Editing Leadership convention

{{Short description|Held by a political party in Canada to choose a leader}}
{{Politics of Canada}}
In [[Politics of Canada|Canadian politics]], a '''leadership convention''' is held by a political party when the party needs to choose a [[leadership|leader]] due to a vacancy or a challenge to the incumbent leader.

== Overview ==

In [[Canada]], leaders of a party generally remain that party's ''de facto'' candidate for [[Prime Minister of Canada|Prime Minister]] until they die, resign, or are dismissed by the party. In the federal [[New Democratic Party (Canada)|New Democratic Party]] (NDP) and some provincial NDPs, the position of party leader was treated as all other positions on the party's executive committee, and open for election at party conventions generally held every two years although incumbent leaders rarely face more than token opposition.

Usually, outgoing leaders of a Canadian political party remain as leaders until their successor is chosen at a leadership convention. However, in some circumstances, such as the death or immediate resignation of a leader, that is not possible, and an [[Interim leader (Canada)|interim leader]] is appointed by the party for the duration of the leadership campaign.

In a few instances where a single leadership candidate has been unopposed by the entry deadline, the leadership convention has instead served as a venue for the membership to [[ratification|ratify]] the candidate. Even in such situations, however, the convention must still take place before the candidate can assume the formal and permanent leadership of the party, even if they are already serving as the party's interim leader.

Traditionally, each [[riding association]] of a party holds a special meeting to elect a fixed number of delegates to represent it at a leadership convention. These meetings would often select "alternate delegates" or "alternates", who would attend the convention but vote only if one of the delegates from the riding association was unable to attend. In addition, delegates are often selected by the party's youth and women's associations in each riding, and party associations at university and college campuses.

In addition to the elected delegates, a large number of ''ex officio'' delegates attend and vote at leadership conventions. These ''ex officio'' delegates are automatically entitled to attend by virtue of being an elected member of parliament for that party, a member of an affiliated party in a provincial legislature, a member of the party's national or provincial executive, of the executive of an affiliated women's or youth organization.

Because of the implementation of "[[one member one vote]]" (OMOV) systems and proportional delegate elections by most parties, conventions have declined in importance. In recent years, the result of the vote is either known before the convention, or the voting does not take place at the venue.

In a pure "one-member one-vote" system, each party member casts a ballot to elect the leader, and all ballots have equal weight. Modified OMOV systems may allow all members to vote but may weight the votes differently in order to ensure equality among ridings regardless of party membership or to guarantee a proportion of the vote to historically important constituencies (such as labour in the case of the NDP).

The [[Liberal Party of Canada]] held the first leadership convention in 1919, electing [[William Lyon Mackenzie King]]. Prior to that the leader of the party was chosen by the party's parliamentary [[caucus]]. The historical [[Conservative Party of Canada (historical)|Conservative Party]] used a leadership convention to select [[R.B. Bennett]] as party leader in 1927.

The [[Parti Québécois]] was the first political party in Canada to adopt an OMOV system. Most provincial and federal parties adopted forms of OMOV in the 1990s.

Until 2003, when it adopted an OMOV system, every biennial convention of the [[Co-operative Commonwealth Federation]] and of  its successor, the New Democratic Party, in the twentieth century was a leadership convention. However, in practice, contested elections were only held in the NDP when there was a declared leadership race.

Both the modern [[Conservative Party of Canada|Conservative Party]] and the NDP have instituted "one-member one-vote" systems in recent years. In 2003, the federal NDP used a modified system where the vote was calculated so that ballots cast by labour delegates had 25% weight in the total result while votes cast by party members had 75%. While this modification is still used by some provincial sections of the NDP, the federal NDP now uses a pure OMOV process without a carve-out for labour affiliates.

In 2004, the modern Conservative Party adopted the [[Progressive Conservative Party of Canada|Progressive Conservative Party]] system of OMOV, where each [[electoral district (Canada)|riding]] had equal weight in a point system, with each riding being assigned 100 points, regardless of the number of votes cast in that riding. The party's other predecessors, the [[Reform Party of Canada]] and [[Canadian Alliance]], had pure OMOV systems. In 2021, the party constitution was amended to award one point per vote cast in a riding, up to a maximum of 100 points. 

The Liberals were the last federal party to select their leaders using delegated conventions, though more recent Liberal conventions used a system where delegates in a riding were apportioned by [[proportional representation]]. In 2009 the Liberal Party approved a constitutional amendment requiring future leadership elections to be conducted using a modified OMOV system in which each riding is accorded equal weight. The [[Liberal Party of Canada leadership convention, 2009|2009 convention]] that ratified [[Michael Ignatieff]]'s leadership was conducted under the old rules. The last delegated Liberal convention to feature a contested race was the [[Liberal Party of Canada leadership convention, 2006|2006 convention]] that chose [[Stéphane Dion]].

The [[Bloc Québécois]] has used a pure OMOV system since 1997.

