Question: How many parties are in Canada?

List of federal political parties in Canada



In contrast with the political party systems of many nations, Canadian political parties at the federal level are often only loosely connected with parties at the provincial level, despite having similar names and policy positions.[1] One exception is the New Democratic Party, which is organizationally integrated with most of its provincial counterparts including a shared membership.
Current parties
These are all of the political parties registered with Elections Canada as of January 2019.[2]

Non-party parliamentary groups
At various points both the House of Commons and Senate have included non-party parliamentary groups, also called caucuses. These groups are unaffiliated with registered political parties, are not registered with Elections Canada, and do not run candidates in Canadian federal elections. Essentially, these parliamentary groups are equivalent to political parties in the legislative context, but do not exist in an electoral capacity. 
House of Commons
Parliamentary groups in the House of Commons of Canada are typically made up of MPs that separate from a party over leadership conflicts. Notable past parliamentary groups in the House of Commons include the Ginger Group (1924-1932; split from Progressive Party), Democratic Representative Caucus (2001-2002; split from Canadian Alliance), and Québec debout (2018; split from Bloc Québécois).
Senate
The Senate of Canada currently has two non-party parliamentary groups: the Senate Liberal Caucus and the Independent Senators Group. The Senate Liberal Caucus is made up of Senators who are personally members of the Liberal Party of Canada, but form a group that is organizationally and politically independent of both the Liberal Party structure and the Liberal caucus in the House of Commons. The Independent Senators Group includes non-partisan senators who, while not sharing a cohesive ideology or platform, have formed a caucus to provide organizational support and better leverage parliamentary resources. Conservative senators remain formally affiliated with the Conservative Party of Canada.

