Canadian federal election, 1867

Canadian federal election, 1867

August 7–September 20, 1867
180 seats in the 1st Canadian Parliament 91 seats needed for a majority
First party Second party Third party   Leader John A. Macdonald George Brown (unofficial) Joseph Howe Party Conservative Liberal Anti-Confederation Leader's seat Kingston Ontario South (lost) Hants Seats won 100 62 18 Popular vote 92,722 60,818 21,239 Percentage 34.5% 22.7% 7.9%
Prime Minister before election John A. Macdonald Conservative Prime Minister-designate John A. Macdonald Conservative

The Canadian federal election of 1867, held from August 7 to September 20, was the first election for the new nation of Canada. It was held to elect members to the Canadian House of Commons, representing electoral districts in the provinces of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Ontario and Quebec in the 1st Parliament of Canada. The provinces of Manitoba (1870) and British Columbia (1871) were created during the term of the 1st Parliament of Canada and were not part of the Canadian federal election of 1867.

Sir John A. Macdonald had been sworn in as prime minister by the Governor General, Lord Monck, when the new Canadian nation was founded on 1 July 1867. As leader of the Conservative Party of Canada (concurrently known as the Liberal-Conservative Party until 1873), he led his party in this election and continued as Prime Minister of Canada when the Conservatives won a majority of the seats in the election, including majority of the seats (and votes) in the new provinces of Ontario and Quebec.

The Liberal Party of Canada won the second largest number of seats overall, including a majority of the seats (and votes) in the province of New Brunswick. The Liberals did not have a party leader in the election. George Brown, who was leader of the Liberal Party of Ontario, was considered the "elder statesman" of the national party. Brown ran concurrently for seats in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario and the Canadian House of Commons, and may well have been Prime Minister in the unlikely event that the Liberals prevailed over the Conservatives in the national election. Brown failed to win a seat in either body, and the national Liberals remained officially leaderless until 1873.

The Anti-Confederation Party, led by Joseph Howe, won the third largest number of seats overall, based solely on a majority of seats (and votes) in the province of Nova Scotia. Their main desire was the reversal of the decision to join Confederation, which had become highly unpopular in that province. The goals of the Anti-Confederation Members of Parliament (MPs) were openly supported by five of the Liberal MPs of New Brunswick. The Anti-Confederation MPs sat with the Liberal caucus. When the government in Britain refused to allow Nova Scotia to secede, a majority of the Anti-Confederation MPs (11 of 18) moved to the Conservatives. Voter turn-out: 73.1%

Election results

The initial seat distribution of the 1st Canadian Parliament

National

↓
100	62	18
Conservative	Liberal	A-C

Party		Party leader	# of candidates	Elected	Popular vote
					#	%
	Conservative	Sir John A. Macdonald	81	71	63,752	23.45%
	Liberal-Conservative		32	29	29,730	11.08%
	Liberal	none (unofficially, George Brown)	65	62	60,818	22.67%
	Anti-Confederation	Joseph Howe	20	18	21,239	7.92%
	Independents		1	-	1,756	0.65%
	Liberal-Independent		1	-	1,048	0.39%
	Unknown		141	-	90,044	33.84%
Total			341	180	268,386	100%
Source: History of Federal Ridings since 1867

Acclamations

The following MPs were acclaimed:

• Ontario: 3 Conservative, 3 Liberal-Conservatives, 9 Liberals
• Quebec: 14 Conservatives, 5 Liberal-Conservatives, 4 Liberals
• New Brunswick: 1 Conservative, 3 Liberals
• Nova Scotia: 4 Anti-Confederates

Results by province

Party name			Ontario	Quebec	NB	NS	Total
	Conservative	Seats	33	36	1	1	71
		Popular vote	26.2%	28.5%		13.8%	23.2%
	Liberal-Conservative	Seats	16	11	2	-	29
		Vote	12.5%	12.3%	11.1%	3.5%	11.1%
	Liberal	Seats	33	17	12		62
		Vote	23.7%	25.2%	49.5%		22.7%
	Anti-Confederation	Seats				18	18
		Vote				58.2%	7.9%
	Unknown	Seats	-	-	-	-	-
		Vote	35.6%	34.1%	39.3%	24.4%	34.0%
	Independent	Seats	-				-
		Vote	1.3%				0.7%
	Independent Liberal	Seats	-				-
		Vote	0.7%				0.4%
Total seats			82	64	15	19	180

Vote and seat summaries

Popular vote
Conservative			34.53%
Liberal			22.67%
Anti-Confederation			7.92%
Others			34.88%

Seat totals
Conservative			55.56%
Liberal			34.44%
Anti-Confederation			10.00%

See also

For a list of the MPs elected in the 1867 election, and in by-elections prior to 1872, see 1st Canadian parliament.

• List of elections in the Province of Canada
• 1st Canadian Parliament

External links

• Map of electoral districts coloured for each party