Despite a polarizing election, Canadians don't want a two-party system, poll suggests

National Post

14-05-2025

While the recent federal election turned into a tight race between the Liberals and Conservatives that left other parties trailing far behind, a new poll suggests most Canadians don't want the country end up with a two-party system.
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The poll of over 1,600 Canadians, conducted by Leger Marketing for the Association for Canadian Studies between May 1 and 3, suggests only 21 per cent of Canadians think the country would be better off with a system where two parties dominate the political landscape.
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Forty-nine per cent say a two-party system would not be good for Canada, while 30 per cent say they don't know.
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The poll, which was conducted online and can't be assigned a margin of error, suggests that people in Ontario and Alberta are the most open to a two-party system, with 23 per cent of people in those provinces saying it would be a good thing.
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Twenty-two per cent of people in British Columbia and 20 per cent of respondents in Quebec say they think Canada would be better off under such a system.
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At 30 per cent, Conservative respondents were the most likely to think Canada would be better off with a two-party system, compared to 17 per cent of Liberals and 14 per cent of NDP supporters.
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Jack Jedwab, president of the Association for Canadian Studies, said the election focused on two parties — the Liberals and the Conservatives — which received over 80 per cent of the vote.
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'Now that the … dust is settled on the election, it seems that Canadians are comfortable with not having a system that is as polarized politically as the one that this election seemed to give rise to,' Jedwab said.
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'Canadians are still, in terms of our political culture, different from the United States in terms of being more welcoming, or more receptive is a better word, to multiple options in their electoral system.'
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While recounts in some ridings are still underway, the Liberals inched another seat closer to a majority government on Saturday when a judicial recount declared their candidate the winner in the Quebec riding of Terrebonne by a margin of just one vote.
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It brought the Liberals to 170 seats in the House of Commons, two shy of the 172 needed for a majority government. The Conservatives hold 143 seats, the Bloc has 22 and the NDP has seven.
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Alberta respondents are the most likely to want another election soon, at 50 per cent, compared to 39 per cent of people in B.C., 38 per cent of Ontarians and 33 per cent of Quebecers.