1963 Canadian federal election

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1963 Canadian federal election
Canadian Red Ensign (1957-1965).svg
  1962 April 8, 1963 1965  

265 seats in the House of Commons
133 seats needed for a majority
Opinion polls
Turnout79.2% [1] (Increase2.svg0.2pp)
 First partySecond party
  Lester B. Pearson (1963 ABC press photo).jpg John G. Diefenbaker (cropped).jpg
Leader Lester B. Pearson John Diefenbaker
Party Liberal Progressive Conservative
Leader since January 16, 1958 December 14, 1956
Leader's seat Algoma East Prince Albert
Last election99 seats, 36.97%116 seats, 37.22%
Seats won12895
Seat changeIncrease2.svg29Decrease2.svg21
Popular vote3,276,9962,591,613
Percentage41.48%32.80%
SwingIncrease2.svg4.51pp Decrease2.svg4.42pp

 Third partyFourth party
  Premier Tommy Douglas (F1257 s1057 it2743) (cropped).jpg
Leader Robert N. Thompson Tommy Douglas
Party Social Credit New Democratic
Leader since July 7, 1961 August 3, 1961
Leader's seat Red Deer Burnaby—Coquitlam
Last election30 seats, 11.61%19 seats, 13.57%
Seats won2417
Seat changeDecrease2.svg6Decrease2.svg2
Popular vote940,7031,044,701
Percentage11.91%13.22%
SwingIncrease2.svg0.30pp Decrease2.svg0.35pp

Canada 1963 Federal Election.svg

Chambre des Communes 1963.png
The Canadian parliament after the 1963 election

Prime Minister before election

John Diefenbaker
Progressive Conservative

Prime Minister after election

Lester B. Pearson
Liberal

The 1963 Canadian federal election was held on April 8, 1963 to elect members of the House of Commons of Canada of the 26th Parliament of Canada. It resulted in the defeat of the minority Progressive Conservative (Tory) government of Prime Minister John Diefenbaker, with the Liberals returning to power for the first time in 6 years, where they would remain for twenty of the next twenty-one years (winning every election except the 1979 election until their landslide defeat in 1984). For the Social Credit Party, despite getting their highest ever share of the vote, the party lost 6 seats compared to its high-water mark in 1962.

Contents

Overview

During the Tories' last year in office, members of the Diefenbaker Cabinet attempted to remove him from the leadership of the party, and therefore from the Prime Minister's office. In addition to concern within the party about Diefenbaker's mercurial style of leadership, there had been a serious split in party ranks over the issue of stationing American nuclear missiles (see Bomarc missile) on Canadian soil for protection from possible Soviet attack. Diefenbaker and his allies opposed this proposal, while many other Conservatives and the opposition Liberal Party were in favour. Minister of National Defence Douglas Harkness resigned from Cabinet on February 4, 1963, because of Diefenbaker's opposition to accepting the missiles.

When it turned out that nearly half of his cabinet was also prepared to resign over the issue, Diefenbaker announced that he himself would resign with immediate effect and recommend that the Governor General appoint Minister of Justice Donald Fleming as acting Prime Minister pending a new Progressive Conservative leadership convention. Diefenbaker's allies persuaded him not to go through with the resignation, however the furore caused by the cabinet split and Diefenbaker's rejecting a proposed deal with the Social Credit Party, whose support the Progressive Conservatives had been relying on to remain in power since the previous election, resulted in Diefenbaker's government losing two non-confidence motions the next day and consequently falling.

The Liberal Party of Lester Pearson were ahead of the Tories when the election was called, and it looked inevitable that they would form a majority government. Their campaign began to falter however, firstly when Pearson was struck down with a bout of ill-health which precluded him from actively campaigning, and more importantly when the U.S. Department of Defense leaked a document detailing the proposed missile defences (which ironically may have been done in an effort to help Pearson's campaign), allowing Diefenbaker to accuse the United States of wanting to use Canada as a decoy to lessen the potential damage to its cities in the event of a nuclear exchange with the Soviet Union. The Tories surged in the polls, leaving it briefly looking possible that they might not only be able to continue in power, but possibly even return to majority government status. Ultimately, the Liberals were able to regain the momentum with a platform promising that, if elected, they would begin their term with "60 Days of Decision" on several key questions, while Diefenbaker's repeated attacks on President Kennedy had limited effectiveness. The Tories' refusal to work with the Socreds also proved damaging, contributing to their losing ground in British Columbia, where they slipped to third place behind the Liberals and NDP.

