Third party (Canada)

In Canada, a third party usually refers to a relatively small federal or provincial political party that is not usually considered to have a realistic chance of forming a government, but has representation in the federal House of Commons or the provincial legislature. However, due to the Parliamentary form of government, during minority government situations, third parties may hold the balance of power, and thus exercise significant control over the government's policy. In some cases, such a party has swept to power by "coming through the middle", as with the emergence of the Social Credit Party of British Columbia in 1952-53.

In Canadian politics, the term "third party" is also sometimes used to refer to agents other than candidates and voters who participate in elections. For example, campaign advertisements funded by groups other than the parties and candidates running may be called "third party advertising". This term has become more prevalent recently, since the current Canadian Parliament has seated members from four different parties, making the usual usage less meaningful.

Federal third parties

On the federal level, since the formation of Canada in 1867, for most of the time the political scene has been dominated by the Liberal Party and the Progressive Conservative, and its successor, the modern Conservative Party. The first notable third party was the Progressive Party, which appeared in 1920 and had a strong showing in the 1921 elections coming second after the Liberal party. Its success did not last long, however: in the following election of 1925 the Progressive Party came only third, though it did hold the balance of power in the resulting minority government; by the mid-30s it had effectively disappeared.

After the Great Depression two new third parties emerged: the democratic socialist, Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF), formed from the remnants of the Progressive Party, and the right-wing, Social Credit Party of Canada, which sought reform of monetary policy. Both parties persisted for several decades with varying degrees of success. After a gradual decline Social Credit lost its remaining seats in the 1980 federal election and never recovered. The CCF was reorganized into the social democratic, New Democratic Party (NDP) in 1961 and officially aligned itself with the Canadian Labour Congress. The NDP played a significant role in both Liberal and Conservative led minority parliaments afterwards, particularly from 1963-1968 and 1972-1974.

Following the 1993 election, the division between the "main" and the "third" parties started to break down, due to the poor showing by the Progressive Conservative Party and the rise of the Reform Party and the Quebec-based Bloc Québécois. While the Bloc could never form a government because it never contested ridings outside Quebec, the Reform Party and its successor Canadian Alliance had some modest success and eventually merged with the Progressive Conservative Party to form the new Conservative Party which forms the current federal government.

The federal election of 2011 saw a further realignment of Canadian party politics as the New Democratic Party made significant gains, allowing it to emerge as the official opposition. For the first time in Canadian history the Liberal Party was reduced to third party status. The Bloc Quebecois which had been the third largest party in the House of Commons since 1997 was reduced to only four seats while a new party, the Greens made their debut in the House after winning a single seat.

Provincial third parties

A number of provinces in Canada have a two-party system (that is, the two major political parties alternate governing, though the identity of these parties may change over time). Provinces west of Quebec have, for most of the 20th and 21st centuries, had a three-party system, though the identity of these parties may have changed over time. For the most part, these are the provincial Liberals, provincial Progressive Conservatives and the NDP.

Provincial parties that may currently be considered third parties are:

• In Newfoundland and Labrador, the New Democratic Party of Newfoundland and Labrador.
• In Prince Edward Island, the Green Party of Prince Edward Island.
• In Nova Scotia, the Progressive Conservative Association of Nova Scotia
• In New Brunswick, the New Brunswick New Democratic Party.
• In Ontario, the Ontario New Democratic Party.
• In Manitoba, the Manitoba Liberal Party.
• In Saskatchewan, the Saskatchewan Liberal Party.
• In Quebec, Action démocratique du Québec

In Alberta, the concept of a third party may be misleading since typically elections are not competitive between even two parties. All of Alberta’s past governments formed very long political dynasties, which then disappeared, never to hold power again. Since 2011, the Wildrose Alliance Party of Alberta has been the third party in the legislature. The Alberta New Democratic Party is the fourth after a long stint as the third.

In Quebec, the Action démocratique du Québec, third in the Quebec National Assembly has recently been considered the province's third party, despite briefly leading in public opinion polls in the early 2000s. In 2007 they became official opposition status, but in 2008 lost most of their seats.

In Nova Scotia, the Nova Scotia Liberal Party has traditionally been one of the two major parties, along with the Progressive Conservative Association of Nova Scotia. However, in the 1999, 2003, and 2006 elections the NDP outperformed the Liberals each time, leading to the NDP and the Liberals to largely switch places in provincial elections. Also, during John Hamm's minority government after the 2003 election the Tories collaborated with the NDP instead of the Liberals, largely leaving them out of policy making decisions. The trend of the Liberals being outperformed changed in 2009 when Nova Scotia voters elected the first NDP government, with the Liberals forming the opposition. The Tories were relegated to the position of third party with only ten seats.

In British Columbia, the British Columbia Liberal Party was a third party from 1953 to 1991, and eclipsed the British Columbia Social Credit Party to become one of the two major parties. The Green Party of British Columbia was third in the 2005 election with over 9% of the popular vote, wherein the fourth finishing party and down all received less than 1%. It would generally be identified as the province's third party since at least that election. However, the Greens have never held a seat in the Legislative Assembly, while several others recently have. Since the 1991 election in chronological order, these were British Columbia Social Credit Party, the Reform Party of British Columbia, the Progressive Democratic Alliance, and Democratic Reform British Columbia. Except for the PDA, these are all still registered parties.

Status of provincial third parties

Province	Party	Party Leader	Seats held	Recent Popular Vote in %	Last Election
Newfoundland and Labrador	NDP	Lorraine Michael	1/48	8.21%	2007
Prince Edward Island	Green	Sharon Labchuk	0/27	3.04%	2007
Nova Scotia	Progressive Conservative	Jamie Baillie	8/52	24.54%	2009
New Brunswick	NDP	Dominic Cardy	0/55	5.13%	2006
Quebec	ADQ	Gérard Deltell	4/125	16.35%	2008
Ontario	NDP	Andrea Horwath	10/107	16.76%	2007
Manitoba	Liberal	Jon Gerrard	2/57	12.36%	2007
Saskatchewan	Liberal	Ryan Bater	0/58	9.49%	2007
Alberta	Wildrose Alliance	Danielle Smith	4/83	6.77%	2008
British Columbia	Green	Jane Sterk	0/79	8.1%	2009
Yukon	NDP	Elizabeth Hanson	3/18	23.6%	2006