1919 Liberal Party of Canada leadership election

1919 Liberal leadership election
Date	August 7, 1919
Convention	Howick Hall, Lansdowne Park, Ottawa
Resigning leader	Sir Wilfrid Laurier
Won by	William Lyon Mackenzie King
Ballots	5
Candidates	4
	Liberal leadership elections ; 1919 · 1948 · 1958 · 1968 · 1980 · 1984 · 1990 · 2003 · 2006 · 2009 · 2013

Last updated August 08, 2024

The 1919 Liberal Party of Canada leadership election was the first leadership convention held by a federal political party in Canada. It was originally called by the Liberal leader, Sir Wilfrid Laurier, as a national policy convention with the intention of reinvigorating the Liberal Party after eight years of being in opposition.^[2] The convention was also intended to re-unite the party, which had split as a result of the Conscription Crisis of 1917. The party had divided into Laurier Liberals, who remained in opposition, and a Liberal–Unionist faction which joined the wartime Union government of Sir Robert Borden in support of conscription. Laurier's death on February 17, 1919 resulted in the meeting being reconfigured as a leadership convention. Previous party leaders in Canada had been chosen by the parliamentary caucus or the outgoing leader. However, the Liberal caucus no longer felt that it was representative of Canada's linguistic and religious diversity and that allowing the entire party to select the leader would result in a more representative choice.^[3]

Candidates

William Lyon Mackenzie King , 44, was the former Minister of Labour (1909-1911) who had served as Member of Parliament for Waterloo North from 1908 until his defeat in 1911.
William Stevens Fielding , 70, the MP for Shelburne and Queen's was a former Minister of Finance (1896-1911) and Premier of Nova Scotia (1884-1896).
George Perry Graham , 60, the former MP for Renfrew South
Daniel Duncan McKenzie , 60, the Liberal Party's interim leader since Laurier's death and the MP for North Cape Breton and Victoria.

There was also an attempt to draft Saskatchewan Premier William Melville Martin, a former Liberal MP, but he declined to run.^[3]

King had run as a Laurier Liberal in the 1917 federal election but was defeated. Fielding, who had long been seen as Laurier's natural successor, had opposed Laurier's stand on conscription and had returned to the House of Commons in 1917 as a Liberal–Unionist MP supporting the Borden government but declining the offer of a cabinet position.^[2] Graham had sat out of the 1917 election and McKenzie had run and kept his seat as a Laurier Liberal.

Convention

Voting Delegates

This was the first time the Liberal Party elected its leader through a formal delegated leadership convention. Those who were eligible to be voting delegates were Senators (39 at the time), MPs (80 elected as Laurier Liberals in the 1917 election, and approximately 20 who were elected as Unionists but were members of the Liberal Party), defeated candidates (131), premiers and provincial party leaders, presidents of provincial Liberal associations, and three delegates from each of the 235 ridings.

Nominations & Support

Nominations were accepted in writing until the first ballot began at 3:45 pm. King lead Fielding on the first and second ballots. Graham and McKenzie withdrew in quick succession leading to the cancellation of the third and fourth ballots, respectively, which had already been underway when the successive withdrawals occurred. On the final ballot King defeated Fielding by 38 votes.^[3]

King was supported by labour elements, Quebec delegates, and the left-wing of the party. Fielding, who openly opposed the radical platform adopted by the convention, threatened to seek support from the parliamentary caucus for rejection of the platform. He was opposed by many Quebec delegates as well as delegates from his home province of Nova Scotia due to his previous stance on conscription and was supported by the right wing of the party, many western Canadian delegates, and the business establishment in Montreal.^[2]

Results

Unlike in future Liberal leadership contests, the lowest-ranking candidate was not eliminated after each ballot, with voting simply continuing until a candidate had a majority.

The first ballot had King narrowly leading over Fielding, with Graham and McKenzie tying for a distant, joint third place. The second ballot saw King start to take a more decisive lead, mostly by attracting McKenzie's delegates, while Fielding attracted a smaller share of Graham's delegates, leaving the contest as a clear race between King and Fielding.

Shortly after the third ballot began, Graham withdrew his candidacy, acknowledging that he had no hope of victory. The ballot was cancelled and begun anew with three candidates, but McKenzie himself withdrew just after the fourth round had gotten underway, realizing that he could not credibly hope to remain in the contest when Graham had withdrawn despite having more votes.^[4]

The final ballot was close-run between King and Fielding, but in the end, King emerged victorious.

