Reform made sufficient gains in the West to allow Preston Manning to become leader of the Official Opposition, but lost its only seat east of Manitoba.

The Liberal victory was not in doubt, though some commentators on election night were predicting that the party would be cut down to a minority government and that Chrétien might lose his seat.

Chrétien narrowly won his riding, and the Liberals maintained a narrow five-seat majority thanks to gains in Quebec at the expense of the Bloc.

Prime Minister Jean Chrétien announced his approved request by Governor General Roméo LeBlanc to dissolve Parliament on April 26, 1997, with an election to be held on June 2 of that year.

[1] The election call was controversial both for being early and for occurring during Manitoba's recovery from the Red River Flood earlier in the year.

Reg Alcock and several others inside the Liberal Party had opposed the timing of the vote, and the poor results prompted Paul Martin's supporters to organize against Chrétien.

[4] Chrétien also turned down invitations for interviews by Canada's national media outlets, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) and MuchMusic.

[4] In the televised debates between the five major political parties, Chrétien apologized to Canadians for his government having cut funding for social programs to reduce the deficit.

The party won 60 seats to displace the Bloc as Official Opposition, largely by building on its already heavy concentration of support in Western Canada.

Bouchard had been replaced by Michel Gauthier, but a lack of direction and party infighting caused their poll numbers to plummet, leaving them in danger of being overhauled by both the Liberals and the resurgent Progressive Conservatives.

Duceppe, who took over as leader after Gauthier resigned, nonetheless made progress by emphasizing the lack of possibility of constitutional reform.

The Progressive Conservatives won the third largest number of the total votes and improved their situation in the House of Commons, regaining official party status after winning 20 seats.

Despite finishing about half a point behind Reform in the nationwide popular vote, their only heavy concentrations of support were in Atlantic Canada and Quebec.

Support for the Green Party of Canada was 79% higher than at the previous election, with its greatest success in British Columbia, where it received 2% of the vote.