Provincial Parties
In early Canadian history, the political parties found in the Canadian provinces matched closely
with the parties seen in Ottawa. Which is to say, most provincial governments operated under a
two-party system divided between the Liberals on one side and the Conservatives on the other
(and the NDP in third place). Today, however, most provinces have evolved unique two-party
systems that reflect the “left/right” split in a variety of different ways.
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In British Columbia, the dominant parties are the B.C. NDP and the B.C. Liberals. Since
the collapse of the British Columbia Social Credit Party in the 1990s, the B.C. Liberals
have enjoyed the support of a voter base that is generally more conservative than that of
other Liberal parties in Canada. The B.C. Green Party has recently risen to become the
province’s third-party force, and currently has three members in the provincial
legislature.
The Alberta party system has realigned dramatically in recent years — the current system
pits the ruling United Conservative Party of Alberta, which was formed in 2017 by
merging the moderate Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta and the more
ideological Wildrose Party, against the Alberta NDP.
Saskatchewan is ruled by the Saskatchewan Party, which is a coalition of Liberal and
Conservative supporters, but is generally considered broadly conservative. The
opposition party is the Saskatchewan NDP, which has ruled for long stretches of the
province’s history.
The dominant parties in Manitoba are the Manitoba NDP and the Manitoba Progressive
Conservatives.
Ontario has probably the healthiest “traditional” three-party system in Canada, with the
Ontario Liberals, Ontario Progressive Conservatives, and Ontario NDP all holding
significant amounts of seats in the provincial legislature. All have run the government at
some point over the last 30 years.
Quebec has a very unique party system completely unlike any other province. Currently,
the province is ruled by the Coalition Avenir Quebec (CAQ), which is usually considered
centre-right and populist-nationalist. The other main parties are the pro-separation Parti
Quebecois (PQ), the anti-separatist Quebec Liberal Party, and a far-left party called
Quebec Solidaire. Until the late 1970s, Quebec also had a strong conservative party
known as the Union Nationale, or National Union.
New Brunswick’s legislature currently has Liberal, Progressive Conservative, and Green
members, as well members from the People’s Alliance Party, which is a conservative
party specifically concerned with the rights of the province’s English-speaking majority
(New Brunswick is Canada’s only officially bilingual province).
Nova Scotia has a three party system between the Liberals, Progressive Conservatives,
and New Democrats. Nova Scotia is the only province in Atlantic Canada that has ever
had an NDP government.
Newfoundland has an ordinary two-party system between Progressive Conservatives and
Liberals.
Prince Edward Island is currently ruled by the Progressive Conservative Party of PEI, and
was previously run by the Liberal Party of PEI. The PEI Green Party staged an upset in
the 2019 election and became the party with the second-most seats in the legislature.
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The Yukon territory is split between the Yukon Liberals and the Yukon Party, which is
what the Yukon Progressive Conservative Party renamed itself in 1992.
Canada’s two far-northern territories, the Northwest Territories and Nunavut, have very
small parliaments that don’t use political parties.