Delegate support by ballot
Candidate		1st ballot		2nd ballot		5th ballot
Candidate		Votes cast	%	Votes cast	%	Votes cast	%
	KING, William Lyon Mackenzie	344	36.3%	411	43.8%	476	52.1%
	FIELDING, William Stevens	297	31.3%	344	36.6%	438	47.9%
	GRAHAM, George Perry	153	16.2%	124	13.2%	Withdrew
	MCKENZIE, Daniel Duncan	153	16.2%	60	6.4%	Withdrew
Total		947	100.0%	939	100.0%	914	100.0%

First ballot

King			36.33%
Fielding			31.36%
Graham			16.16%
McKenzie			16.16%

Second ballot

King			43.77%
Fielding			36.63%
Graham			13.21%
McKenzie			6.39%

Fifth ballot

King			52.08%
Fielding			47.92%

^[4]

Aftermath

While he was without a seat at his election, King was able to return to parliament quickly when he was acclaimed as MP for Prince, Prince Edward Island, a seat left vacant by Joseph Read, a Liberal who died prior to the convention. While many Liberal Unionists returned to the fold at this convention, not all did. In June 1919, Thomas Crerar, Minister of Agriculture in the Unionist government, resigned from cabinet in protest of the budget. Eight other Unionist MPs from the west joined him over time and the group became the Progressive Party. The following year, Arthur Meighen became the leader of the Unionist government and attempted to incorporate the Liberal Unionists permanently by renaming his party the National Liberal and Conservative Party. The attempt was not successful however, as most Unionist Liberals either returned to the Liberal fold or joined the new Progressive Party.

In the subsequent 1921 election, the Liberals under King won the exact number of seats required to form a majority government, with the new Progressive Party winning more seats than the incumbent Conservatives. King was able to rule as a majority government throughout the 14th Parliament, as the Progressive Party did not enforce party discipline, meaning King could always count on at least a handful of Progressive MPs to shore up his near-majority position for any crucial vote.

King's three rivals all served in his cabinet when the Liberals were returned to power. Fielding served as Finance Minister, Graham as Defence Minister, and McKenzie as Solicitor General.

Related Research Articles

Sir Robert Laird Borden was a Canadian lawyer and politician who served as the eighth prime minister of Canada from 1911 to 1920. He is best known for his leadership of Canada during World War I.

The Liberal Party of Canada is a federal political party in Canada. The party espouses the principles of liberalism, and generally sits at the centre to centre-left of the Canadian political spectrum, with their main rival, the Conservative Party, positioned to their right and the New Democratic Party positioned to their left. The party is described as "big tent", practising "brokerage politics", attracting support from a broad spectrum of voters. The Liberal Party is the longest-serving and oldest active federal political party in the country, and has dominated federal politics of Canada for much of its history, holding power for almost 70 years of the 20th century. As a result, it has sometimes been referred to as Canada's "natural governing party".

The 1921 Canadian federal election was held on December 6, 1921, to elect members of the House of Commons of Canada of the 14th Parliament of Canada. The Union government that had governed Canada through the First World War was defeated, and replaced by a Liberal government under the young leader William Lyon Mackenzie King. A new third party, the Progressive Party, won the second most seats in the election.

The 1988 Canadian federal election was held on November 21, 1988, to elect members to the House of Commons of Canada of the 34th Parliament of Canada. It was an election largely fought on a single issue: the Canada–United States Free Trade Agreement (CUSFTA); the Progressive Conservative Party campaigned in favour of it, whereas the Liberal Party and the New Democratic Party (NDP) campaigned against it. Mulroney won a governing majority and the agreement was passed into law, even though a majority of the voters had voted for parties opposing free trade. The Mulroney government instituted the Goods and Services Tax during this term as well.

In Canadian politics, a leadership convention is held by a political party when the party needs to choose a leader due to a vacancy or a challenge to the incumbent leader.

The Conservative Party of Canada was a major federal political party in Canada that existed from 1867 to 1942. The party adhered to traditionalist conservatism and its main policies included strengthening relations with Great Britain, nationalizing industries, and promoting high tariffs.

The Unionist Party was a centre to centre-right political party in Canada, composed primarily of former members of the Conservative party with some individual Liberal Members of Parliament. It was formed in 1917 by MPs who supported the "Union government" formed by Sir Robert Borden during the First World War, who formed the government through the final years of the war, and was a proponent of conscription. It was opposed by the remaining Liberal MPs, who sat as the official opposition.

Hugh Guthrie was a Canadian lawyer and politician who served as a minister in the governments of Sir Robert Borden, Arthur Meighen and R. B. Bennett.

