1935 Canadian federal election

1935 Canadian federal election
← outgoing members elected members →
245 seats in the House of Commons ; 123 seats needed for a majority
Turnout	74.2% (0.7pp)
	The Canadian parliament after the 1935 election
Prime Minister before election; R. B. Bennett ; Conservative	Prime Minister after election; William Lyon Mackenzie King ; Liberal

Last updated May 08, 2024

The 1935 Canadian federal election was held on October 14, 1935, to elect members of the House of Commons of Canada of the 18th Parliament of Canada. The Liberal Party of William Lyon Mackenzie King won a majority government, defeating Prime Minister R. B. Bennett's Conservatives.^[2]

The central issue was the economy, which was still in the depths of the Great Depression. In office since the 1930 election, Bennett had sought to stimulate the economy during his first few years through a policy of high tariffs and trade within the British Empire. In the last months of his time in office, he reversed his position, copying the popular New Deal of Franklin Roosevelt in the United States. Upset about high unemployment and inaction by the federal government, voters were unwilling to allow the Conservatives to continue to govern, despite their change of policy.

The Conservatives were also suffering severe internal divisions. During his first years in office, Bennett had alienated those in his party who supported intervention in the economy. His last minute conversion to interventionism alienated the rest of the party. Former cabinet minister H.H. Stevens left to form the Reconstruction Party. Senior minister Sir Joseph Flavelle announced he would be supporting the Liberals.

Voters opted for Mackenzie King's promise of mild reforms to restore economic health. The Liberals crushed the Tories, winning 173 seats to the Conservatives' 39, the worst ever performance by the Tories until their collapse in 1993. The Liberal Party would continue to hold power until 1957.

The 1935 election was also important in it saw the final demise of the Progressive Party and the United Farmers of Alberta. The Progressive Party, having been in gradual decline over the previous decade, did not run any candidates under its own banner. The federal party, always highly decentralized, ceased to exist sometime circa 1940. However,Liberal-Progressive Premier of Manitoba John Bracken brought the name back into formal use when he moved to federal politics in 1942; his first act as leader of the Conservatives was to rechristen them the Progressive Conservative Party.

The United Farmers of Alberta, whose credibility was ruined by a sex scandal involving former leader John E. Brownlee, lost all their seats in the provincial election earlier that year, and subsequently withdrew from electoral politics, likewise fielding no candidates in this federal election.

Two new movements rose out of the west, however. The new Co-operative Commonwealth Federation, a social democratic party, first competed in this election and won seven seats, promising social reform. The Social Credit Party of Canada was even more successful, capturing seventeen seats on its platform of monetary reform despite winning less of the popular vote than the former. Fifteen of these seats were in Alberta, where the party dominated after having swept to power in a landslide less than two months before the federal vote. John Horne Blackmore was chosen to lead the Social Credit caucus after the election. The de facto leader of the national movement was Alberta Premier William Aberhart, who did not stand in the federal election himself.

