1920 Manitoba general election

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1920 Manitoba general election
Flag of Manitoba.svg
←  1915 June 29, 1920 1922  →
55 seats of the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba
28 seats needed for a majority
 First partySecond party
  Tobias Crawford Norris.jpg
Leader Tobias Norris
Party Liberal Farmer
Leader since1910
Leader's seat Lansdowne
Last election40pre-creation
Seats won2114
Seat changeDecrease2.svg19Increase2.svg14
Percentage35.1%14.1%
SwingDecrease2.svg20.0pp Increase2.svg14.1pp
 Third partyFourth party
 
Leader Fred Dixon Richard G. Willis
Party Labour Conservative
Leader since19201919
Leader's seat Winnipeg Ran in Turtle Mountain (lost)
Last electionpre-creation5
Seats won118
Seat changeIncrease2.svg11Increase2.svg3
Percentage20.5%18.5%
SwingIncrease2.svg20.5pp Decrease2.svg14.5pp
Premier before election

Tobias Norris
Liberal

Premier after election

Tobias Norris
Liberal

The 1920 Manitoba general election was held on June 29, 1920 to elect members of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Manitoba, Canada. This was the first election since the Winnipeg General Strike, which had violently divided the people of Winnipeg, Manitoba's capital and largest city, into two camps. Partly to soften this polarization, a form of proportional representation was adopted in Winnipeg, and the 1920 Manitoba election was the first North American government election above the city level to use proportional representation. This was the first election where single transferable voting was used to elect Winnipeg MLAs, now ten in number. [1] [2]

Contents

It was also the first Manitoba provincial election to allow women ((excepting Treaty Indians)) to vote and to run as candidates. (Edith Rogers (Manitoba politician)|Edith Rogers}}), a Metis, was elected in Winnipeg, becoming the first woman elected to the Manitoba Legislature.

The election produced a minority government, with no group holding a majority of seats in the legislature. Norris's Liberals had more seats than any other party, 21 seats out of 55, so were given power. The government survived only two years.

Background

Between the previous 1915 election and the 1920 campaign, Manitoba experienced profound social and cultural change. Since the formal introduction of partisan politics in 1888, Manitoba had been dominated by the Liberal and Conservative parties, which governed the province in succession. After World War I, new political groups and interests emerged to threaten the two-party system.

The Winnipeg General Strike of 1919 brought labour issues to the forefront of provincial concern and radicalized many working-class Manitobans. In previous elections, labour and socialist parties were a marginal force. Going into the 1920 election, they stood to make significant electoral gains. In the rural constituencies, several candidates ran for office as farmer representatives, or as "people's candidates" opposed to partisan government.

Against this backdrop, the governing Liberal Party of Tobias Norris ran a defensive campaign. Supported by the Winnipeg Free Press , the Liberals portrayed themselves as a stabilizing force amid the province's changes.

The 1920 election is notable for its use of single transferable voting (STV) in the City of Winnipeg. Previously, the city had been divided into three two-member constituencies, each seat elected in a separate "first past the post" election.

Starting in the 1920 election, Winnipeg was covered by a city-wide ten-member constituency, in which each voter had one vote. The method of election was the STV system of proportional representation. In the world, this was the largest number of legislators elected by STV in any district up to that time. [3] Winnipeg would use STV to elect its MLAs until 1958.

Winnipeg's change to STV was done in an attempt to calm the political waters, which might have been roiled up even more if majority government was granted to a party that did not have majority support. [4]

Outcome

The election resulted in a fragmented parliament, with no group holding majority of seats in the legislature. Norris's Liberals remained the largest party, but were reduced to a minority government with 21 seats out of 55. The party remained in office until 1922, but unwilling or unable to find joint cause with the other factions, it did little in the way of legislative initiatives.

Twelve "farmer" and "independent farmer" members were elected in rural constituencies. These candidates were a heterogeneous group and did not run a united campaign. While not a "political party" in the traditional sense, they formed a functional caucus group in the legislature. Some members of this group later joined the political wing of the United Farmers of Manitoba, which took power in the next election.

In Winnipeg's ten seats, Liberal candidates took four seats and Conservatives two. Labour made a good showing there as well. Four different working-class and left-wing parties ran candidates in Winnipeg and altogether ran ten candidates, electing four.

The Labour Party won an impressive victory in Winnipeg, taking two seats. Party leader Fred Dixon received 1100 votes in the First Count, a lead of more than 7,000 votes ahead of his nearest rival. His vote tally was more than twice the number needed to take a seat (the quota). His surplus were not wasted but under the rules of STV, it was transferred to other candidates. Many went to other DLP candidates, and Ivens then exceeded quota and was declared elected.

