1878 Canadian federal election

Last updated

1878 Canadian federal election
Canadian Red Ensign (1868-1921).svg
  1874 September 17, 1878 1882  

206 seats in the House of Commons
104 seats needed for a majority
Turnout69.1% [1] (Decrease2.svg0.5pp)
 First partySecond party
  Sir John A Macdonald circa 1878 retouched crop.jpg Alexander Mackenzie portrait crop.jpg
Leader John A. Macdonald Alexander Mackenzie
Party Conservative Liberal
Leader since18671873
Leader's seat Victoria [lower-alpha 1] Lambton
Last election65 seats, 30.1%129 seats, 39.5%
Seats won13463
Seat changeIncrease2.svg69Decrease2.svg66
Popular vote229,191180,074
Percentage42.06%33.05%
SwingIncrease2.svg11.96ppDecrease2.svg6.45pp

Canada 1878 Federal Election.svg
1878 Canadian electoral map

Chambre des Communes 1878.png
The Canadian Parliament after the 1878 election

Prime Minister before election

Alexander Mackenzie
Liberal

Prime Minister after election

John A. Macdonald
Conservative

The 1878 Canadian federal election was held on September 17, 1878, to elect members of the House of Commons of the 4th Parliament of Canada. It resulted in the end of Prime Minister Alexander Mackenzie's Liberal government after only one term in office. Canada suffered an economic depression during Mackenzie's term, and his party was punished by voters for it. The Liberals' policy of free trade also hurt their support with the business establishment in Toronto and Montreal.

Contents

Sir John A. Macdonald and his Conservative Party were returned to power after having been defeated four years before amidst scandals over the building of the Canadian Pacific Railway.

National results

1878 Canadian parliament.svg
PartyParty leader# of candidatesSeatsPopular vote
1874 ElectedChange#%Change
  Conservative John A. Macdonald 10138 85+118.4%143,19226.28%+7.80pp
  Liberal-Conservative 602649+76.9%85,99915.78%+3.50pp
  Liberal Alexander Mackenzie 12112663-54.8%180,07433.05%-7.74pp
 Independent1145+25%14,7832.71%-0.48pp
 Independent Conservative222-1,0010.18%-0.76pp
 Unknown117- 114,04320.93%-1.93pp
 Independent Liberal411+100%5,3880.99%-
  Nationalist Conservative 1*1*4010.07%*
Total417197206+3.6%544,881100.0%-
Sources: http://www.elections.ca -- History of Federal Ridings since 1867

Note:

* Party did not nominate candidates in the previous election.

Acclamations

The following Members of Parliament were elected by acclamation;

Results by province

Party name BC MB ON QC NB NS PE Total
  Conservative Seats:12373318385
 Popular vote (%):-49.625.535.05.921.731.626.3
  Liberal-Conservative Seats:21231236249
 Vote (%):39.6-15.813.214.322.712.015.8
  Liberal Seats:2 271797163
 Vote (%):- 36.321.748.234.937.233.1
 IndependentSeats:1 112- 5
 Vote (%):12.2 1.51.613.14.3 2.7
 Independent ConservativeSeats: 1 1   2
 Vote (%): 50.4 0.7   0.2
 UnknownSeats: 
 Vote (%):48.2 19.927.414.814.719.320.9
 Independent LiberalSeats:   1- 1
 Vote (%):  1.0 3.71.7 1.0
 Nationalist ConservativeSeats:  1- 1
 Vote (%):   0.3   0.1
Total seats 6 4 88 65 16 21 6 206

Further reading

Notes

  1. Macdonald also ran in Kingston (where he was defeated) and Marquette (where he was elected); as his appointment as Prime Minister meant he was required by convention at the time to vacate his seat and run again, he chose to stand again in Victoria rather than Marquette.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charles Tupper</span> Prime Minister of Canada in 1896

Sir Charles Tupper, 1st Baronet, M.D. was a Canadian Father of Confederation who served as the sixth prime minister of Canada from May 1 to July 8, 1896. As the premier of Nova Scotia from 1864 to 1867, he led Nova Scotia into Confederation. He briefly served as the Canadian prime minister, from seven days after parliament had been dissolved, until he resigned on July 8, 1896, following his party's loss in the 1896 Canadian federal election. He is the only medical doctor to have ever held the office of prime minister of Canada and his 68-day tenure as prime minister is the shortest in Canadian history.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John A. Macdonald</span> Prime Minister of Canada (1867–1873; 1878–1891)

Sir John Alexander Macdonald was the first prime minister of Canada, serving from 1867 to 1873 and from 1878 until his death in 1891. He was the dominant figure of Canadian Confederation, and had a political career that spanned almost half a century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pacific Scandal</span> Canadian political scandal

The Pacific Scandal was a political scandal in Canada involving large sums of money being paid by private interests to the Conservative party to cover election expenses in the 1872 Canadian federal election, to influence the bidding for a national rail contract. As part of British Columbia's 1871 agreement to join the Canadian Confederation, the federal government had agreed to build a transcontinental railway linking the seaboard of British Columbia to the eastern provinces.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1867 Canadian federal election</span>

