Editing Politics of Canada (section)

==Political conditions==
{{More citations needed section|date=October 2018}}
Canada is considered by most sources to be a very stable democracy. In 2006, ''[[The Economist]]'' ranked Canada the third-most democratic nation in its [[Democracy Index]], ahead of all other nations in the Americas and ahead of every nation more populous than itself. According to the [[V-Dem Democracy indices]], in 2023 Canada was the 19th most electoral democratic country in the world.<ref name="vdem_dataset">{{cite web |last=V-Dem Institute |date=2023 |title=The V-Dem Dataset |url=https://www.v-dem.net/data/the-v-dem-dataset/ |access-date=14 October 2023}}</ref><ref>[https://www.v-dem.net/documents/29/V-dem_democracyreport2023_lowres.pdf Democracy Report 2023, Table 3, V-Dem Institute, 2023]</ref>

More recently, with the existence of strong third parties and first-past-the-post elections amongst other factors, Canada on a federal and provincial level has experienced huge swings in seat shares, where third parties (e.g. NDP, Reform) end up (usually briefly) replacing the Liberals, the Progressive Conservatives or the Conservatives as the main opposition or even the government and leaving them as a rump. Such examples federally include the [[1993 Canadian federal election|1993 federal election]] with the collapse of the Progressive Conservatives, and the [[2011 Canadian federal election|2011 election]] leaving the Liberal Party a (temporary) rump along with Bloc Québécois. Other examples include the changes of fortune for the Alberta NDP during the province's 2015 and 2019 elections, and possibly the 2018 Quebec elections with the rise of [[Coalition Avenir Québec]] taking government from the Liberals and [[Parti Québécois]].
[[File:GoverningPoliticalPartyByProvince v2.png|thumb|250x250px|The governing political party(s) in each Canadian province. Multicoloured provinces are governed by a coalition or minority government consisting of more than one party.]]
On a provincial level, in the legislatures of western provinces the NDP often is the left-leaning main party instead of that province's Liberal Party branch, the latter generally being a rump or smaller than the NDP. The other main party (right of the NDP) is either the Progressive Conservatives or their successor, or the Saskatchewan Party in Saskatchewan.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Renzsch |first=Wolfgang |date=2001 |title=Bifurcated and Integrated Parties in Parliamentary Federations |url=https://www.queensu.ca/iigr/sites/iirwww/files/uploaded_files/2001-4WolfgangRenzsch.pdf |journal=Queen's Institute of Intergovernmental Relations Working Papers |pages=10}}</ref>

=== Party systems ===
{{Main|Party system#Canada}}According to recent scholars, there have been four party systems in [Canada] at the federal level since Confederation, each with its own distinctive pattern of social support, [[patronage]] relationships, leadership styles, and electoral strategies.<ref>[[Party system#Gag07|Gagnon and Tanguay, 2007]]: 1</ref>  Political scientists disagree on the names and precise boundaries of the eras, however.  Steve Patten identifies four party systems in Canada's political history<ref>[[Party system#Pat07|Patten, 2007]]: 57–58</ref>

Clarkson (2005) shows how the [[Liberal Party of Canada|Liberal Party]] has dominated all the party systems, using different approaches. It began with a  "clientelistic approach" under [[Sir Wilfrid Laurier|Laurier]], which evolved into a "brokerage" system of the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s under [[William Lyon Mackenzie King|Mackenzie King]]. The 1950s saw the emergence of a "pan-Canadian system", which lasted until the 1990s. The 1993 election — categorized by Clarkson as an electoral "earthquake" which "fragmented" the party system, saw the emergence of regional politics within a four party-system, whereby various groups championed regional issues and concerns. Clarkson concludes that the inherent bias built into the first-past-the-post system, has chiefly benefited the Liberals.<ref>Stephen Clarkson, ''The Big Red Machine: How the Liberal Party Dominates Canadian Politics'' (2005)</ref>

===Party funding===
The rules governing the funding of parties are designed to ensure reliance on personal contributions. Personal donations to federal parties and campaigns benefit from tax credits, although the amount of tax relief depends on the amount given. Also only people paying income taxes receive any benefit from this.

