Official party status

Official party status refers to the Canadian practice of recognizing political parties in order to give them certain parliamentary privileges. Generally official party status is dependent on winning on minimum number of seats (that is, the number of MPs or MLAs elected).

In the federal parliament, a party must have at least twelve seats to be recognized as an official party. Recognition means that the party will get time to ask questions during question period (proportional to the number of seats) and money for research and staff (also proportional to the number of seats).

The provincial governments also award official party status:

• In British Columbia, a party must have at least four seats. Premier Gordon Campbell was criticized for his decision not to grant the B.C. NDP official party status; it had only won two seats in the last election.
• In Saskatchewan, a party must win at least two seats.
• In Ontario, a party must win eight seats. In 1999 Ontario's then Premier Mike Harris lowered the number of seats required from 12 to eight so that the NDP could remain an official party in Ontario.