Leftists were rewarded with four seats of the 10 Winnipeg seats. Elected were Dixon and William Ivens of the Dominion Labour Party, George Armstrong of the Socialist Party of Canada, and John Queen of the Social Democratic Party. SPC's Robert B. Russell narrowly failed to win a second seat for his party. A candidate of the Ex-Soldiers and Ex-Sailors Party of Manitoba also campaigned with the Labour candidates in Winnipeg. When he was eliminated, his votes went mostly to the remaining candidates of the DLP, SPC and SDP.

Ivens, Armstrong, Queen and Russell were all serving prison sentences at the time of the election, due to their leadership of the Winnipeg General Strike. Many Winnipegers believed the prison sentences were politically motivated, and the issue was a rallying cry for labour in the campaign.

Seven other labour MLAs were elected in the rest of the province, making the Labour group the third largest in the legislature.

The Conservative Party managed a minor recovery from its disastrous showing in 1915 and won eight seats under its new leader, Richard G. Willis. Willis himself was not elected.

Three independents were also elected to the legislature in rural districts.

The first woman was elected to the Legislature in this election. Edith Rogers was also the first Indigenous woman in the Manitoba Legislature.

Party results

PartyParty leader# of
candidates		Members electedPopular vote
1915 1920% change#%% change
  Liberal Tobias Norris  4021-47.5% 35.1%-20%
Farmer -  12  14.1% 
  Labour (DLP) Fred Dixon 12 9  17.7% 
  Socialist Party 4 1  2.8% 
  Social Democratic (1)111-   
  Conservative Richard G. Willis  58+60.0% 18.5%-14.5%
 Independents/others (1) 13+200% 2.6% 
Total 4755+17.0% 100% 

Note:

(1) SDP popular vote included in "Independents/others".

Popular vote
Liberal
 
35.10%
DLP/Soc/SD
 
20.50%
Conservative
 
18.50%
Farmer
 
14.10%
Others
 
11.80%
Seats summary
Liberal
 
38.18%
Farmer
 
21.82%
DLP/Soc/SD
 
20.00%
Conservative
 
14.55%
Others
 
5.45%

Riding results

Arthur:

Assiniboia:

Beautiful Plains:

Birtle:

Brandon City:

Carillon:

Cypress:

Dauphin:

Deloraine:

Dufferin:

Emerson:

Ethelbert:

Fairford:

Fisher:

Gilbert Plains:

Gimli:

Gladstone:

Glenwood:

Hamiota:

Iberville:

Kildonan & St. Andrews:

Killarney:

Lakeside:

Lansdowne:

La Verendrye:

Manitou:

Minnedosa:

Morden and Rhineland:

Morris:

Mountain:

Norfolk:

Portage la Prairie:

Roblin:

Rockwood:

Rupertsland:

Russell:

St. Boniface:

St. Clements:

St. George:

Ste. Rose:

Springfield:

Swan River:

The Pas:

Turtle Mountain:

Virden:

Winnipeg election results

Winnipeg: Single transferable voting was used to elect the ten Winnipeg MLAs in one city-wide district.

Final Winnipeg seat tally: Liberal 4, DLP 2, Conservative 2, SDP 1, SPC 1.

Election was not by party list. The successful candidates were chosen individually by the voters:

All of the successful candidates except one were among the most-popular candidates in the First Count. One came from among the lower-ranking candidates to take a seat through vote transfers. Each voter casting just a single vote in a multi-member district meant mixed roughly proportional grouping of the candidates in winning positions from the 1st Count on.

41 candidates ran for the ten seats. 10 Liberals; 10 Conservatives; 4 Labour (Dominion Labour Party); 8 Independents; 4 Socialist Party of Canada (SPC); 1 Social Democratic Party (SDP); 2 Ind.-Liberals; 1 Ind.-P/Conservative; 1 Ex-Soldiers and Ex-Sailors Party of Manitoba (S&S).

10-member "Labour" slate: 4 Labour (Dominion Labour Party); 4 Socialist Party of Canada (SPC); 1 Social Democratic Party (SDP); 1 Ex-Soldiers and Ex-Sailors Party of Manitoba (S&S).

At least five candidates were women (1 Conservative, 1 Liberal, 1 SPC, 2 Ind.).

