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57 seats of the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba 29 seats needed for a majority | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The 1958 Manitoba general election was held on June 16, 1958 to elect Members of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Manitoba, Canada. The election resulted in a minority victory for the Progressive Conservative Party under the leadership of Dufferin Roblin.
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This election was the first in Manitoba after a comprehensive electoral redistribution in 1956. The redistribution saw the city of Winnipeg abandon its three four-member districts. St. Boniface also was broken up into two single-member districts. The old Winnipeg, St. Boniface and two suburban districts were made into 20 single-member constituencies altogether, to give the City of Winnipeg increased representation in the legislature. Elections hereafter used FPTP.
As well the other districts in the province had dropped the Alternative Voting system and simply used the plurality first past the post system from here on. [1]
Premier Douglas Campbell's Liberal-Progressives lost the majority they had held since 1922. The Progressive Conservative Party under the leadership of Dufferin Roblin won 26 seats, three short of a majority, while the Liberal-Progressives were reduced to second-place status with 19. The social democratic Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF) held the balance of power with 11 seats, and independent Stephen Juba was also elected in Winnipeg. Both Social Credit and the Labour Progressive Party lost their legislative representation.
After the election, the Liberal-Progressives attempted to form a coalition with the CCF to remain in power. The CCF rejected this offer, instead giving confidence and supply to a PC government under Roblin and ending 36 years of Progressive and Liberal-Progressive led governments in Manitoba. Although the Progressive Conservatives had been part of a coalition government with the Liberal-Progressives from 1940 to 1950, this was the first time since 1915 that they had formed an administration on their own. This was the last time the Liberals formed government in Manitoba. This would begin a sharp decline for the Liberals, and a concurrent rise for the CCF.
Roblin's government proved unstable, and was defeated in the legislature in early 1959. Manitobans returned to the polls shortly thereafter, and gave the Tories an outright majority while the Liberals were cut down to only 11 seats.