2003 in Canadian politics
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2003 was a particularly active year in Canadian politics, with significant changes at almost every level of government.
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Party leadership
Three of the five parties currently represented in the Canadian House of Commons chose new leaders in 2003. See also: leadership conventions.
On January 25, Jack Layton was chosen as leader of the New Democratic Party, winning 53.5 per cent of the vote on the first ballot. The NDP convention was notable for being the first political convention in Canada to allow Internet voting. Eligible party members who were not physically present at the convention were given a password for a secure website where they could place their vote.
On May 31, Peter MacKay was elected leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada. MacKay defeated Calgary lawyer Jim Prentice on the fourth ballot, after striking a controversial deal with David Orchard to win his delegate support. This deal soon proved controversial, as it included a provision that the party was not to seek any form of electoral cooperation with the Canadian Alliance. However, MacKay quickly entered negotiations to do exactly that.
Finally, on November 14, the governing Liberal Party of Canada had its 2003 leadership convention. Although officially there was a race between Paul Martin, Jr. and Sheila Copps, Martin had already secured 92 per cent support in the delegate selection process ending in September, making his victory a foregone conclusion. Copps took just 211 votes in the balloting, to Martin's 3,242. Martin officially became Prime Minister of Canada on December 12.
In addition, the Green Party of Canada, which does not have any sitting Members of Parliament, elected Jim Harris as its leader on February 14.
Several provincial parties also selected new leaders. On February 14, Randy Thorsteinson was acclaimed leader of the new Alberta Alliance Party. On April 5, Robert Ghiz, the son of former Prince Edward Island premier Joseph Ghiz, was elected leader of the Liberal Party in Prince Edward Island. Finally, on November 23, Carole James was elected leader of the New Democratic Party of British Columbia, making her the first provincial party leader of aboriginal heritage in Canadian history.
Conservative Party of Canada
In the 1993 federal election, the conservative vote in Canada was split between two parties, the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada and the Reform Party of Canada. Although both parties attracted roughly the same number of voters nationally, the Reform Party's support was concentrated in the West, allowing it to win 52 seats, while the PC vote was spread thinly across the country.
Since that election, the two parties have been locked in a struggle to win over the right wing vote. In 2000, the Reform Party folded itself into a new entity, the Canadian Alliance, which was designed to be a vehicle for Reform and the PCs to unite under a single banner. Although some PC support did move to the Alliance, it was not enough to unite the two parties.
In 2002, Stephen Harper was elected leader of the Alliance, and in 2003, Peter MacKay replaced Joe Clark at the helm of the PCs. Although MacKay had won the leadership by making a deal at the convention with David Orchard, in which he promised not to seek any electoral cooperation with the Alliance or to merge the two parties, he soon entered talks with Harper to merge the two parties anyway. On October 16, 2003, a merger deal was announced: if approved by the membership of the Alliance and constituency delegates of the PC Party, they would merge into the Conservative Party of Canada. Orchard filed suit to stop the merger vote with the support of prominant party members such as former Prime Minister Joe Clark, former cabinet minister and human rights advocate Flora Macdonald, lone Quebec MP Andre Bachand and openly gay MP Scott Brison, among others. But on December 5, 96 per cent of Alliance members approved the deal, and the following day, 90 per cent of Progressive Conservative delegates gave their assent as well.
Most Blue Tories in the former PC Party supported the merger and joined the new party, while many Red Tories opposed the merger and did not join or support the new party.
On December 8, the new party was registered with Elections Canada, with Senator John Lynch-Staunton acting as interim leader until a leadership election scheduled for March 21, 2004. In a three way race between two candidates representing neoconservative view points (Stephen Harper and Tony Clement) and one candidate representing moderate view points (Belinda Stronach), Harper was easily elected on the first ballot.
Provincial elections
2003 was a very unusual year in Canada, in that eight of the ten provinces held provincial elections. Many of the elections saw the voting public expressing a strong desire for change, with incumbent governments either defeated, or winning much more narrowly than expected.
New governments took power in Ontario, Quebec and Newfoundland and Labrador. The new premiers are Dalton McGuinty in Ontario, Jean Charest in Quebec and Danny Williams in Newfoundland and Labrador. All three defeated sitting governments that had been in power for at least two terms, and successfully traded on a widespread desire for change in the provincial capitals.
Incumbent governments barely retained power in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, with New Brunswick's Progressive Conservative government, led by Bernard Lord, reduced to a single-seat majority, and John Hamm's Progressive Conservative government in Nova Scotia cut down to minority status. Both elections hinged significantly on the issue of auto insurance rates, which have become a nationwide controversy in 2003.
In Saskatchewan, the incumbent NDP government of Lorne Calvert also eked out a narrow victory with a majority of just two seats, but this was an improvement on the party's minority status in the previous election.
Prince Edward Island and Manitoba were the only two provinces where an incumbent government was reelected with a strong majority.
