2004 Canadian Election Results

The national and provincial results are given below, along with links to riding-level results in each province and territory. Or you can download an Excel spreadsheet file (690K) I have prepared with the riding-by-riding information.  You can also view the elections results from 1867-present.

The 2004 election results provide an interesting setup for the current elections, since 58 seats were won with 5% margins or less.

While much has been made of the recent decline in voter turnout, it is important to view the historical turnout trends for a full perspective.

As a reference, you can also look up all other Canadian election results since 1867.

Judicial recounts are mandatory in ridings where the winning margin is less than 0.1% of the total valid votes cast. For example, in a riding where 100,000 valid votes were counted, a judicial recount will be held if the winning margin is less than 100 votes; for more information, consult the Elections Canada Judicial Recount Manual. Recounts can also be requested by anyone who asserts that ballots were improperly counted or rejected. After reviews of the initial tally sheets, the only automatic judicial recount was held is in Jeanne-Le-Ber Quebec where Liberal cabinet minister Liza Frulla's victory was confirmed.

Other judicial recounts were allowed after an application by the 2nd place candidate:

• Cambridge Ont - Gary Goodyear (Conservative)
• Edmonton-Beaumont Alta - David Kilgour (Liberal) - 134 vote margin of victory
• New Westminster-Coquitlam BC - Paul Forseth (Conservative) - 114 vote margin of victory
  NOTE: This recount was later cancelled at the request of the applicant
• Regina–Lumsden–Lake Centre - Sask - Tom Lukiwski (Conservative) 122 margin of victory
  NOTE: This recount was later  cancelled at the request of the applicant
• Western Arctic NWT - Ethel Blondin-Andrew (Liberal) - 52 vote margin of victory

The one independent elected was Chuck Cadman in Surrey North, BC. He was the sitting Conservative MP, but lost the party nomination and then decided to run as an independent.

Polls vs. Election Results

Election night on June 28th brought a very different result from the what the polls had led everyone to believe.  One explanation lies in the way in which most polling companies rolled "leaners" in together with truly "decided" voters. Many of those leaners obviously had second thoughts in the last few days of the campaign and decided not to vote Conservative.  An indication that this could happen is seen in the last Compas poll that revealed that more respondents believed that a Liberal-led government (either majority or minority) would be better for the country than a Conservative-led government by a margin of 41% to 28%. It is interesting that the level of support for a Conservative-led government was 5 percentage points lower than those who said they were thinking of voting Conservative (33%).

Region
% Turnout