The first three leaders of the Liberal Party of Canada were not chosen at a leadership convention. Alexander Mackenzie and Edward Blake were chosen by the party caucus. Wilfrid Laurier was also chosen by caucus members with the party convention of 1893 ratifying his leadership. The most recent leadership election was held in 2013.

The first Progressive Conservative Party of Canada leadership election was held in 1927, when the party was called the Conservative Party. Prior to then the party's leader was chosen by the caucus or in several cases by the Governor General of Canada designating a Conservative MP or Senator to form a government after the retirement or death of an incumbent Conservative Prime Minister.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William Stevens Fielding</span> Canadian politician

William Stevens Fielding, was a Canadian Liberal politician, the seventh premier of Nova Scotia (1884–96), and the federal Minister of Finance from 1896 to 1911 and again from 1921 to 1925.

The Liberal–Labour banner has been used several times by candidates in Canadian elections:

Prior to the 1917 federal election in Canada, the Liberal Party of Canada split into two factions. To differentiate the groups, historians tend to use two retrospective names:

The 1917 Canadian federal election was held on December 17, 1917, to elect members of the House of Commons of Canada of the 13th Parliament of Canada. Described by historian Michael Bliss as the "most bitter election in Canadian history", it was fought mainly over the issue of conscription. The election resulted in Prime Minister Sir Robert Borden's Unionist government elected with a strong majority and the largest percentage of the popular vote for any party in Canadian history.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1976 Progressive Conservative leadership election</span>

The 1976 Progressive Conservative leadership election was held at the Ottawa Civic Centre in Ottawa on February 22, 1976, to elect a leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada to replace Robert Stanfield, who had resigned after losing the 1968, 1972, and 1974 elections. It unexpectedly elected a 36-year-old, little-known PC Member of Parliament from Alberta as the party's new leader. Joe Clark defeated Claude Wagner on the fourth ballot of the convention by a margin of 65 votes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2006 Liberal Party of Canada leadership election</span>

The 2006 Liberal Party of Canada leadership election was prompted by outgoing Prime Minister Paul Martin's announcement that he would not lead the Liberal Party of Canada into another election, following his party's defeat in the 2006 federal election in Canada. The party's biennial convention, already scheduled to occur from November 29 to December 1, 2006, in Montreal's Palais des congrès, was followed by the party's leadership convention at the same venue occurring December 2 to December 3, 2006. As the winner, Stéphane Dion led the Liberal Party into the 2008 federal election.

Arthur Meighen was a Canadian lawyer and politician who served as the ninth prime minister of Canada from 1920 to 1921 and from June to September 1926. He led the Conservative Party from 1920 to 1926 and from 1941 to 1942.

This article covers the history of the Liberal Party of Canada.

A Conservative leadership convention was held on October 12, 1927 at the Winnipeg Amphitheatre in Winnipeg, Manitoba. The convention was held to choose a new leader of the Conservative Party to choose a successor to former Prime Minister of Canada Arthur Meighen who had led the party since 1920. This was the first time the Conservatives used a leadership convention to choose a leader. Previous leaders had been chosen by the party's caucus, the previous leader, or by the Governor General of Canada designating an individual to form a government after his predecessor's death or resignation.

References

1 2 3 4 Graham and McKenzie withdrew while the third ballot and fourth ballot, respectively, were taking place. The ballots were therefore abandoned without the votes being fully counted.
1 2 3 "FIELDING, WILLIAM STEVENS". Dictionary of Canadian Biography. University of Toronto/Université Laval. Retrieved February 4, 2016.
1 2 3 "1919 LIBERAL CONVENTION". CPAC. Cable Public Affairs Channel. Retrieved February 4, 2016.
1 2 "Liberal Party of Canada: Leadership Conventions". Parliament of Canada. Library of Parliament.

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.

[ReferenceA-1] 1 2 3 4 Graham and McKenzie withdrew while the third ballot and fourth ballot, respectively, were taking place. The ballots were therefore abandoned without the votes being fully counted.

[field-2] 1 2 3 "FIELDING, WILLIAM STEVENS". Dictionary of Canadian Biography. University of Toronto/Université Laval. Retrieved February 4, 2016.

[cpac-3] 1 2 3 "1919 LIBERAL CONVENTION". CPAC. Cable Public Affairs Channel. Retrieved February 4, 2016.

[poc-4] 1 2 "Liberal Party of Canada: Leadership Conventions". Parliament of Canada. Library of Parliament.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]