What was the 2015 federal election?

The 2015 federal election was held on October 19, 2015. Justin Trudeau's Liberal Party won 184 of 338 seats and 39.5 per cent of the vote, defeating Stephen Harper's Conservative Party (99 seats, 31.9 per cent) and Tom Mulcair's New Democratic Party (44 seats, 19.7 per cent). The Liberals formed a majority government after a campaign focused on the economy, electoral reform, climate change, refugees, and Indigenous reconciliation. The election ended nearly a decade of Conservative government and produced one of the largest swings from third party to first majority in Canadian history (the Liberals had held only 36 seats going into the election).

The election campaign was unusually long at 78 days (the writ dropped on August 4, 2015, the longest campaign since 1872). Major issues included economic stagnation under Harper, the Conservative government's stance on Syrian refugees (Trudeau promised to accept 25,000), niqab debates (Conservative policy banned niqabs at citizenship ceremonies), the Trans-Pacific Partnership, Indigenous reconciliation, and electoral reform. The Liberals positioned themselves to the left of the NDP on fiscal policy by promising deficit spending for infrastructure, while the NDP under Thomas Mulcair had committed to balanced budgets.

The Liberal results were dramatic. The party gained 148 seats from the prior election, winning all 32 seats in Atlantic Canada, 80 of 121 seats in Ontario, 40 of 78 seats in Quebec, and 4 of 34 seats in Alberta, with majorities in British Columbia and Manitoba. Conservative seats fell from 159 to 99. NDP seats fell from 95 to 44 (the party had peaked under Jack Layton in 2011 with the Orange Wave). The Bloc Québécois rose modestly from 4 to 10 seats. The Green Party retained Elizabeth May's single seat. Trudeau became Prime Minister on November 4, 2015, the second-youngest in Canadian history (43 years old, after Joe Clark at 39).

Major Trudeau-era policies included the Canada Child Benefit (replacing the Canada Child Tax Benefit and Universal Child Care Benefit, July 2016); the resettlement of about 25,000 Syrian refugees (by February 2016, eventually growing to 40,000+); the legalisation of cannabis (Cannabis Act, October 17, 2018); the federal Carbon Pricing Backstop (October 23, 2018); the implementation of CETA with the European Union (September 21, 2017); the negotiation of CUSMA (July 1, 2020); the federal MAID (medical assistance in dying) framework (June 17, 2016, expanded 2021 and 2024); the 2018 federal Time-of-Use Carbon Tax; Bill C-69 (Impact Assessment Act, August 2019); and the federal response to the COVID-19 pandemic from March 2020. The Liberals lost their majority in the October 21, 2019 federal election (157 seats, minority) and retained minorities in 2021 (160 seats) and 2025 (Mark Carney leadership change to majority). The 2015 election ranks alongside 1993 and 1984 as the major realignment elections of recent decades.