By-Elections 1996 – Official Voting Results and Candidates' Contributions and Expenses

OVERVIEW: THE 1996 BY-ELECTIONS

PRELIMINARY REMARKS

In accordance with paragraph 193(b) of the Canada Elections Act, the Chief Electoral Officer must publish, at the end of a year in which by-elections have been held, a full report giving the voting results, together with any other information that the Chief Electoral Officer may deem fit to include.

This report, therefore, presents the results, first in the form of synoptic tables and then by polling station, of the by-elections held on Monday, March 25, 1996, in the electoral districts of Humber–St. Barbe–Baie Verte, Labrador, Lac-Saint-Jean, Papineau–Saint-Michel, Saint-Laurent–Cartierville and Etobicoke North, and on Monday, June 17, 1996, in the electoral district of Hamilton East. It also lists the candidates' names and political affiliations, as well as the names of the returning officers.

The following pages also report the contributions received by the candidates in these by-elections and the election expenses they incurred in running for office.

To obtain more detailed information on the administration of the seven by-elections of 1996, the reader may consult the statutory reports of the Chief Electoral Officer, entitled The March 1996 By-Elections: Technological Innovation: Reaping the Rewards and The June 1996 By-Election: An Evolving System, published respectively in June and August 1996.

OFFICIAL VOTING RESULTS

Calling of the by-elections

Early in February 1996, six seats in the House of Commons were vacant following the resignation of five Liberal MPs and one Bloc Québécois MP. On September 21, 1995, the Honourable Bill Rompkey had resigned as member for the electoral district of Labrador. During January 1996, five other members resigned: the Honourable Brian Tobin of Humber–St. Barbe–Baie Verte; the Honourable Lucien Bouchard of Lac-Saint-Jean; the Honourable André Ouellet of Papineau–Saint-Michel; Ms. Shirley Maheu of Saint-Laurent–Cartierville; and the Honourable Roy MacLaren of Etobicoke North.

With these six vacancies, the seats in the House of Commons were distributed as follows: Liberal Party of Canada – 172 seats; Bloc Québécois – 52 seats; Reform Party of Canada – 52 seats; New Democratic Party – nine seats; Progressive Conservative Party of Canada – two seats; Independent – two seats.

Writs ordering the holding of by-elections in these six electoral districts were issued on February 7, 1996. Polling day was set for Monday, March 25, 1996, or 47 days after the by-elections were called.

On May 1, 1996, the Honourable Sheila Copps announced her resignation as Liberal MP for Hamilton East. With this vacancy, the seats in the House of Commons were distributed as follows: Liberal Party of Canada – 174 seats; Bloc Québécois – 53 seats; Reform Party of Canada – 51 seats; New Democratic Party – nine seats; Progressive Conservative Party of Canada – two seats; Independent – five seats.

The writ ordering the holding of the by-election in Hamilton East was issued on May 1, 1996. Polling day was set for Monday, June 17, 1996.

The seven electoral districts involved

The boundaries of the seven electoral districts where the 1996 by-elections were to be held were the same as those in effect at the 1993 federal general election. They coincided with the boundaries defined in the Representation Order, 1987, issued pursuant to the Electoral Boundaries Readjustment Act.

[Back]   [Table of contents]   [Forward]