A territorial election was also held in the Northwest Territories. The government of the Northwest Territories runs on a consensus model, so there are no political parties and the premier is selected by the elected MLAs at the first legislative session. Although outgoing premier Stephen Kakfwi, who did not stand for reelection, strongly urged that the process be changed so that NWT voters be allowed to directly choose the premier, the debate is not likely to be resolved soon. Most incumbent MLAs retained their seats, some by acclamation, and on December 10, the MLAs unanimously selected Joe Handley as the new premier.
Municipal politics
Municipal elections were held in Ontario, Saskatchewan, Prince Edward Island, some Quebec municipalities and in all three territories.
In Canada's largest city, Toronto, city councillor David Miller won a decisive victory over business executive John Tory to replace the retiring Mel Lastman. In Ottawa, Ontario, incumbent mayor Bob Chiarelli won reelection over Terry Kilrea. Windsor, Ontario gave the mayor's chair to Eddie Francis, who at just 29 is the youngest mayor in the city's history, while Mississauga, Ontario reelected 82-year-old Hazel McCallion to her tenth consecutive term as mayor.
Oshawa, Ontario turfed out incumbent Nancy Diamond, in a race which hinged significantly on development issues. The pro-development John Gray won almost 50 per cent of the vote. Greater Sudbury, Ontario turned to a new generation of leadership, choosing city councillor David Courtemanche from a surprisingly crowded field of candidates to replace retiring mayor Jim Gordon.
See Ontario municipal elections, 2003 for more results.
Regina, Saskatchewan re-elected incumbent mayor Pat Fiacco, while in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, businessman Don Atchison defeated incumbent Jim Maddin in a race which included federal MP Jim Pankiw, whose candidacy was controversial because he had recently purchased a home outside the city limits.
In addition, a significant number of Canadian municipalities held referenda on matters of local significance. Most notably, on February 22 the city of Vancouver, British Columbia asked voters to support or reject the city's bid for the 2010 Winter Olympics. Voters chose to support the bid, with 64 per cent in favour to 36 per cent opposed.
In other municipal referenda, the town of Cold Lake, Alberta voted down a tax increase proposed to fund a new recreational complex, the village of Chester, Nova Scotia voted against reincorporating as a town, Yorkton, Saskatchewan approved a tax levy for health care, Prince Rupert, British Columbia voted in favour of the city purchasing a cellulose mill in the town, and Mirror, Alberta voted to dissolve the village and annex it to the county government of Lacombe, Alberta.
Same-sex marriage
Same-sex marriage became one of Canada's dominant political issues in 2003.
On June 10, the Ontario Court of Appeal upheld a 2002 lower court ruling that prohibiting same-sex marriage was unconstitutional as it contravened the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
On June 17, Federal Minister of Justice Martin Cauchon announced that he would not appeal the Ontario ruling, effectively legalizing marriage between partners of the same gender. Cauchon decided to draft legislation that approved same-sex marriage, and to take the unusual step of referring it to the Supreme Court of Canada to ensure that the legislation was constitutionally valid in advance of submitting it to Parliament. Ontario premier Ernie Eves also announced that the provincial government would not appeal the ruling, although in the province's election campaign later that year he took great pains to point out that he was personally opposed to same-sex marriage.
The municipal government in Toronto immediately began issuing marriage licences to gay couples, although other cities did not immediately follow suit. In particular, there was a significant wave of same-sex marriage license applications during the week of Toronto's Gay Pride festivities.
On July 8, British Columbia followed suit with a similar ruling. Although a 2002 court ruling had already ruled the ban on same-sex marriage to be unconstitutional, it had delayed the implementation of same-sex marriage to 2004. The July 8, 2003 ruling eliminated the time delay, rendering same-sex marriage immediately legal in BC.
Throughout July, religious groups tried to block the moves through legal means, filing appeals and lawsuits to stay the decision, and lobbying Members of Parliament to vote against the same-sex marriage legislation.
In August, the federal government attempted to revise the draft legislation it had submitted to the Supreme Court, proposing that instead of redefining marriage, the "separate but equal" category of civil unions be created. It was later determined not to pursue this route, as it would again be opening the government to a legal challenge. The government also debated getting out of marriage altogether, and reclassifying all marriages as civil unions where the legal and governmental aspects of marriage are concerned.
Also in August, many Members of Parliament began to call for a national referendum on the issue, and religious groups organized an anti-same-sex marriage demonstration in Ottawa.
In early September, Canadian Alliance leader Stephen Harper gave an interview in which he appeared to state that the Liberal government was involved in a conspiracy to redefine marriage in opposition to Canadian values. He was widely criticized for this.
On September 6, the Alliance forced a motion to affirm that "marriage is and should remain the union of one man and one woman to the exclusion of all others". Although this was exactly the same motion that Parliament passed in 1999, and is not in fact legally binding except as an affirmation of Parliament's values, the motion was defeated 137-132.
In November, an opponent of same-sex marriage physically attacked New Brunswick MP Andy Scott in his constituency office, because Scott, who is heterosexual, had pledged to support the same-sex marriage legislation.
Paul Martin, Jr., who became Prime Minister on December 12, was non-committal about how he would handle the issue, but his government has since Bill C-38 to amend the Marriage Act in accordance with the court rulings, i.e., permit same-sex marriage.