office_contested canadian federal election
Joseph Jacques Jean Chrétien ( born January 11 , 1934 ), known commonly as Jean Chrétien , is a Canadian politician and statesman who served as the 20th ___MASK16___ from November 4 , 1993 to December 12 , 2003 . The New Democratic Party ( NDP NPD ) is a social - democratic political party in Canada . The leader of the federal wing of the NDP is Thomas Mulcair , who was elected in the 2012 ___MASK10___ election , led the party through the 2015 federal election and then lost a party ___MASK10___ review on April 10 , 2016 . Mulcair will remain as leader , until his replacement is chosen at a ___MASK10___ election to be held in 2017 . Lucien Bouchard , ( born December 22 , 1938 ) is a French Canadian lawyer , diplomat , politician and former Minister of the Environment of the Canadian Federal Government . He was the founder of the Bloc Québécois , Leader of the Opposition in the Canadian House of Commons from 1993 to 1996 , and the 27th ___MASK50___ of Quebec from January 29 , 1996 , to March 8 , 2001 . He became a central figure for the " Yes " side in the 1995 Quebec referendum . The Bloc Québécois ( BQ ) is a federal political party in Canada devoted to Quebec nationalism and the promotion of Quebec sovereignty . The Bloc was formed by Members of Parliament who defected from the federal Progressive Conservative Party and Liberal Party during the collapse of the Meech Lake Accord . Founder Lucien Bouchard was a cabinet minister in the federal Progressive Conservative government of Brian Mulroney . The Liberal Party of Canada , colloquially known as the Grits , is the oldest federal political party in Canada . The party espouses the principles of liberalism , and generally sits at the centre of the Canadian political spectrum . The Liberal Party is traditionally positioned to the left of the Conservative Party of Canada and to the right of the New Democratic Party ( NDP ). The Canadian federal election of 1997 was held on June 2 , 1997 , to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons of the 36th Parliament of Canada . ___MASK29___ Jean Chrétien ' s Liberal Party of Canada won a second majority government . The Reform Party of Canada replaced the Bloc Québécois as the Official Opposition . The election results closely reflected the pattern that had been set out in the 1993 election . The Liberals swept Ontario while a divided Bloc managed to win a reduced majority in Quebec . Reform made sufficient gains in the West to allow Preston Manning to become Leader of the Official Opposition , but lost its only seat east of Manitoba . The most significant change was major gains in Atlantic Canada by the New Democratic Party ( NDP ) and the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada . The Liberals faced major losses , including two cabinet ministers ; David Dingwall , Minister of Public Works from Nova Scotia , and Doug Young , Minister of National Defence from New Brunswick , both of whom lost to NDP candidates . The Liberals ' performance was not in doubt , though some commentators on election night were predicting that the Liberals would be cut down to a minority government , and / or that Chrétien would lose his seat . Chrétien did narrowly win his riding and the Liberals would manage a four - seat majority thanks to gains in Quebec at the expense of the Bloc . Jean Charest ' s Tories and Alexa McDonough ' s NDP both regained official party status in the House of Commons . A change of 718 votes in just five ridings ( Bonavista -- Trinity -- Conception , Simcoe -- Grey , Humber -- St . Barbe -- Baie Verte , Cardigan , and Bellechasse -- Etchemins -- Montmagny -- L ' Islet ) from the Liberals to the second place candidate would have resulted in a minority government . This marked the first time in Canadian history that five political parties held official party status in a single session of Parliament . Voter turnout was 67 . 0 % , generally low at the time for Canadian elections . The Meech Lake Accord is the term for a series of proposed amendments to the Constitution of Canada negotiated in 1987 by ___MASK29___ Brian Mulroney and the 10 provincial premiers . It was intended to persuade the government of Quebec to symbolically endorse the 1982 constitutional amendments by providing for some decentralization of the Canadian federation . The Conservative Party of Canada , colloquially known as the Tories , is a political party in Canada . It is positioned on the right of the Canadian political spectrum . The party ' s leader from 2004 to 2015 was Stephen Harper , who served as ___MASK29___ from 2006 to 2015 . Martin Brian Mulroney PC , CC , GOQ ( born March 20 , 1939 ) is a Canadian politician who served as the 18th ___MASK16___ from September 17 , 1984 , to June 25 , 1993 . His tenure as prime minister was marked by the introduction of major economic reforms , such as the Canada - U . S . Free Trade Agreement and the Goods and Services Tax , and the rejection of constitutional reforms such as the Meech Lake Accord and the Charlottetown Accord . Prior to his political career , he was a prominent lawyer and businessman in Montreal .