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. 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 or eligible to run candidates in federal elections as of April 2020.
NameFoundedIdeologyLeaderMPsMost MPs Most MPs SenatorsPolitical position

Eligible parties

Eligible parties have applied to Elections Canada and met all of the legal requirements to be registered, other than running a candidate at a general election or by-election. Such parties are eligible to run candidates in federal elections but will not be considered "registered" by Elections Canada until they have contested an election. As of April 2020, the following are eligible parties:
NameFoundedIdeologyLeaderPolitical position
Free Party Canada
Parti Libre Canada		2019Mr. Michel Leclerc
Parti Patriote
Patriot Party		2019Quebec Nationalism, right-wing populism, Quebec sovereigntyDonald ProulxRight wing
Wexit Canada2020Western separatism, conservatism, right-wing populismJay Hill Right wing

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, Democratic Representative Caucus, and Québec debout.

Senate

The Senate of Canada currently has three non-party parliamentary groups: the Independent Senators Group, the Canadian Senators Group, and the Progressive Senate Group. These three groups do not share a formal ideology, platform, or membership in any one political party; the caucuses primarily serve to provide organizational support and better leverage parliamentary resources. Conservative senators remain formally affiliated with the Conservative Party of Canada.
NameFoundedIdeologyFacilitator/LeaderSenatorsMost senators

Historical parties

These are political parties which were once registered with Elections Canada, but have become de-registered or ceased to exist due to dissolution, or which ceased to exist before Elections Canada was formed.
NameFoundedDissolvedIdeologyMost MPs Most MPs

Historical parliamentary groups

Historical designations used by single candidates

The following parties do not appear on the federal election archive. They either did not run candidates in any election or ran candidates as independents.
;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 ", 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:
;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:
;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.
;Progressive Conservative Party
The first Conservative Party used several different names during its existence:
The second 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:
;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. Others used the name Union des électeurs, although this was never formally registered.
In the 1940 election, 17 candidates ran jointly with the Social Credit Party under the name New Democracy.