Most liberals will either hold their nose and vote Liberal or support the New Democratic Party (my party!), which is a social democratic party (much like Britain's Labour Party or the African National Congress of South Africa) that has been the only real opposition to hack-and-slash economics.

Federal:

There are five major parties in federal politics....

The Liberal Party (Traditionally centerist, now center-right)

Leader: Prime Minister Jean Chretien
Leader since 1991, Prime Minister since 1993
From Quebec, his personal popularity is very low. He has had trouble keeping his own seat throughout his career. His party will not likely allow him to run for another election.

Status: 155 seats

The Liberal party traditionally has it's support base in the Maritime Provinces (11 seats) but had that disapate in the last election. In Quebec (26 seats), Much of upper-class Montreal votes Liberal. Ontario (101 seats) Liberals have heavily increased their support base in Ontario, but it has not translated into provincial sucess. In the Western provinces, the Liberals have lost a lot of support, but pockets still exist in Manitoba (6 seats), Edmonton, Alberta (2 seats), Southern B.C. (6 Seats), and the Northwest Territories (2 seats).

The Reform Party (populist-conservative)

Leader: Preston Manning
Leader since 1987
From Alberta, Manning built the Reform Party from the ashes of his father's (Alberta Premier Ernest Manning) Social Credit party and raised it to new heights. However, his image is very rough and intimidating to eastern voters. His party has put a great deal of resources into changing his image, with little sucess.

Status: 59 Seats

While the Reform Party has been overwhelmingly sucessful in Western Canada gaining massive support bases in B.C. (25 seats), Alberta (24 seats), and Saskatchewan (8 Seats), it's support in Central and Eastern Canada has not translated into seats, despite heavily campaigning. There was a slight improvement in Manitoba (3 seats), but gains in Ontario (0 seats), Nova Scotia (0 Seats), and New Brunswick (0 Seats) never materialized. The reform Party declined to run any sort of major campaign in Newfoundland or Quebec.

Bloc Quebecois (separatist)

Leader: Gilles Duceppe
Leader since 1997
A former marxist, Duceppe has avoided labeling himself politically. His party is a mix of conservatives, liberals, and social democrats who want to make Quebec a separate country. His tenure as leader has been plagued with gaffes of all sorts. He barely survived the 1997 election.

Party status: 44 seats

As a "separatiste" party, the BQ only runs candidates in Quebec. The 1997 election was a very unsucessful campaign, but still resulted in a respectable showing.

The New Democratic Party (populist-social democratic)

Leader: Alexa McDonough
Leader since 1995
From Nova Scotia, Alexa McDonough has managed to lead a big comeback for the NDP. The former social worker was an unexpected choice as leader. Many were very skeptical of her ability to attract voters (including me), but she has managed to prove them wrong after a sucessful 1997 election.

Status: 21 Seats

The New Democratic Party staged a comeback after a disasterous 1993 election that almost wiped the party out. It went from a dismal nine seats to a respectable 21 in 1997. Also, the NDP exploded onto the Maritime political scene, where it had been previously non-exsistent. The party won it's first ridings in Nova Scotia (six seats) and New Brunswick (2) and threatend for seats in Newfoundland and Prince Edward Island. It held on to it's traditional support in Saskatchewan (five seats) and recaptured some previous support in B.C. (three seats), the Yukon (the one and only seat in the Yukon), and Manitoba (four seats). The only blight was the NDP's inability to win a seat in Ontario. The NDP traditionally has little support in Quebec.

The Progressive Conservative Party (conservative)

Leader: Jean Charest
Leader since 1994
From Quebec, Charest is more popular personally in his home province than any other politican. However, outside Quebec, he is crowded out because of being in fifth place in Parliament. Powerful Ontario and Alberta PC's don't like him because they feel he isn't right-wing enough, despite campaigning on a hard-line right-wing economical platform in 1997. His leadership may be the most unstable of all the leaders.

Status: 20 Seats

The PC's were demolished in 1993, because of the legacy of extremely unpopular Prime Minister Brian Mulroney. Overnight, the party went from 167 seats to two. Charest and New Brunswick MP Elsie Wayne were the only survivors. The "Tories" (as they are often referred to) were rebuilt during the next three and a half years and went into the next election hunting for huge improvements of 50-75 seats. It never came. They were hammered and shut out in the Yukon, Northwest Territories, B.C., Aberta, Saskatchewan, and Prince Edward Island, all area that had good previous support for the PC's. They won one seat in Manitoba as a fluke and one seat in Ontario. Eastern Canada was more supportive as the PC's won seat in Quebec (5), New Brunswick (5), Newfoundland (3), and Nova Scotia (5).

Independents

Status: One seat

John Nunziata re-won an Ontario seat as an Independant Liberal after being turfed out of the Liberal party during a policy dispute.

Vacancies: One

Canadian Politics
A guide to the who's who of Canadian politics.

A look at the provinces
The political leanings for Canada's provinces.

A look at the cities
A mini version of the Turn Left city list, for Canada.