37th Canadian Parliament

The 37th Canadian Parliament was in session from January 29, 2001, until May 23, 2004. The membership was set by the 2000 federal election on November 27, 2000, and it changed only somewhat due to resignations and by-elections until it was dissolved prior to the 2004 election.

37th Canadian Parliament
Majority parliament
January 29, 2001 – May 23, 2004
Parliament leaders
Prime Minister	Rt. Hon. Jean Chrétien November 4, 1993 – December 12, 2003
	Rt. Hon. Paul Martin December 12, 2003 – February 6, 2006
Cabinets	26th Canadian Ministry 27th Canadian Ministry
Leader of the Opposition	Hon. Stockwell Day September 11, 2000 (2000-09-11) – December 11, 2001 (2001-12-11)
	Hon. John Reynolds December 12, 2001 (2001-12-12) – May 20, 2002 (2002-05-20)
	Hon. Stephen Harper May 21, 2002 (2002-05-21) – January 8, 2004 (2004-01-08)
	Hon. Grant Hill January 9, 2004 (2004-01-09) – March 19, 2004 (2004-03-19)
	Hon. Stephen Harper March 20, 2004 (2004-03-20) – February 6, 2006 (2006-02-06)
Party caucuses
Government	Liberal Party
Opposition	Canadian Alliance*
Senate Opp.	Progressive Conservative*
Recognized	Bloc Québécois
	New Democratic Party
Unrecognized	Democratic Representative Caucus
* Parties merged partway through the Parliament to create the Conservative Party of Canada. Some members retained the designation of Progressive Conservative in the Senate.
House of Commons
Seating arrangements of the House of Commons
Speaker of the Commons	Hon. Peter Milliken January 29, 2001 (2001-01-29) – June 2, 2011 (2011-06-02)
Government House Leader	Don Boudria June 11, 1997 – January 14, 2002
	Ralph Goodale January 15, 2002 – May 25, 2002
	Don Boudria May 26, 2002 – August 11, 2004
	Jacques Saada August 12, 2004 – August 22, 2004
Opposition House Leader	Randy White December 18, 2001 – April 3, 2002
	John Reynolds April 4, 2002 – December 22, 2003
	Loyola Hearn December 23, 2003 – March 21, 2004
	John Reynolds March 22, 2004 – January 27, 2005
Members	301 seats MP seats List of members
Senate
Seating arrangements of the Senate
Speaker of the Senate	Hon. Daniel Hays January 26, 2001 – February 7, 2006
Government Senate Leader	Sharon Carstairs January 9, 2001 – August 11, 2004
	Jack Austin August 12, 2004 – February 6, 2006
Opposition Senate Leader	John Lynch-Staunton October 25, 1993 – July 16, 2004
Senators	105 seats senator seats List of senators
Sovereign
Monarch	HM Elizabeth II 6 February 1952 – 8 September 2022
Governor General	HE Rt. Hon. Adrienne Clarkson October 7, 1999 (1999-10-07) – February 27, 2005 (2005-02-27)
Sessions
1st session January 29, 2001 (2001-01-29) – September 16, 2002 (2002-09-16)
2nd session September 30, 2002 (2002-09-30) – November 12, 2003 (2003-11-12)
3rd session February 2, 2004 (2004-02-02) – May 23, 2004 (2004-05-23)
← 36th → 38th

Jean Chrétien was Prime Minister during most of the 37th Canadian Parliament.

It was controlled by a Liberal Party majority, led first by Prime Minister Jean Chrétien and the 26th Canadian Ministry, and then by Prime Minister Paul Martin and the 27th Canadian Ministry. The Official Opposition was formed by first the Canadian Alliance, led by Stockwell Day and then by Stephen Harper, and then by its successor party, the Conservative Party, also led by Harper.

The Speaker was Peter Milliken. See also list of Canadian electoral districts 1996-2003 for a list of the ridings in this parliament.

There were three sessions of the 37th Parliament:

Session	Start	End
1st	January 29, 2001	September 16, 2002
2nd	September 30, 2002	November 12, 2003
3rd	February 2, 2004	May 23, 2004

Party standings

The party standings as of the election and as of dissolution were as follows:

Affiliation		House members		Senate members
		2000 election results	At dissolution	On election day 2000[1]	At dissolution
	Liberal	172	168	55	65
	Alliance	66	—	1	—
	Bloc Québécois	38	33	0	0
	New Democratic	13	14	0	0
	Progressive Conservative	12	—	35	—
	Conservative	—	72	—	24
	Independent	0	10	5	5
	Senate PC	—	0	—	3
Total members		301	297	96	97
	Vacant	0	4	9	8
Total seats		301		105

In 2001, 13 MPs opposed to the leadership of Stockwell Day left the Canadian Alliance and formed the Democratic Representative Caucus. Chuck Strahl was chosen leader of the caucus, which subsequently entered into a coalition agreement with the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada. In 2002, after Day had lost the leadership of his party to Stephen Harper, all but one DRC MP rejoined the Canadian Alliance.

Bills

Important bills of the 37th parliament include:

• Assisted Human Reproduction Act
• Canadian federal budget, 2001
• Canadian federal budget, 2003
• Canadian federal budget, 2004
• Bill C-250, declared attacks based on sexual orientation to be hate crimes.
• Immigration and Refugee Protection Act
• Youth Criminal Justice Act
• Pledge to Africa Act
• Anti-Terrorism Act

Members

Main articles: List of House members of the 37th Parliament of Canada and List of senators in the 37th Parliament of Canada

By-elections

Main article: By-elections to the 37th Canadian Parliament

By-election	Date	Incumbent	Party		Winner	Party		Cause	Retained
Lévis-et-Chutes-de-la-Chaudière	June 16, 2003	Antoine Dubé		Bloc Québécois	Christian Jobin		Liberal	Resigned to enter provincial politics	No
Témiscamingue	June 16, 2003	Pierre Brien		Bloc Québécois	Gilbert Barrette		Liberal	Resigned to enter provincial politics	No
Perth—Middlesex	May 21, 2003	John Richardson		Liberal	Gary Schellenberger		Progressive Conservative	Resigned	No
Berthier—Montcalm	December 9, 2002	Michel Bellehumeur		Bloc Québécois	Roger Gaudet		Bloc Québécois	Resigned	Yes
Lac-Saint-Jean—Saguenay	December 9, 2002	Stéphan Tremblay		Bloc Québécois	Sébastien Gagnon		Bloc Québécois	Resigned to enter provincial politics	Yes
Calgary Southwest	May 13, 2002	Preston Manning		Canadian Alliance	Stephen Harper		Canadian Alliance	Resigned	Yes
Saint Boniface	May 13, 2002	Ron Duhamel		Liberal	Raymond Simard		Liberal	Appointed to the Senate	Yes
Bonavista—Trinity—Conception	May 13, 2002	Brian Tobin		Liberal	John Efford		Liberal	Resigned	Yes
Gander—Grand Falls	May 13, 2002	George Baker		Liberal	Rex Barnes		Progressive Conservative	Appointed to the Senate	No
Windsor West	May 13, 2002	Herb Gray		Liberal	Brian Masse		New Democratic	Resigned to accept appointment as Chair of the Canadian Section of the International Joint Commission	No
Saint-Léonard—Saint-Michel	May 13, 2002	Alfonso Gagliano		Liberal	Massimo Pacetti		Liberal	Resigned to accept appointment as Ambassador to Denmark	Yes
Verdun—Saint-Henri—Saint-Paul—Pointe Saint-Charles	May 13, 2002	Raymond Lavigne		Liberal	Liza Frulla		Liberal	Appointed to the Senate	Yes