The rules are based on the belief that union or business funding should not be allowed to have as much impact on federal election funding as these are not contributions from citizens and are not evenly spread out between parties. The new rules stated that a party had to receive 2% of the vote nationwide in order to receive the general federal funding for parties. Each vote garnered a certain dollar amount for a party (approximately $1.75) in future funding. For the initial disbursement, approximations were made based on previous elections. The NDP received more votes than expected (its national share of the vote went up) while the new Conservative Party of Canada received fewer votes than had been estimated and was asked to refund the difference. [[Quebec]] was the first province to implement a similar system of funding many years before the changes to funding of federal parties.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Reid |first=Madeline |date=April 2018 |title=Chapter 13 {{!}} Campaign Finance Laws: Controlling the Risks of Corruption and Public Cynicism |url=https://dspace.library.uvic.ca/bitstream/handle/1828/9253/Ch.%2013_April2018_web.pdf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220308131918/https://dspace.library.uvic.ca/bitstream/handle/1828/9253/Ch.%2013_April2018_web.pdf |archive-date=March 8, 2022 |access-date=January 22, 2023 |website=University of Victoria}}</ref>

[[Federal political financing in Canada|Federal funds]] are disbursed quarterly to parties, beginning at the start of 2005. For the moment, this disbursement delay leaves the NDP and the Green Party in a better position to fight an election, since they rely more on individual contributors than federal funds. The Green Party now receives federal funds, since it for the first time received a sufficient share of the vote in the 2004 election.<ref name="debates">[http://ca.reuters.com/article/topNews/idCAN1039064420080910 ''Greens win spot in TV election debates'', Reuters Canada, September 10, 2008] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080910233525/http://ca.reuters.com/article/topNews/idCAN1039064420080910 |date=September 10, 2008 }}, (accessed September 10, 2008)</ref>

In 2007, news emerged of a funding loophole that "could cumulatively exceed the legal limit by more than $60,000", through anonymous recurrent donations of $200 to every riding of a party from corporations or unions. At the time, for each individual, the legal annual donation limit was $1,100 for each party, $1,100 combined total for each party's associations, and in an election year, an additional $1,100 combined total for each party's candidates. All three limits increase on 1 April every year based on the inflation rate.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://thetyee.ca/Views/2007/08/13/DemoSale/ |title=Our Democracy for Sale, Still |access-date=August 16, 2007 |last=Conacher |first=Duff |date=August 13, 2007 |work=The Tyee |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071017135000/http://thetyee.ca/Views/2007/08/13/DemoSale/ |archive-date=October 17, 2007 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/Page/document/v5/content/subscribe?user_URL=https://www.theglobeandmail.com%2Fservlet%2Fstory%2FRTGAM.20070802.wdonations02%2FBNStory%2FNational%2Fhome%2Fangle&ord=20544885 |title=Ottawa refuses to close donation loophole |access-date=August 16, 2007 |last=Leblanc |first=Daniel |author2=Jane Taber |date=August 2, 2007 |work=Globe and Mail |location=Canada |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070930140829/http://nationalcitizens.ca/cgi-bin/news.cgi?rm=display&articleID=1186055872&search=&category=3&order=&page=1 |archive-date=Sep 30, 2007 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20070801.wdonationsloophole01/BNStory/National/home |title=Loophole tears lid off political donations |access-date=August 16, 2007 |last=Leblanc |first=Daniel |date=August 1, 2007 |work=Globe and Mail |location=Canada }}{{Dead link|date=July 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>

Two of the biggest federal political parties in Canada experienced a drop in donations in 2020, in light of the COVID-19 pandemic impact on the global economy.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://globalnews.ca/news/7244145/coronavirus-political-party-donations/|title=Canadians donated far less to federal political parties in height of coronavirus pandemic|access-date=1 August 2020|website=Global News}}</ref>

=== Political parties, leaders and status ===
<small>''Ordered by number of elected representatives in the House of Commons''</small>
* [[Liberal Party of Canada|Liberal Party]]: [[Mark Carney]], [[Prime Minister of Canada]] 
* [[Conservative Party of Canada|Conservative Party]]: [[Pierre Poilievre]]
* [[Bloc Québécois]]: [[Yves-François Blanchet]]
* [[New Democratic Party]]: [[Don Davies]] (interim)
* [[Green Party of Canada|Green Party]]: [[Elizabeth May]]

===Leaders' debates===
{{Main|Canadian leaders debates}}
Leaders' debates in Canada consist of two debates, one English and one French,<ref name="TarasWaddell2012">{{cite book|author1=David Taras|author2=Christopher Waddell|title=How Canadians Communicate IV: Media and Politics|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6bdw1VFSQuoC&pg=PA85|year=2012|publisher=Athabasca University Press|isbn=978-1-926836-81-2|pages=85–}}</ref> both produced by a consortium of Canada's five major television broadcasters ([[CBC Television|CBC]]/[[Ici Radio-Canada Télé|SRC]], [[CTV Television Network|CTV]], [[Global Television Network|Global]] and [[TVA (Canada)|TVA]]) and usually consist of the leaders of all parties with representation in the House of Commons.

These debates air on the networks of the producing consortium as well as the public affairs and parliamentary channel [[CPAC (TV channel)|CPAC]] and the American public affairs network [[C-SPAN]].