1874 Canadian federal election

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1874 Canadian federal election
Canadian Red Ensign (1868-1921).svg
  1872 January 22, 1874 1878  

206 seats in the House of Commons
104 seats needed for a majority
Turnout69.6% [1] (Decrease2.svg0.7pp)
 First partySecond party
  Alexander Mackenzie portrait crop.jpg John A Macdonald (ca. 1875).jpg
Leader Alexander Mackenzie John A. Macdonald
Party Liberal Conservative
Leader sinceMarch 6, 1873July 1, 1867
Leader's seat Lambton Kingston
Last election95 seats, 34.7%100 seats, 38.7%
Seats won12965
Seat changeIncrease2.svg35Decrease2.svg35
Popular vote128,45597,925
Percentage39.5%30.1%
SwingIncrease2.svg4.8%Decrease2.svg8.6%

Canada 1874 Federal Election.svg
1874 Canadian electoral map

Chambre des Communes 1874.png
The Canadian parliament after the 1874 election

Prime Minister before election

Alexander Mackenzie
Liberal

Prime Minister after election

Alexander Mackenzie
Liberal

The 1874 Canadian federal election was held on January 22, 1874, to elect members of the House of Commons of Canada of the 3rd Parliament of Canada. Sir John A. Macdonald, who had recently been forced out of office as prime minister, and his Conservatives were defeated by the Liberal Party under their new leader Prime Minister Alexander Mackenzie. Macdonald's government had been forced to resign on November 5, 1873, because of allegations of corruption relating to the construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway (see the Pacific Scandal). The Tories were unable to recover from the scandal and lost the next election.

Contents

The Liberals under Mackenzie had formed a government on November 7 and than called an election for January.

The election was the first general election after Prince Edward Island's entry into Confederation.

Mackenzie was a reformer, and the 1874 election was the first Canadian election to use secret ballots. He promised to reform election laws in other ways too, including the introduction of simultaneous voting (all seats filled at once instead of successively in long-drawn-out election period), judicial consideration of contested electíons, and extension of the franchise. He also made most important pledges concerning railway projects. [2]

National results

1874 Canadian parliament.svg
3rd Parliament
PartyParty leader# of candidatesSeatsPopular vote
1872 ElectedChange#%Change
  Liberal Alexander Mackenzie 14095129+35.8%128,45539.49%+4.77pp
  Conservative John A. Macdonald 656339-38.1%57,69117.74%-8.02pp
  Liberal-Conservative 1383626-27.8%40,23412.37%-0.53pp
  Conservative Labour  11--100%1,5150.47%+0.02pp
 Independents714+300%10,4533.21%+1.58pp
 Independent Liberal525+300%6,5412.01%+0.37pp
 Independent Conservative323+50%2,3600.73%+0.03pp
 Unknown104-   --78,00823.98%+1.78pp
Total355200206+3.0%325,247100% 
Source: Parliamentary website Archived 2015-09-24 at the Wayback Machine , Detailed riding results Archived 2015-09-24 at the Wayback Machine

Notes:

1 Liberal-Conservatives sat with the Conservative caucus in the House of Commons.

Acclamations

The following Members of Parliament were elected by acclamation;

Results by province

Party name  BC   MB   ON   QC  NB   NS   PEI  Total
  Liberal Seats31613410155129
 Popular vote34.147.039.634.847.138.156.839.5
  Conservative Seats11151722139
 Vote4.513.819.517.66.817.817.517.7
  Liberal-Conservative Seats1 101212-26
 Vote16.9 10.414.98.619.215.412.4
  Conservative Labour Seats  -    -
 Vote  0.9    0.5
 UnknownSeats        
 Vote29.213.827.227.519.99.010.324.0
 IndependentSeats 1--21 4
 Vote 9.50.82.317.67.7 3.2
 Independent LiberalSeats1 2 11 5
 Vote15.4 1.7  8.2 2.0
 Independent ConservativeSeats 1 2   3
 Vote 15.9 2.9   0.7
Total seats64886516216206

See also

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References

  1. "Voter Turnout at Federal Elections and Referendums". Elections Canada. Retrieved March 10, 2019.
  2. James W. Daschuk, Fear and Loathing at the Geologic Survey (1991 M.A. thesis), p. 54. accessed online Jan. 3, 2025