Canadian federal election, 1974

Last updated
Canadian federal election, 1974
Flag of Canada.svg
  1972 July 8, 1974 1979  

264 seats in the 30th Canadian Parliament
133 seats needed for a majority
Turnout71.0% [1] (Decrease2.svg5.7pp)
 First partySecond party
  Pierre Trudeau (1975) cropped.jpg
Leader Pierre Trudeau Robert Stanfield
Party Liberal Progressive Conservative
Leader since April 6, 1968 September 9, 1967
Leader's seat Mount Royal Halifax
Last election109 seats, 38.42%107 seats, 35.02%
Seats before109106
Seats won14195
Seat changeIncrease2.svg32Decrease2.svg11
Popular vote4,102,8533,371,319
Percentage43.15%35.46%
SwingIncrease2.svg4.73pp Increase2.svg0.44pp

 Third partyFourth party
  DavidLewis1944.jpg Real Caouette2.jpg
Leader David Lewis Réal Caouette
Party New Democratic Social Credit
Leader since April 24, 1971 October 9, 1971
Leader's seat York South (lost re-election) Témiscamingue
Last election31 seats, 17.83%15 seats, 7.55%
Seats before3115
Seats won1611
Seat changeDecrease2.svg15Decrease2.svg4
Popular vote1,467,748481,231
Percentage15.44%5.06%
SwingDecrease2.svg2.40pp Decrease2.svg2.49pp

Canada 1974 Federal Election.svg
Popular vote by province, with graphs indicating the number of seats won. As this is an FPTP election, seat totals are not determined by popular vote by province but instead via results by each riding.

Prime Minister before election

Pierre Trudeau
Liberal

Prime Minister-designate

Pierre Trudeau
Liberal

The Canadian federal election of 1974 was held on July 8, 1974, to elect members of the House of Commons of Canada of the 30th Parliament of Canada. The governing Liberal Party was reelected, going from a minority to a majority government, and gave Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau his third term. The Progressive Conservatives, led by Robert Stanfield, did well in the Atlantic provinces, and in the West, but the Liberal support in Ontario and Quebec ensured a majority Liberal government.

House of Commons of Canada lower house of the Parliament of Canada

The House of Commons of Canada is a component of the Parliament of Canada, along with the Sovereign and the Senate. The House of Commons currently meets in a temporary Commons chamber in the West Block of the parliament buildings on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, while the Centre Block, which houses the traditional Commons chamber, undergoes a ten-year renovation.

30th Canadian Parliament term of the Canadian federal parliament

The 30th Canadian Parliament was in session from September 30, 1974, until March 26, 1979. The membership was set by the 1974 election on July 8, 1974, and was only changed somewhat due to resignations and by-elections before it was dissolved prior to the 1979 election.

Canada Country in North America

Canada is a country in the northern part of North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic to the Pacific and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering 9.98 million square kilometres, making it the world's second-largest country by total area. Canada's southern border with the United States is the world's longest bi-national land border. Its capital is Ottawa, and its three largest metropolitan areas are Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver. As a whole, Canada is sparsely populated, the majority of its land area being dominated by forest and tundra. Consequently, its population is highly urbanized, with over 80 percent of its inhabitants concentrated in large and medium-sized cities, many near the southern border. Canada's climate varies widely across its vast area, ranging from arctic weather in the north, to hot summers in the southern regions, with four distinct seasons.

Contents

Overview

The previous election had resulted in the Liberals emerging as the largest party, but far short of a majority, and only two seats ahead of the Progressive Conservatives. They were able to form a government with the support of the New Democratic Party, but the NDP withdrew their backing in May 1974 and voted with the Progressive Conservatives to bring down Trudeau's government in protest of a budget proposed by finance minister John Turner, which the opposition parties felt did not go far enough to control spiralling inflation.

The New Democratic Party is a social democratic federal political party in Canada. The party was founded in 1961 out of the merger of the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF) with the Canadian Labour Congress (CLC). The party sits to the left of the Liberal Party of Canada within the Canadian political spectrum. The leader of the federal NDP is Jagmeet Singh, who won the 2017 leadership election.

John Turner 17th Prime Minister of Canada

John Napier Wyndham Turner is a Canadian lawyer and politician who served as the 17th prime minister of Canada, in office from June 30 to September 17, 1984.

