1908 Canadian federal election

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1908 Canadian federal election
Canadian Red Ensign (1868-1921).svg
  1904 October 26, 1908 1911  

221 seats in the House of Commons
111 seats needed for a majority
Turnout70.3% [1] (Decrease2.svg1.3pp)
 First partySecond party
  Wilfrid Laurier 1890 - cropped (cropped).jpg Robert Laird Borden cph.3b31281 (cropped).jpg
Leader Wilfrid Laurier Robert Borden
Party Liberal Conservative
Leader since18871901
Leader's seat Quebec East [a] Halifax [b]
Last election137 seats, 50.9%75 seats, 45.9%
Seats won13385
Seat changeDecrease2.svg4Increase2.svg10
Popular vote570,311539,374
Percentage48.9%46.2%
SwingDecrease2.svg2.0%Increase2.svg0.3%

Canada 1908 Federal Election.svg

Cdn1908.PNG
The Canadian parliament after the 1908 election

Prime Minister before election

Wilfrid Laurier
Liberal

Prime Minister after election

Wilfrid Laurier
Liberal

The 1908 Canadian federal election was held on Monday October 26, 1908 to elect members of the House of Commons of Canada of the 11th Parliament of Canada. Prime Minister Sir Wilfrid Laurier's Liberal Party of Canada was re-elected for a fourth consecutive term in government with a majority government. The Liberals lost four seats and a small share of the popular vote.

Contents

Sir Robert Borden's Conservatives and Liberal-Conservatives won ten additional seats.

This was the first election in which Alberta and Saskatchewan voted as provinces. Following their creation in 1905, the two new provinces continued to be represented by MP's initially elected under the old Northwest Territories riding boundaries, some of which straddled the new provincial border. The remainder of the Northwest Territories that previously had Parliamentary representation lost it, although parts of the NWT would gain or re-gain representation after being added to Manitoba, Ontario and Quebec in 1912. A seat would not be created for the NWT itself again (which then contained the modern NWT and Nunavut) until 1949.

This is the most recent election in which a prime minister was able to lead their party to a fourth consecutive mandate.

National results

1908 Canadian parliament.svg
PartyParty leader# of
candidates
SeatsPopular vote
1904 ElectedChange#%Change
  Liberal Wilfrid Laurier 213137133 -2.9%570,31148.87%-2.01pp
  Conservative Robert Borden 2077082 +17.1%524,64144.95%+0.55pp
  Liberal-Conservative 453-40.0%14,7331.26%-0.27pp
 Independent1511-16,9031.45%+0.45pp
Labour  3-1 10,4000.89%+0.68pp
 Unknown7---13,4781.15%+0.02pp
Socialist  5---6,0710.52%+0.35pp
 Independent Conservative211-100%5,3140.46%-0.04pp
 Independent Liberal5---5,1910.44%+0.41pp
Total461214221+2.8%1,167,042100% 
Sources: http://www.elections.ca -- History of Federal Ridings since 1867 Archived 2008-12-04 at the Wayback Machine

Results by province

Party BC AB SK MB ON QC NB NS PE YK Total
  Liberal Seats:24923752111231133
 Popular vote (%):35.950.256.645.445.053.056.251.050.440.248.9
  Conservative Seats:52184612251-82
 Vote (%):46.838.136.851.549.239.543.844.549.610.845.0
  Liberal-Conservative Seats: 1  1  1  3
 Vote (%): 6.4  1.5  4.5  1.3
 IndependentSeats:----1-    1
 Vote (%):8.93.70.60.11.81.1    1.5
  Labour Seats:    -1    1
 Vote (%):    0.72.6    0.9
 Independent ConservativeSeats:  - 1    1
 Vote (%):  5.9 0.4     0.5
Total seats7710108665131841221
Parties that won no seats:
 UnknownVote (%):1.3   1.41.9   49.01.2
Socialist Vote (%):7.11.6 2.90.2     0.5
 Independent LiberalVote (%):  0.1  1.8    0.4

See also

Notes

  1. Laurier was also elected in Ottawa (City of); he chose to sit for Quebec East instead, and resigned as the Member of Parliament for Ottawa (City of).
  2. Borden was also elected in Carleton, which he represented during the previous Parliament; he chose to sit for Halifax instead, and resigned as the Member of Parliament for Carleton.

References

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

Further reading