Historical parties and parliamentary groups

Other designations
Designations used by single candidates
Nationalist Liberal (Fleming Blanchard McCurdy), 1920 — McCurdy won a by-election under the Nationalist Liberal designation, but sat with the National Liberal and Conservative Party causcus
Protectionist (Joseph-Édouard Moranville), 1926
Franc Lib (I) (Alfred Edward Watts), 1930
Prohibition Party (Edwin Clarke Appleby), 1930
Parti national social chrétien (Robert Rae Manville), 1934-1940
Anti-Communist (I) (Jean Tissot), 1935
Verdun (Hervé Ferland), 1935
Veterans Party (Alloys Reginald Sprenger), 1935
Technocrat (Joseph McCrae Newman), 1935
Anti-Conscriptionist (Louis-Gérard Gosselin), 1940
Social Credit-National Unity (Harry Watson Arnold), 1940
National-Unity (Robert Rae Manville), 1940
Trades Union (Nigel Morgan), 1945
Autonomist candidate (Paul Massé), 1947
Christian Liberal (Howard A. Prentice), 1953
Locataire (Louis Seigneur), 1953
Anti-Communist (II) (Patrick Walsh), 1953
Canadian Democrat (Gerry Goeujon), 1957
National Credit Control (John Bernard Ball), 1957
Capital familial (Henri-Georges Grenier), 1957-1962
Liberal Conservative Coalition (George Rolland), 1957
Parti ouvrier canadien (Jean-Jacques Rouleau), 1958
League for Socialist Action, 1961-1977
Co-operative Builders of Canada (Edgar-Bernard Charron), 1962
All Canadian Party (John Darby Naismith), 1962-1962
Parti humain familial (Henri-Georges Grenier), 1964
Droit vital personnel (Henri-Georges Grenier), 1965
Progressive Workers Movement (Jerry Le Bourdais), 1965
Esprit Social (Henri-Georges Grenier), 1967-1971
Work Less Party (Betty Krawczyk), 2007–2010
Franc Lib (II) (Jean-Roger Marcotte), 1968
Party for Accountability, Competency and Transparency (Michael Nicula), 2012–2016
National Socialist (Martin K. Weiche), 1968
New Canada Party (Fred Reiner), 1968
Nationalist Party of Canada (Bob Smith), founded 1977
Christian Democrat Party of Canada (Sydney Thompson), 1981
Unofficial designations
The following parties do not appear on the federal election archive.[21] They either did not run candidates in any election or ran candidates as independents.
Aboriginal Peoples Party of Canada (founded in 2005)
Absolutely Absurd Party (founded in 2003)
United Canadian Socialist Party (being launched in 2016)
Action Canada (founded in 1971)
Canadian Clean Start Party (founded in 2000)
Canadian Democratic Movement (founded in 2000)
Canadian Labour Party, 1917-1929
Canadian Party for Renewal, 1993
Canadian Union of Fascists, 1930s
Christian Credit Party, 1982-1983
Christian Freedom Party of Canada, c. 1988-c. 1996 (an extension of the Social Credit Party)
Freedom Party of Canada, founded 2001
Forward Canada Party, 1997
Ginger Group 1924-1932
Grey Party of Canada (founded in 2002)
Movement for an Independent Socialist Canada, 1974
National Alternative Party (founded in 2002)
National Party of Canada (I), 1979-1980s
New Constitution Party of Canada (an unregistered party founded in 2015)
North American Labour Party, 1970s
National Unity Party, 1938-1949
Parti Populaire des Putes (founded in 2000)
People's Co-operative Commonwealth Federation 1945
Ontario Party of Canada (founded in 2002)
Option Canada (founded in 1991)
Patriot Party of Canada (founded in 2001)
Rest of Canada Party (founded in 2002)
Revolutionary Workers League, 1977-1989
Revolutionary Workers Party, 1945-1953
Sex Party, 2005-2012
Social Democratic Party of Canada, 1911-1920
Unity Party of Canada (founded in 2001)
Western Canada Concept (founded in 1980)
Western Independence Party (founded in 1987)
Workers' Communist Party of Canada, 1972-1980
Pre-confederation political parties
Reform Party (pre-Confederation)
Name changes
Communist Party
The Communist Party of Canada changed its name multiple times in its history. It was founded as the Communist Party of Canada in 1921. From 1938 until 1943 its candidates ran under the banner Unity or United Progressive. In 1943 it adopted the name Labor-Progressive Party. It won one seat under this name in 1945. In 1959 it reverted to the name Communist Party of Canada and has kept that name to the present.
The Marxist–Leninist Party of Canada unofficially uses the name "Communist Party of Canada (Marxist–Leninist)", but Elections Canada does not allow it to be registered by that name because of potential confusion with the Communist Party of Canada.
Labour Party
Labour Party candidates ran under numerous different designations:
Conservative-Labour (1872-1875)
Farmer Labour
Farmer-United Labour
Labour-Farmer
Liberal-Labour (1926-1968)
National Labour (1940)
United Farmers-Labour (1920)
United Farmers of Ontario-Labour (1919-1940)
Liberal Party
During Robert Borden's coalition government of 1917-1920, the Liberal Party of Canada split into two groups: the Liberal–Unionist who supported the coalition and the Laurier Liberals who opposed it.
Liberal-Progressive
Some Liberal-Progressive candidates used the designations:
Liberal-Labour-Progressive or
National Liberal Progressive.
New Democratic Party
The Co-operative Commonwealth Federation used the name New Party from 1958-1961 while it was transitioning to become the New Democratic Party. In French, the party used a literal translation of its name, Fédération du Commonwealth Coopératif, from until 1955.
Party for Accountability, Competency and Transparency
The Party for Accountability, Competency and Transparency was founded as the Online Party of Canada.
Progressive Conservative Party
The first Conservative Party used several different names during its existence:
Liberal-Conservative Party (some MPs until 1911),
Unionist Party (1917-1921),
National Liberal and Conservative Party (1920-1921),
National Government (1940),
Progressive Conservative Party (1942-2003)
The second (and current) Conservative Party of Canada was a merger of the Canadian Alliance and the Progressive Conservative Party.
Progressive Party and United Farmers
Some candidates for the Progressive Party of Canada used United Farmer designations:
Farmer (1925 & 1930),
United Farmers of Canada,
United Farmers of Alberta, or
United Farmers of Ontario.
Rhinoceros Party
The first Rhinoceros Party disbanded in 1993. When it was revived in 2006 it used the name "neorhino.ca". The party changed its name to Rhinoceros Party in 2010.
Social Credit Party and Ralliement créditiste
Some Ralliement créditiste used the name Ralliement des créditistes from 1963 to 1967. One candidate used the designation Candidats des électeurs in 1957 and 1958.
In the 1940 election, 17 candidates ran jointly with the Social Credit Party under the name New Democracy.
See also

Federal political financing in Canada