Inflation increase in the general price level of goods and services in an economy over a period of time

In economics, inflation is a sustained increase in the general price level of goods and services in an economy over a period of time. When the general price level rises, each unit of currency buys fewer goods and services; consequently, inflation reflects a reduction in the purchasing power per unit of money – a loss of real value in the medium of exchange and unit of account within the economy. A chief measure of price inflation is the inflation rate, the annualized percentage change in a general price index, usually the consumer price index, over time. The opposite of inflation is deflation.

The issue of inflation would become key in the election campaign. Stanfield had proposed a "90-day wage and price freeze" to break the momentum of inflation. Trudeau had ridiculed this policy as an intrusion on the rights of businesses and employees to set or negotiate their own prices and wages with the catch-phrase, "Zap! You're frozen!" In 1975, Trudeau introduced his own wage and price control system under the auspices of the "Anti-Inflation Board".

The New Democratic Party, led by David Lewis, lost less than two-and-a-half percentage points in the popular vote, but lost almost half of their seats in the House of Commons. It was the worst result in the party's history up until that point, with only their performances in 1993 and 2000 to date being worse. They were hurt principally by the collapse of their vote in British Columbia; having won the popular vote and most seats in the province two years prior, the NDP were almost totally wiped out in the province during this election, losing all but two of their seats and finishing a distant third behind the Liberals and Tories.

David Lewis (politician) Canadian labour lawyer and social democratic politician

David Lewis was a Canadian labour lawyer and social democratic politician. He was national secretary of the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF) from 1936 to 1950, and one of the key architects of the New Democratic Party (NDP) in 1961. In 1962, he was elected as the Member of Parliament (MP), in the House of Commons of Canada, for the York South electoral district. While an MP, he was elected the NDP's national leader, and served from 1971 until 1975. After his defeat in the 1974 federal election, he stepped down as leader and retired from politics. He spent his last years as a university professor at Carleton University, and as a travel correspondent for the Toronto Star. In retirement, he was named to the Order of Canada for his political service. After suffering from cancer for a long time, he died in Ottawa in 1981.

The Social Credit Party of Canada, led by Réal Caouette, continued to lose ground, and fell to 11 seats, one short of the number required to be recognized as a party in the House of Commons (and therefore qualify for research funds and parliamentary committee memberships). This status was nonetheless extended to the party by the governing Liberals, who believed that Social Credit's support came primarily at the expense of the Tories.

Social Credit Party of Canada political party in Canada

The Social Credit Party of Canada, colloquially known as the Socreds, was a conservative-populist political party in Canada that promoted social credit theories of monetary reform. It was the federal wing of the Canadian social credit movement.

Réal Caouette Canadian politician

David Réal Caouette was a Canadian politician from Quebec. He was a Member of Parliament (MP) and leader of the Social Credit Party of Canada and founder of the Ralliement des créditistes. Outside politics he worked as a car dealer.

One seat was won in New Brunswick by independent candidate Leonard Jones. Jones, the former mayor of Moncton, had secured the Progressive Conservative nomination, but PC leader Stanfield refused to sign Jones' nomination papers because he was a vocal opponent of official bilingualism, which the PC Party supported. Jones had opposed providing services in French in the City of Moncton even though 30% of the city's population was francophone. Jones ran and won as an independent. After the election, Social Credit leader Caouette invited Jones to join the Socred caucus, which would have given that party enough members for official status. Caouette justified the invitation on the basis that Jones agreed with providing bilingual education at the primary school level. Jones declined Caouette's invitation, and sat as an independent.

New Brunswick province in Canada

New Brunswick is one of four Atlantic provinces on the east coast of Canada. According to the Constitution of Canada, New Brunswick is the only bilingual province. About two thirds of the population declare themselves anglophones and a third francophones. One third of the overall population describe themselves as bilingual. Atypically for Canada, only about half of the population lives in urban areas, mostly in Greater Moncton, Greater Saint John and the capital Fredericton.

Leonard C. Jones, Jr. was a Canadian lawyer and politician, who served as mayor of the city of Moncton, New Brunswick, between 1963 and 1974, and Member of Parliament for the constituency of Moncton between 1974 and 1979.

Moncton City in New Brunswick, Canada

Moncton is the largest city in the Canadian province of New Brunswick. Situated in the Petitcodiac River Valley, Moncton lies at the geographic centre of the Maritime Provinces. The city has earned the nickname "Hub City" due to its central inland location in the region and its history as a railway and land transportation hub for the Maritimes.