The 1867 Canadian federal election was held from August 7 to September 20, 1867, and was the first election of Canada. It was held to elect members representing electoral districts in the provinces of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Ontario and Quebec to the House of Commons of the 1st Canadian Parliament. The provinces of Manitoba (1870) and British Columbia (1871) were created during the term of the 1st Parliament of Canada and were not part of this election.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1896 Canadian federal election</span>

The 1896 Canadian federal election was held on June 23, 1896, to elect members of the House of Commons of Canada of the 8th Parliament of Canada. Though the Conservative Party, led by Prime Minister Charles Tupper, won a plurality of the popular vote, the Liberal Party, led by Wilfrid Laurier, won the majority of seats to form the next government. The election ended 18 years of Conservative rule.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1872 Canadian federal election</span>

The 1872 Canadian federal election was held from July 20 to October 12, 1872, to elect members of the House of Commons of Canada of the 2nd Parliament of Canada. Prime Minister Sir John A. Macdonald's Conservative Party remained in power, defeating the Liberals. However, the Liberals increased their parliamentary representation considerably, while the Conservative seat count remained static, giving them only six more seats than the Liberals. The election produced the country's first minority government. The support of two independent Conservative MPs functionally gave Macdonald an extremely slim majority that allowed it to survive for two years, until it fell due to scandal.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1891 Canadian federal election</span>

The 1891 Canadian federal election was held on March 5, 1891, to elect members of the House of Commons of Canada of the 7th Parliament of Canada. It was won by the Conservative Party of Prime Minister Sir John A. Macdonald.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Norquay</span> Canadian politician (1841–1889)

John Norquay was the fifth premier of Manitoba from 1878 to 1887. He was born near St. Andrews in what was then the Red River Colony, making him the first premier of Manitoba to have been born in the region. Norquay was also the first Indigenous Premier of a Canadian province, a title which is now honourarily held by Louis Riel.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1874 Canadian federal election</span>

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joseph-Édouard Cauchon</span> Canadian politician

Joseph-Édouard Cauchon, was a prominent Quebec politician in the middle years of the nineteenth-century. Although he held a variety of portfolios at the federal, provincial and municipal levels, he never achieved his goal of becoming the Premier of Quebec.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1930 Canadian federal election</span>

The 1930 Canadian federal election was held on July 28, 1930, to elect members of the House of Commons of the 17th Parliament of Canada. Richard Bedford Bennett's Conservative Party won a majority government, defeating the Liberal Party led by Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1926 Canadian federal election</span>

The 1926 Canadian federal election was held on September 14, 1926, to elect members of the House of Commons of Canada of the 16th Parliament of Canada. The election was called after an event known as the King–Byng affair.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1882 Canadian federal election</span>

The 1882 Canadian federal election was held on June 20, 1882, to elect members of the House of Commons of Canada of the 5th Parliament of Canada.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1887 Canadian federal election</span>

The 1887 Canadian federal election was held on February 22, 1887, to elect members of the House of Commons of Canada of the 6th Parliament of Canada.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Electoral history of John A. Macdonald</span> Electoral history of Prime Minister Macdonald

This article is the Electoral history of Sir John A. Macdonald, the first prime minister of Canada.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Electoral history of Alexander Mackenzie</span> List of elections featuring Alexander Mackenzie as a candidate

This article is the Electoral history of Alexander Mackenzie, the second Prime Minister of Canada. A Liberal, he served one term as prime minister (1873–1878). He became prime minister after defeating the government of Sir John A. Macdonald on a non-confidence motion in 1873 and then winning the general election of 1874. He later lost the general election of 1878 and Macdonald returned to power.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Electoral history of Mackenzie Bowell</span> List of elections featuring Mackenzie Bowell as a candidate

This article is the Electoral history of Sir Mackenzie Bowell, the fifth Prime Minister of Canada. A Conservative, he became prime minister upon the sudden death in office of Prime Minister Sir John Thompson in 1894. Bowell served a short term of just over one year as prime minister (1894-1896), until he was forced to resign over the Manitoba Schools Question. He never led his party in a general election. When he died in 1917, he was one of the last surviving members of the first House of Commons of Canada elected in 1867.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Electoral history of Charles Tupper</span> List of elections featuring Charles Tupper as a candidate

This article is the Electoral history of Sir Charles Tupper, the sixth Prime Minister of Canada. A Conservative, he became prime minister upon the resignation of Prime Minister Sir Mackenzie Bowell over the Manitoba Schools Question in 1896. Tupper was the shortest-serving prime minister, with a term of only 69 days. He led his party in two general elections and lost both, to Sir Wilfrid Laurier

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Electoral history of Wilfrid Laurier</span> List of elections featuring Wilfrid Laurier as a candidate

This article is the Electoral history of Sir Wilfrid Laurier, the seventh Prime Minister of Canada.

References

  1. "Voter Turnout at Federal Elections and Referendums". Elections Canada. Retrieved March 10, 2019.

See also