Federal minority governments in Canada

During the history of Canadian politics, several minority governments have been held office at the federal level. There have also been two minority governments resulting from governments being replaced between elections, for a total of fifteen federal minority governments in thirteen separate minority parliaments. There have been historical cases where the governing party had fewer than half of the seats but had the support of independents who called themselves members of the party; these cases are not included, as there was never any serious chance of the government falling.

In a minority situation, governments must rely on the support of other parties to stay in power, providing less stability than a majority government. At the federal level, no minority government (excepting the odd case of the 14th) has lasted a standard four-year term. Most minority governments have lasted less than two years. The average duration of completed minorities in Canada is 479 days or approximately 1 year, 140 days counting only that part of the 14th Parliament that was a minority, or 1 year, 207 days counting the entire duration of it.

In addition to the minorities below, the 2nd Canadian Parliament was a minority for 56 days under prime minister Alexander Mackenzie after he took power from John A. Macdonald following the Pacific Scandal. However, this event is generally not noted because Parliament was never in session while Mackenzie was in power.

Minority parliaments have become more common since the 1990s, with the rise of the Bloc Québécois making it more difficult for any party to win a majority government. Only two majority governments have been elected since 2004, in 2011 for the Conservative Party and 2015 for the Liberal Party.

The current 45th Parliament is in minority, with the Liberal Party under Mark Carney leading a minority government. It is the third consecutive minority parliament, with the 2019, 2021, and 2025 elections all resulting in Liberal minority governments.

In the United Kingdom and elsewhere in the Commonwealth, parliaments without a single-party majority are referred to as hung parliaments, but this usage is uncommon in Canada.