brunswick

Newfoundland and Labrador

Nova Scotia

Ontario

Prince Edward Island

Quebec

Saskatchewan

External links