== Recent federal conventions ==
The [[Conservative Party of Canada|Conservatives]] held their [[2022 Conservative Party of Canada leadership election|most recent leadership election]] on September 10, 2022 due to [[Erin O'Toole|Erin O’Toole]]’s resignation as party leader following the party's poorer-than-expected showing in the [[2021 Canadian federal election|2021 federal election]]. The Conservatives elected [[Pierre Poilievre]] as its new leader on the first ballot.

The [[New Democratic Party]] held its [[2017 New Democratic Party leadership election|most recent leadership election]] on October 1, 2017, due to incumbent leader [[Thomas Mulcair]] having lost a vote on a [[leadership review]] at the New Democratic Party's federal convention held in [[Edmonton]], [[Alberta]] on April 10, 2016. The NDP chose [[Jagmeet Singh]] as its new leader.

The [[Bloc Québécois]] held its [[2019 Bloc Québécois leadership election|most recent leadership election]] on January 17, 2019 and chose [[Yves-François Blanchet]] as leader.

The [[Green Party of Canada|Green Party]] held its [[2020 Green Party of Canada leadership election|most recent leadership election]] between September 26 and October 3, 2020 and chose [[Annamie Paul]] as leader on the eighth ballot. With Paul's resignation as leader on November 10, 2021, necessitating a future [[Next Green Party of Canada leadership election|leadership election]].

The [[Liberal Party of Canada|Liberals]] held its [[2025 Liberal Party of Canada leadership election|most recent recent leadership]] election between February 26 and March 9, 2025, following Prime Minister [[Justin Trudeau|Justin Trudeau's]] announcement of his [[2024–2025 Canadian political crisis|intention to resign]]. Mark Carney was elected as leader on the first ballot with 86% of the vote.

==See also==

* [[Partisan primary|Primary election]]

===Active federal parties===
*[[Bloc Québécois leadership elections]]
*[[Conservative Party of Canada leadership elections]]
*[[Green Party of Canada leadership elections]]
*[[Liberal Party of Canada leadership elections]]
*[[New Democratic Party leadership conventions]]

===Defunct federal parties===
*[[Canadian Alliance leadership elections]]
*[[Progressive Conservative Party of Canada leadership elections]]
*[[Social Credit Party of Canada leadership conventions]]

===Provincial parties===

====Alberta====
*[[List of Alberta Liberal Party leadership elections|Alberta Liberal Party leadership elections]]
*[[Alberta New Democratic Party leadership elections]]
*[[Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta leadership elections|Alberta Progressive Conservative Association leadership elections]]
*[[1968 Social Credit Party of Alberta leadership election]]
*[[2009 Wildrose Alliance Party leadership election]]

====British Columbia====
*[[British Columbia Liberal Party leadership conventions]]
*[[British Columbia New Democratic Party leadership conventions]]
*[[Reform Party of British Columbia leadership elections|British Columbia Reform Party leadership elections]]
*[[British Columbia Social Credit Party leadership conventions]]

====Manitoba====
*[[Manitoba Liberal Party leadership elections]]
*[[New Democratic Party of Manitoba leadership conventions|Manitoba New Democratic Party leadership elections]]
*[[Progressive Conservative Party of Manitoba leadership elections|Manitoba Progressive Conservative Party leadership elections]]

====New Brunswick====
*[[New Brunswick Liberal Association leadership elections]]
*[[Progressive Conservative Party of New Brunswick leadership elections|New Brunswick Progressive Conservative Party leadership elections]]

====Newfoundland and Labrador====
*[[List of Liberal Party of Newfoundland and Labrador leadership elections|Newfoundland and Labrador Liberal Party leadership elections]]
*[[Progressive Conservative Party of Newfoundland and Labrador leadership elections]]

====Nova Scotia====
*[[Nova Scotia Liberal Party leadership elections]]
*[[Nova Scotia New Democratic Party leadership elections]]
*[[Progressive Conservative Association of Nova Scotia leadership elections|Nova Scotia Progressive Conservative Association leadership elections]]

====Ontario====
*[[Ontario CCF/NDP leadership conventions]]
*[[Ontario Liberal Party leadership elections]]
*[[Ontario Progressive Conservative leadership conventions]]
*[[Green Party of Ontario leadership elections]]

====Prince Edward Island====
*[[Prince Edward Island Liberal Party leadership elections]]
*[[Progressive Conservative Party of Prince Edward Island leadership elections]]

====Quebec====
*[[Parti Québécois leadership elections]]
*[[Conservative Party of Quebec (historical) leadership elections|Quebec Conservative Party leadership elections]]
*[[Quebec Liberal Party leadership elections]]
*[[Union Nationale leadership elections]]

====Saskatchewan====
*[[Saskatchewan New Democratic Party leadership conventions]]
*[[Saskatchewan Party leadership elections]]
*[[Progressive Conservative Party of Saskatchewan leadership elections]]

== External links ==
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20030704183132/http://www.parl.gc.ca/information/about/related/Parties/LeaderConv.asp?lang=E List of Leadership Conventions (Parliament of Canada site)]

[[Category:Political terminology in Canada]]
[[Category:Political party leadership elections in Canada|*]]