National results

Party		Party leader	# of candidates	Seats			Popular vote
Party		Party leader	# of candidates	1930	Elected	% Change	#	%	pp Change
	Liberal	W. L. Mackenzie King	245	90	173	+92.2%	1,967,839	44.68%	+0.65
	Conservative	R. B. Bennett	228	134	39	-70.9%	1,290,671	29.30%	-18.48
	Social Credit		46	*	17	*	180,679	4.10%	*
	Co-operative Commonwealth	J. S. Woodsworth	121	*	7	*	410,125	9.31%	*
	Liberal–Progressive		5	3	4	+33.3%	29,569	0.67%	-0.48
	Reconstruction	H.H. Stevens	172	*	1	*	384,462	8.73%	*
	Independent Liberal		24	-	1		54,239	1.23%	+0.86
	Independent		13	2	1	-50.0%	17,207	0.39%	-0.16
	United Farmers of Ontario-Labour		1	-	1		7,210	0.16%	+0.16
	Independent Conservative		4	-	1		1,078	0.02%	-0.24
	Communist	Tim Buck	12	-	-	-	20,140	0.46%	+0.34
	Labour		5	2	-	-100%	14,423	0.33%	-0.35
	Progressive-Conservative		2	1	-	-100%	12,220	0.28%	-0.13
	Verdun		1	*	-	*	4,214	0.10%	*
	Anti-Communist		1	*	-	*	3,961	0.09%	*
	Unknown		3	-	-	-	3,407	0.08%	-0.11
	Independent Reconstructionist		1	*	0	*	865	0.02%	*
	Technocrat		1	*	0	*	733	0.02%	*
	Liberal-Labour		3	-	-	-	708	0.02%	-0.17
	Socialist Party of Canada (WSM)		1	*	-	*	251	0.01%	*
	Independent Labour		1	-	-	-	221	0.01%	-0.41
	Veteran		1	*	-	*	79	x	*
Total			891	245	245	-	4,404,301	100%
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			44.68%
Conservative			29.84%
CCF			9.31%
Reconstruction			8.73%
Social Credit			4.10%
Others			3.88%

Seat totals

Liberal			70.61%
Conservative			15.91%
Social Credit			6.93%
CCF			2.85%
Reconstruction			0.40%
Others			3.26%

Results by province

Party name			BC	AB	SK	MB	ON	QC	NB	NS	PE	YK	Total
	Liberal	Seats won by party:	6	1	16	10	56	59	9	12	4	-	173
	Liberal	Popular Vote (%):	31.8	21.6	40.8	31.7	42.2	56.0	57.2	52.7	58.3	44.4	44.7
	Conservative	Seats:	5	1	1	1	25	5	1	-	-		39
	Conservative	Vote:	24.9	17.6	18.0	27.9	35.8	27.5	31.9	34.5	38.4		29.8
	Co-operative Commonwealth	Seats:	3	-	2	2	-	-					7
	Co-operative Commonwealth	Vote:	32.7	12.0	21.3	19.4	8.0	0.6					8.8
	Social Credit	Seats:	-	15	2	-							17
	Social Credit	Vote:	0.6	46.6	17.8	2.0							4.1
	Liberal-Progressive	Seats:				4							4
	Liberal-Progressive	Vote:				10.5							0.7
	Reconstruction	Seats:	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-		1
	Reconstruction	Vote:	7.3	0.7	1.3	5.9	11.4	9.3	9.7	12.7	3.4		8.7
	Independent Liberal	Seats:				-	-	1	-	-			1
	Independent Liberal	Vote:				0.2	0.6	3.8	0.4	3			1.2
	Independent	Seats:	1			-	-	-	-				1
	Independent	Vote:	1.8			0.1	0.2	0.7	0.8				0.4
	UFO-Labour	Seats:					1						1
	UFO-Labour	Vote:					0.5						0.2
	Independent Conservative	Seats:						-				1	1
	Independent Conservative	Vote:						xx				55.6	xx
Total Seats			16	17	21	17	82	65	10	12	4	1	245
Parties that won no seats:
	Communist	Vote:	0.5	1.1	0.8	0.7	0.5	0.3					0.5
	Farmer-Labour	Vote:	0.3				0.5	0.5					0.3
	Progressive-Conservative	Vote:				0.5		0.7					0.1
	Verdun	Vote:						0.4					0.1
	Anti-Communist	Vote:					0.2						0.1
	Unknown	Vote:					0.x	0.x					0.1
	Independent Reconstruction	Vote:						0.1					xx
	Technocrat	Vote:		0.3									xx
	Liberal-Labour	Vote:						0.1					xx
	Socialist	Vote:	0.1										xx
	Independent Labour	Vote:						0.x					xx
	Veteran	Vote:						0.x					xx

xx - less than 0.05% of the popular vote

Notes

↑ Aberhart was Premier of Alberta, and represented the provincial seat of Okotoks-High River, but was not a candidate in the federal election. John Horne Blackmore acted as Social Credit's parliamentary leader afterwards.

