The election closely reflected the pattern that had been set out in the 1993 election The Liberals swept Ontario, the Bloc took much of Quebec, Alberta and much of the west was won by Reform. The major change was that the NDP and the Progressive Conservative Party all but wiped out the Liberals in the Maritimes. Maritime voters upset over cuts to employment insurance and other programs led to the defeat of two cabinet ministers. David Dingwall, Minister of Transportation from Nova Scotia, and Doug Young, Minister of Defence from New Brunswick, both lost to NDP candiates in a major blow to the Liberals. Because of loses in the Maritimes the Liberal majority shrunk considerably from the 1993 total. Mostly because of these wins in the maritimes the Jean Charest's Tories and Alexa McDonough's NDP both regained official party status. Independent member John Nunziata, who had been expelled from the Liberal Party for opposing the GST was reelected in his riding outside Toronto.

12 985 964 Canadians, 66.7% of those eligible, voted in one of the lowest ever federal election turnouts.

Party	Party Leader	Seats	Popular Vote	%
Bloc Québécois	Gilles Duceppe	44	1,385,821	10.7
Canadian Action Party	Paul Hellyer	0	17,502	0.1
Christian Heritage Party of Canada		0	29,085	0.2
Liberal Party of Canada	Jean Chrétien	155	4,994,277	38.5
Marxist-Leninist Party of Canada		0	11,468	0.1
Natural Law Party of Canada		0	37,085	0.3
New Democratic Party	Alexa McDonough	21	1,434,509	11.0
Progressive Conservative Party of Canada	Jean Charest	20	2,446,705	18.8
Reform Party of Canada	Preston Manning	60	2,513,080	19.4
The Green Party of Canada		0	55,583	0.4
Independent		1	34,507	0.3
No affiliation		0	26,252	0.2
Total		301	12 985 964	100
Source: http://www.elections.ca

Preceded by: 1993 Canadian election

Canadian federal elections

Followed by: 2000 Canadian election

note- 1997 was one of only two elections in canadian history where the official opposition did not have the majority of the opposition's seats. 60 seats for the bloc, yet 86 seats for the other opposition parties when combined.

Province-by-Province results. Seats and Popular Vote.

Party Name	North	B.C	Alb	Sask	Man	Ont	Que	NB	NS	PEI	NL	Canada/Total
Liberal Party Seats	2	6	2	1	6	101	26	3		4	4	155
Pop Vote	34.6%	28.8%	24.0%	24.7%	34.3%	49.6%	35.9%	32.9%	28.4%	44.8%	37.9%	38.5%
Reform Party Seats		25	24	8	3							66
Pop Vote	17.2%	43.1%	54.6%	36.0%	23.7%	19.2%		13.1%	9.7%	1.5%	2.5%	19.4%
Bloc Quebecois Seats							44					44
Pop Vote							37.1%					10.7%
New Democratic Party Seats	1	3		5	4			2	6			21
Pop vote	24.1%	18.2%	5.7%	30.9%	23.2%	10.7%	1.9%	18.4%	30.4%	15.1%	22.0%	11.0%
Progressive Conservative Party Seats					1	1	5	5	5		3	20
Pop Vote	15.6%	6.2%	14.4%	7.8%	17.8%	18.8%	23.6%	35.0%	30.8%	38.3%	36.8%	18.8%
Green Party Seats
Pop Vote		2.0%
Others Seats						1						1
Others Pop Vote	8.5%	1.7%	1.3%	0.6%	1.0%	1.7%	1.5%	0.6%	0.7%	0.3%	0.8%	1.6%
Party Name	North	B.C	Alb	Sask	Man	Ont	Que	NB	NS	PEI	NL	Canada/Total

Note. Parties that capture less then 1% of the vote in a province are not recorded. Parties that capture more then 1% in a province, but less then 1% nationally, do not have national numbers.