Valid votes: 47,427 Quota was 4312 (This was the minimum required to win a seat, until the last count.) (Droop Quota)

First Count (Dixon and Johnson declared elected):

Second Count (Transfer of Dixon's surplus; Ivens declared elected):

Third Count (transfer of Johnson's surplus):

Fourth Count (Transfer of Ivens's surplus):

Fifth Count (Gislason and Lyon eliminated. Transfer of their votes to back-up preferences, where possible):

Sixth Count (Turnbull eliminated):

Seventh Count (Holling eliminated):

Eighth Count (Lawrence eliminated):

Ninth Count (Johns eliminated. Transfer of votes to back-up preferences):

Tenth Count (McInnes eliminated):

Eleventh Count (Prout eliminated. Votes transferred to back-up preferences):

Twelfth Count (Torrance eliminated):

Thirteenth Count (Lowery eliminated):

Fourteenth Count (Forrester eliminated):

Fifteenth Count (Tipping eliminated. Votes transferred to back-up preferences):

Sixteenth Count (McMartin eliminated):

Seventeenth Count (Law eliminated):

Eighteenth Count (Skinner eliminated):

Nineteenth Count (James eliminated. Votes transferred to back-up preferences):

Twentieth Count (Fisher eliminated):

Twenty-First Count (Lightfoot eliminated):

Twenty-Second Count (Hamilton eliminated):

Twenty-Third Count (Carey eliminated):

Twenty-Fourth Count (Gibben eliminated):

Twenty-Fifth Count (Mrs. William Arthur Pritchard eliminated):

Twenty-Sixth Count (Warde eliminated):

Twenty-Seventh Count (Cartwright eliminated):

Twenty-Eighth Count (Parrish eliminated):

(13 candidates remaining, seven seats still open)

Twenty-Ninth Count (Christie eliminated):

Thirtieth Count (D.A. Armstrong eliminated)

(11 candidates remaining, seven seats still open)

Thirty-First Count (Morden eliminated; Haig declared elected):

(9 candidates remaining, six seats still open)

Thirty-Second Count (Jacob eliminated; Queen declared elected):

(although Queen was the only SDP candidate and did not initially have quota, he received many vote transfers and eventually exceeded quota and took a seat. These were all votes transferred across party lines.)

(7 candidates remaining, five seats still open)

(Numbers for the 33rd count not listed. Dick eliminated. Stovel elected with 4674 votes; Cameron elected with 4394 votes.)

(4 candidates remaining, 3 seats still open) After the necessary transfer of surplus votes, if no one gets quota, the bottom candidate will be eliminated, leaving just enough candidates for the available seats.

Thirty-Fourth Count (transfer of Haig's surplus):

Thirty-Fifth Count (transfer of Queen's surplus):

Thirty-Sixth Count (transfer of Stovel's surplus):

(4 candidates remaining, 3 seats still open)

Thirty-Seventh Count (Cameron's surplus transferred - no change in order of candidates)

(exhausted votes at this point: 1849

Thirty-Eighth Count Russell is eliminated, leaving only Armstrong, Rogers and Tupper to take the three open seats. They are declared elected.

Final Winnipeg seat tally: Liberal 4, DLP 2, Conservative 2, SDPC 1, SPC 1

Election was not by party list. The successful candidates were chosen individually by the voters: Liberals: Thomas Johnson, John Stovel, Duncan Cameron, Edith Rogers Dominion Labour: Fred Dixon, William Ivens Conservatives: John Thomas Haig, William J. Tupper Social Democrats: John Queen Socialists: George Armstrong (but not Robert Russell, who was initially more popular of the two Socialist Party candidates)

Sources

The first ballot results for Winnipeg and results for all other constituencies are taken from an official Manitoba government publication entitled "Manitoba elections, 1920-1941" (cross-referenced with an appendix to the government's report of the 2003 provincial election). The Canadian Parliamentary Guide for 1921 lists slightly different results for Dufferin and Gladstone; the other two sources contain more information, however, and may be taken as more reliable.

All ballot results for Winnipeg after the first count are taken from reports in the Winnipeg Free Press newspaper. It is possible that some errors appeared in the original publication.

Post-election changes

The Independent and Farmer members formed a parliamentary bloc after the election, known as the Independent-Farmer group. St. George MLA Albert Kristjansson later left the Labour caucus to sit with this group.

Two were appointed to the cabinet, and they faced administrative by-elections as was the rule in those days.

Birtle (George Malcolm appointed to cabinet, September 30, 1920. October 14, 1920 by-election:

Lakeside (Charles Duncan McPherson appointed to cabinet, January 20, 1921. January 31, 1921 by-election:

References

  1. ↑ "Events in Manitoba History: Proportional Voting (1920-1957)" https://www.mhs.mb.ca/docs/events/proportionalvoting.shtml accessed August 19, 2025
  2. ↑ Evidence given by Ronald Hooper to the 1936 House of Commons Committees, 18th Parliament, 1st Session : Special Committee on Franchise and Elections Acts, vol. 1. page 102 https://parl.canadiana.ca/view/oop.com_HOC_1801_2_1/146 accessed August 18, 2025
  3. ↑ Farrell and McAllister, Australian electoral systems, p. 61
  4. ↑ House of Commons Committees, 18th Parliament, 1st Session : Special Committee on Franchise and Elections Acts, vol. 1, p. 102 https://archive.org/stream/nationalmunicipa37natirich/nationalmunicipa37natirich_djvu.txt

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