Of the four major party leaders, only Trudeau would remain in place for the following federal election five years later. Stanfield, having failed to defeat the Liberals in any of his three elections as leader, faced pressure to stand down and eventually did so in 1976, being succeeded by Joe Clark. Lewis's position was rendered untenable by the loss of his own seat, and he was forced to stand down within a year of the election (though it later transpired that he had intended to retire in 1975 regardless of the election result, as he had secretly been battling leukaemia); Ed Broadbent initially replaced him as interim leader, and was subsequently elected to the position permanently. Caouette, who had only been able to play a minimal role in the election due to injuries sustained in a snowmobiling accident, stood down as leader of the Socreds in late 1976 and died not long afterwards; a succession of leaders took charge in the years ahead, ultimately leaving Fabien Roy as the man who would lead them into the next election.

Joe Clark 16th Prime Minister of Canada

Charles Joseph "Joe" Clark, is a Canadian elder statesman, businessman, writer, and politician who served as the 16th prime minister of Canada, from June 4, 1979, to March 3, 1980.

Ed Broadbent Politician, university professor

John Edward "Ed" Broadbent, is a Canadian social-democratic politician, political scientist, and chair of the Broadbent Institute, a policy thinktank. He was leader of the New Democratic Party of Canada (NDP) from 1975 to 1989. In the 2004 federal election, he returned to Parliament for one additional term as the Member of Parliament for Ottawa Centre.

Fabien Roy was a politician in Quebec, Canada, in the 1970s. Roy was elected to the National Assembly of Quebec and the House of Commons of Canada, and advocated social credit theories of monetary reform.

National results

The House of Commons after the 1974 election Chambre des Communes 1974.png
The House of Commons after the 1974 election
1419516111
LiberalProgressive ConservativeNDPSCO
PartyParty leader# of
candidates
SeatsPopular vote
1972 Dissolution Elected% Change#%Change
  Liberal Pierre Trudeau 264109109141+29.4%4,102,85343.15%+4.73pp
  Progressive Conservative Robert Stanfield 26410710695-11.2%3,371,31935.46%+0.44pp
  New Democratic Party David Lewis 262313116-48.4%1,467,74815.44%-2.40pp
Social Credit Real Caouette 152151511-26.7%481,2315.06%-2.49pp
 Independent631-1-38,7450.41%-0.18pp
 Unknown28----17,1240.18%-0.15pp
Marxist–Leninist Hardial Bains 104  - 16,2610.17% 
Communist William Kashtan 69  - 12,1000.13% 
 No affiliation311--100%5510.01%-0.24pp
    Vacant2 
Total1,209264264264-9,507,932100% 
Sources: http://www.elections.ca History of Federal Ridings since 1867

Note: "% change" refers to change from previous election

Vote and seat summaries

Popular vote
Liberal
43.15%
PC
35.46%
NDP
15.44%
Social Credit
5.06%
Others
0.89%


Seat totals
Liberal
53.41%
PC
35.98%
NDP
6.06%
Social Credit
4.17%
Independents
0.38%

Results by province

Party name BC AB SK MB ON QC NB NS PE NL NT YK Total
  Liberal Seats:8-3255606214--141
 Popular Vote (%):33.824.830.727.445.154.147.240.746.246.724.733.543.2
  Progressive Conservative Seats:1319892533833-195
 Vote:41.961.236.447.735.121.233.047.549.143.633.247.135.5
  New Democratic Party Seats:2-228--1--1-16
 Vote:23.09.331.523.519.16.68.711.24.69.542.119.515.4
  Social Credit Seats:-----11-- -  11
 Vote:1.23.41.11.10.217.12.90.4 0.1  5.1
 IndependentSeats:------1  -  1
 Vote:0.10.20.10.10.10.38.1  0.1  0.4
Total seats:23191313887410114711264
Parties that won no seats:
 UnknownVote:xx1.0. 0.10.10.3  0.1   0.2
Marxist–Leninist Vote:0.10.10.10.10.10.4xx0.1    0.2
Communist Vote:0.30.10.10.10.10.1      0.1
 No affiliationVote:    xxxx      xx

xx - less than 0.05% of the popular vote.

Notes

See also

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References

  1. Pomfret, R. "Voter Turnout at Federal Elections and Referendums". Elections Canada. Elections Canada. Retrieved 11 January 2014.