1978 Prince Edward Island general election

1978 Prince Edward Island general election

←  1974 April 24, 1978 (1978-04-24) 1979  →
←  outgoing members members  →
All 32 seats in the Legislative Assembly of Prince Edward Island 17 seats needed for a majority
First party Second party   Lib Leader Alexander B. Campbell Angus MacLean Party Liberal Progressive Conservative Leader since December 11, 1965 September 25, 1976 Leader's seat 5th Prince 4th Queens Last election 26 seats, 54.0% 6 seats, 39.9% Seats won 17 15 Seat change 9 9 Popular vote 64,133 60,878 Percentage 50.7% 48.1% Swing 3.3pp 8.2pp
Seats won by each party per district. Voters elect two members (one Councillor and Assemblyman) from each of the 16 districts.
Premier before election Alexander B. Campbell Liberal Premier after election Alexander B. Campbell Liberal

The 1978 Prince Edward Island general election was held on April 24, 1978. ^[1]

The election was one of the closest in P.E.I. history, with the governing Liberals of Premier Alexander B. Campbell losing a number of seats to their Progressive Conservative rivals. The decrease of the 26 to 6 Liberal majority to a slim 17 to 15 lead over the PC, and the resignation of Alex Campbell, led to an unstable legislature, and another election was held just one year later in 1979.

Party standings

↓

17	15
Liberal	PC

Party		Party Leader	Seats			Popular Vote
			1974	Elected	Change	#	%	Change
	Liberal	Alex Campbell	26	17	-9	64,133	50.7%	-3.3%
	Progressive Conservative	Angus MacLean	6	15	+9	60,878	48.1%	+8.2%
	New Democratic	Aquinas Ryan	0	0	-	1,173	0.9%	-5.3%
	Independent		-	0	-	257	0.2%	+0.2%

Popular vote Liberal   50.72% PC   48.15% New Democratic   0.93% Others   0.20%

Seats summary Liberal   53.13% PC   46.87%

Members elected

The Legislature of Prince Edward Island had two levels of membership from 1893 to 1996 - Assemblymen and Councillors. This was a holdover from when the Island had a bicameral legislature, the General Assembly and the Legislative Council.

In 1893, the Legislative Council was abolished and had its membership merged with the Assembly, though the two titles remained separate and were elected by different electoral franchises. Assembleymen were elected by all eligible voters of within a district. Before 1963, Councillors were only elected by landowners within a district, but afterward they were elected in the same manner as Assemblymen. ^[2]

Kings

District	Assemblyman		Party	Councillor		Party
1st Kings		Ross "Johnny" Young	Liberal		James Fay	Liberal
2nd Kings		Roddy Pratt	Progressive Conservative		Leo Rossiter	Progressive Conservative
3rd Kings		William Bennett Campbell	Liberal		Bud Ings	Liberal
4th Kings		Pat Binns	Progressive Conservative		Johnnie Williams	Progressive Conservative
5th Kings		Arthur J. MacDonald	Liberal		Lowell Johnston	Progressive Conservative

Prince

District	Assemblyman		Party	Councillor		Party
1st Prince		Russell Perry	Liberal		Robert E. Campbell	Liberal
2nd Prince		George R. Henderson	Liberal		Allison Ellis	Liberal
3rd Prince		Léonce Bernard	Liberal		Edward Clark	Liberal
4th Prince		William MacDougall	Progressive Conservative		Prowse Chappel	Progressive Conservative
5th Prince		George McMahon	Progressive Conservative		Alexander B. Campbell	Liberal

Queens

District	Assemblyman		Party	Councillor		Party
1st Queens		Jean Canfield	Liberal		Ralph Johnstone	Liberal
2nd Queens		David Ford	Liberal		Lloyd MacPhail	Progressive Conservative
3rd Queens		Horace B. Carver	Progressive Conservative		Fred Driscoll	Progressive Conservative
4th Queens		J. Angus MacLean	Progressive Conservative		Daniel Compton	Progressive Conservative
5th Queens		James M. Lee	Progressive Conservative		George Proud	Liberal
6th Queens		Barry Clark	Progressive Conservative		John H. Maloney	Liberal

Sources

1. "Provincial General Election Results, 1978" (PDF). Elections PEI. Archived from the original (PDF) on September 23, 2015. Retrieved May 25, 2015.
2. Fred Driscoll. "History and Politics of Prince Edward Island" (PDF). Canadian Parliamentary Review.