Anything But Conservative

During the 2001 Alberta provincial elections, Conservative Party leader Stephen Harper led the National Citizens Coalition in a "Vote Anything but Liberal" campaign.

The Progressive Conservative Premier of Newfoundland and Labrador Danny Williams attracted national attention on December 23, 2004, when he ordered all Canadian flags removed from provincial buildings during a dispute with then Prime Minister Paul Martin.

McGuinty argued that his province—already sending more money to the federal government than it gets back in equalization payments—would get further shortchanged as the accord permitted Newfoundland to keep its oil revenues rather than sharing them with the other provinces.

The Conservative government will ensure that no province is adversely affected from changes to the equalization formula.Following the election and after becoming Prime Minister, Harper began to distance himself from the statement that October.

[15] The campaign began unofficially in May 2007; it was when Williams told the Economic Club of Toronto that the decision would cost the province billions of dollars, adding: "I am encouraging Newfoundlanders and Labradorians, and Canadians, in the next federal election to simply vote ABC—easy to remember.

[14] All caucus members were expected to participate in the ABC campaign, with the exception of the backbencher (and one-time health minister) Elizabeth Marshall, who said she could not bring herself to support a Liberal or NDP candidate.

Leo Power, a veteran of federal politics and the Conservative Party of Canada's campaign co-chair for Newfoundland and Labrador, said raising money and recruiting volunteers has proved difficult, and blames Williams's ABC campaign, saying it has cut deep into the federal election machine that was struggling to compete.

[22] While there was "anyone but Harper" activity stemming from a variety of sources across the country,[23][24] the ABC campaign's national presence was limited to media interviews and a billboard on the Gardiner Expressway in Toronto; Williams did not travel across Canada as he had previously suggested.

[26] The federal Conservatives were elected to a second consecutive minority government, with more seats than in the previous parliament, including gains in Ontario (whose politicians had been most critical of the Atlantic Accord).

St. John's mayor Dennis O'Keefe suggested that the Liberal MPs from Newfoundland would be committing "political suicide" if they followed the party line on the budget.

"[30] During the 2015 federal elections, it is claimed by the ABC Campaign that thousands of grassroots volunteers knocked on doors to ask Canadians to vote strategically in key ridings.

According to Éric Grenier, "With the Conservatives performing only slightly below expectations in the seat count, these surprise wins came largely at the expense of the NDP in some of their most secure ridings, as the Liberals' momentum swept up strategic voters to carry them over the majority threshold.

"[33] Post-election polls show that roughly one-third of the votes for the Liberal Party candidates were cast strategically to prevent another Conservative government.

Strategic voting negatively affected the NDP in Quebec and Ontario but helped them win seats in British Columbia and Alberta.