Related Research Articles

The Progressive Party of Canada, formally the National Progressive Party, was a federal-level political party in Canada in the 1920s until 1930. It was linked with the provincial United Farmers parties in several provinces, and it spawned the Progressive Party of Saskatchewan, and the Progressive Party of Manitoba, which formed the government of that province. The Progressive Party was part of the farmers' political movement that included federal and provincial Progressive and United Farmers' parties.

The Canadian social credit movement is a political movement originally based on the Social Credit theory of Major C. H. Douglas. Its supporters were colloquially known as Socreds in English and créditistes in French. It gained popularity and its own political party in the 1930s, as a result of the Great Depression.

The 1921 Canadian federal election was held on December 6, 1921, to elect members of the House of Commons of Canada of the 14th Parliament of Canada. The Union government that had governed Canada through the First World War was defeated, and replaced by a Liberal government under the young leader William Lyon Mackenzie King. A new third party, the Progressive Party, won the second most seats in the election.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Politics of Alberta</span>

The politics of Alberta are centred on a provincial government resembling that of the other Canadian provinces, namely a constitutional monarchy and parliamentary democracy. The capital of the province is Edmonton, where the provincial Legislative Building is located.

The Conservative Party of Canada was a major federal political party in Canada that existed from 1867 to 1942. The party adhered to traditionalist conservatism and its main policies included strengthening relations with Great Britain, nationalizing industries, and promoting high tariffs.

Alberta Social Credit was a provincial political party in Alberta, Canada, that was founded on social credit monetary policy put forward by Clifford Hugh Douglas and on conservative Christian social values. The Canadian social credit movement was largely an out-growth of Alberta Social Credit. The Social Credit Party of Canada was strongest in Alberta, before developing a base in Quebec when Réal Caouette agreed to merge his Ralliement créditiste movement into the federal party. The British Columbia Social Credit Party formed the government for many years in neighbouring British Columbia, although this was effectively a coalition of centre-right forces in the province that had no interest in social credit monetary policies.

The Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta was a provincial centre-right party in the Canadian province of Alberta that existed from 1905 to 2020. The party formed the provincial government, without interruption, from 1971 until the party's defeat in the 2015 provincial election under premiers Peter Lougheed, Don Getty, Ralph Klein, Ed Stelmach, Alison Redford, Dave Hancock and Jim Prentice. At 44 years, this was the longest unbroken run in government at the provincial or federal level in Canadian history.

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

The United Farmers of Alberta (UFA) is an association of Alberta farmers that has served different roles in its 100-year history – as a lobby group, a successful political party, and as a farm-supply retail chain. As a political party, it formed the government of Alberta from 1921 to 1935.

The Alberta New Democratic Party, commonly shortened to Alberta NDP, is a social-democratic political party in Alberta, Canada. It is the provincial Alberta affiliate of the federal New Democratic Party, and the successor to the Alberta section of the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation and the even earlier Alberta wing of the Canadian Labour Party and the United Farmers of Alberta. From the mid-1980s to 2004, the party abbreviated its name as the "New Democrats" (ND).

The 1925 Canadian federal election was held on October 29, 1925 to elect members of the House of Commons of Canada of the 15th Parliament of Canada. The Conservative party took the most seats in the House of Commons, although not a majority. Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King's Liberal Party was invited to form a minority government. Unlike the Conservative party, King's Liberals had the conditional support of the many Farmer/Progressive MPs.

The 1945 Canadian federal election was held on June 11, 1945, to elect members of the House of Commons of the 20th Parliament of Canada. Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King's Liberals won a third term. The party fell five seats short of a majority but was able to rule as a majority government with the support of Independent Liberal MPs.

John Horne Blackmore was a Canadian school teacher and principal and Canadian politician. He was one of the first elected members and leaders of the Social Credit Party of Canada, a political party in Canada that promoted the social credit theories of monetary reform.