Kennedy strongly favoured Pearson and made an effort to help his election campaign. Kennedy sent his consultant, Lou Harris, to work on the Pearson campaign and General Lauris Norstad publicly criticised the Conservatives for not meeting their NATO contributions. [2] Harris later said "One of the highlights of my life was helping Pearson". [3]

Despite winning 41% of the vote, which is usually sufficient for ensuring the election of a majority government, the Liberals came up five seats short of a majority due to winning only six seats in the Prairies. The Liberals formed a minority government that was dependent on the support of the social democratic New Democratic Party (NDP) in order to pass legislation.

The social-democratic NDP had been formed in 1961 by a socialist party, the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation, and by the Canadian Labour Congress. The 1963 election was the second vote contested by the NDP. The party won slightly fewer votes, and two fewer seats, than they had received in the 1962 election. They were again disappointed by the failure of their new partnership with the labour movement to produce an electoral breakthrough, particularly in the province of Ontario, which has the largest population and the largest number of seats in the House of Commons.

The Social Credit Party was unable to increase its representation in western Canada, and lost four of its Quebec seats despite gaining a slightly better share of the vote compared to 1962. Indeed, 1963 represented the highest share the party would ever get. The continuing lopsided result led to a split in the party when Thompson refused to step aside so that Réal Caouette could become party leader. Caouette and his followers left the Social Credit Party to sit as the Ralliement des créditistes .

National results

1963 Canadian parliament.svg
PartyParty leader# of
candidates
SeatsPopular vote
1962 Elected% Change#% pp Change
  Liberal Lester Pearson 26599128+29.3%3,276,99641.48%+4.51
  Progressive Conservative John Diefenbaker 26511695-18.1%2,591,61332.80%-4.42
Social Credit R.N. Thompson 2243024-20.0%940,70311.91%+0.30
  New Democrats Tommy Douglas 2321917-10.5%1,044,70113.22%-0.35
  Liberal-Labour 111-16,7940.21%+0.01
 Independent Liberal6---14,6580.19%+0.05
 Independent9---5,2360.07%-0.04
Communist Leslie Morris 12---4,2340.05%-0.03
 Independent PC2---1,9650.02%-0.01
 Independent Conservative2*-*1,1590.01%*
  Ouvrier Indépendant  1---1,0640.01%+0.01
 Independent Social Credit2*-*7170.01%*
 Nationalist 1*-*5400.01%*
  Candidat libéral des electeurs  1---4960.01%-0.02
  Socialist Labour  1*-*43x*
Total1,023265265 -7,900,919100% 
Sources: http://www.elections.ca History of Federal Ridings since 1867

Notes:

* The party did not nominate candidates in the previous election.

x - less than 0.005% of the popular vote

Vote and seat summaries

Popular vote
Liberal
41.48%
PC
32.80%
NDP
13.22%
Social Credit
11.91%
Others
0.59%
Seat totals
Liberal
48.30%
PC
35.84%
Social Credit
9.05%
NDP
6.41%
Others
0.37%

Results by province

Party name BC AB SK MB ON QC NB NS PE NL YK NW Total
  Liberal Seats:71-251476527--128
 Popular Vote:32.322.124.133.845.845.647.346.746.464.541.043.241.5
  Progressive Conservative Seats:4141710278472-1195
 Vote:23.445.353.742.335.019.540.446.952.030.149.656.832.8
  Social Credit Seats:22---20--  - 24
 Vote:13.325.83.97.02.027.38.60.1  9.4 11.9
  New Democrats Seats:9--26-----  17
 Vote:30.36.518.216.716.27.13.76.41.64.2  13.2
  Liberal-Labour Seats:    1       1
 Vote:    0.6       0.2
Total seats:22171714857510124711265
Parties that won no seats:
 Independent LiberalVote:    0.30.1   1.3  0.2
 IndependentVote:xx0.1xx0.2xx0.1      0.1
Communist Vote:0.10.10.1 0.1xx      0.1
 Independent PCVote:    xx0.1      xx
 Independent ConservativeVote:    xx       xx
  Ouvrier Indépendant Vote:     0.1      xx
 Independent Social CreditVote:     xx      xx
 NationalistVote:     xx      xx
  C. l. des electeurs Vote:     xx      xx
  Socialist Labour Vote:     xx      xx

See also

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References

  1. Pomfret, R. "Voter Turnout at Federal Elections and Referendums". Elections Canada. Elections Canada. Retrieved February 23, 2014.
  2. Kendall Holloway, Steven (2006). Canadian Foreign Policy: Defining the National Interest. Broadview Press. p. 141.
  3. Honnig, Bonnie (2021). Shell-Shocked Feminist Criticism After Trump. Fordham University Press.

Further reading