The 1949 Canadian federal election was held June 27, 1949, to elect members of the House of Commons of Canada of the 21st Parliament of Canada.

The 1940 Canadian federal election was held March 26, 1940, to elect members of the House of Commons of Canada of the 19th Parliament of Canada. Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King's Liberal Party was re-elected to their second consecutive majority government.

The 1930 Canadian federal election was held on July 28, 1930, to elect members of the House of Commons of the 17th Parliament of Canada. Richard Bedford Bennett's Conservative Party won a majority government, defeating the Liberal Party led by Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King.

The 1926 Canadian federal election was held on September 14, 1926, to elect members of the House of Commons of Canada of the 16th Parliament of Canada. The election was called after an event known as the King–Byng affair.

The 1975 Alberta general election was held on March 26, 1975, to elect members of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta to the 18th Alberta Legislature. The election was called on February 14, 1975 prorogued and dissolved of the 17th Alberta Legislature.

Populism in Canada has been part of the country's political culture through its history and across the political spectrum. Populist parties and movements have included the Canadian social credit movement which achieved electoral strengths in Western Canada and to some extent in Quebec in the early to mid 20th century, and the Reform Party of Canada which became the largest conservative party in Parliament from a base in Western Canada in the 1990s.

References

↑ "Voter Turnout at Federal Elections and Referendums". Elections Canada. Retrieved March 10, 2019.
↑ Reid, Escott (1936). "The Canadian Election of 1935—and After". American Political Science Review. 30 (1): 111–121. doi:10.2307/1948012. ISSN 0003-0554. JSTOR 1948012. S2CID 147100835.

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.

[2] Aberhart was Premier of Alberta, and represented the provincial seat of Okotoks-High River, but was not a candidate in the federal election. John Horne Blackmore acted as Social Credit's parliamentary leader afterwards.

[1] "Voter Turnout at Federal Elections and Referendums". Elections Canada. Retrieved March 10, 2019.

[3] Reid, Escott (1936). "The Canadian Election of 1935—and After". American Political Science Review. 30 (1): 111–121. doi:10.2307/1948012. ISSN 0003-0554. JSTOR 1948012. S2CID 147100835.

[1]

[lower-alpha 1]

[2]

v t e Federal elections and referendums in Canada
General elections	1867 1872 1874 1878 1882 1887 1891 1896 1900 1904 1908 1911 1917 1921 1925 1926 1930 1935 1940 1945 1949 1953 1957 1958 1962 1963 1965 1968 1972 1974 1979 1980 1984 1988 1993 1997 2000 2004 2006 2008 2011 2015 2019 2021 Next
By-elections	1st (1867–1872) 2nd (1873–1874) 3rd (1874–1878) 4th (1879–1882) 5th (1883–1887) 6th (1887–1891) 7th (1891–1896) 8th (1896–1900) 9th (1901–1904) 10th (1905–1908) 11th (1909–1911) 12th (1911–1917) 13th (1918–1921) 14th (1921–1925) 15th (1926) 16th (1926–1930) 17th (1930–1935) 18th (1936–1940) 19th (1940–1945) 20th (1945–1949) 21st (1949–1953) 22nd (1953–1957) 23rd (1957–1958) 24th (1958–1962) 25th (1962–1963) 26th (1963–1965) 27th (1965–1968) 28th (1968–1972) 29th (1973–1974; no by-elections) 30th (1974–1979) 31st (1979) 32nd (1980–1984) 33rd (1984–1988) 34th (1988–1993) 35th (1994–1997) 36th (1997–2000) 37th (2000–2004) 38th (2004–2006) 39th (2006–2008) 40th (2008–2011) 41st (2011–2015) 42nd (2015–2019) 43rd (2019–2021) 44th (2021–present)
Referendums	1898 1942 1992
Federal political parties Federal electoral districts Historical federal electoral districts