1926 Canadian federal election

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Canadian federal election, 1926

← 1925 September 14, 1926 1930 →

245 seats in the 16th Canadian Parliament
123 seats needed for a majority
  First party Second party
  180x180px Former PM Arthur Meighen.jpg
Leader W. L. Mackenzie King Arthur Meighen
Party Liberal Conservative
Leader since 1919 1920
Leader's seat Prince Albert Portage la Prairie (lost re-election)
Last election 100 115
Seats won 116 91
Seat change +16 -24
Popular vote 1,397,031 1,476,834
Percentage 42.90% 45.35%
Swing +3.06pp -0.78pp

  Third party Fourth party
 
Party Progressive United Farmers of Alberta
Last election 22 2
Seats won 11 11
Seat change -11 +9
Popular vote 128,060 60,740
Percentage 3.93% 1.87%
Swing -4.52pp +1.61pp

Canada 1926 Federal Election.svg

Prime Minister before election

Arthur Meighen
Conservative

Prime Minister-designate

William Lyon Mackenzie King
Liberal

The Canadian federal election of 1926 was held on September 14 to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons of the 16th Parliament of Canada. The election was called following an event known as the King-Byng Affair. In the 1925 federal election, Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King's Liberal Party of Canada won fewer seats in the Canadian House of Commons than the Conservative Party of Arthur Meighen. Mackenzie King, however, was determined to continue to govern with the support of the Progressive Party. The combined Liberal and Progressive caucuses gave Mackenzie King a plurality of seats in the House of Commons, and the ability to form a minority government. The agreement collapsed, however, following a scandal, and Mackenzie King approached the Governor-General, Baron Byng of Vimy, to seek dissolution of the Parliament. Byng refused on the basis that the Conservatives had won the largest number of seats in the prior election, and called upon Meighen to form a government.

Prime Minister Meighen's government was soon defeated in a vote of non-confidence, and Byng agreed to dissolve Parliament and call new elections. Mackenzie King effectively campaigned against Byng in the election instead of against Meighen, and won the largest number of seats in the House of Commons despite receiving a smaller proportion of the popular vote than the Tories. The Liberals did not run candidates in all ridings, having an informal electoral pact with the Progressives and Liberal-Progressives. Note in particular the election results in Manitoba, where Meighen's party captured almost 40 percent of the vote, twice the vote share of any other party, but no seats. Thus, Mackenzie King's Liberals were able to govern with the support of Liberal-Progressive Members of Parliament.

Byng returned to Britain at the end of the year and was raised to the rank of Viscount as an expression of confidence in him.

After his party's defeat and the loss of his own seat, Meighen resigned as Conservative leader.

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File:Chambre des Communes 1926.png
The Canadian parliament after the 1926 election

National results

116 91 11 11 16
Liberal Conservative P UFA O
Party Party leader # of
candidates
Seats Popular vote
1925 Elected % Change # % pp Change
     Liberal W. L. Mackenzie King 203 100 116 +16.0% 1,397,031 42.90% +3.06
     Conservative Arthur Meighen 232 115 91 -20.2% 1,476,834 45.35% -0.78
Progressive   28 22 11 -50.0% 128,060 3.93% -4.52
United Farmers of Alberta   12 2 11 +450% 60,740 1.87% +1.61
Liberal–Progressive Robert Forke 12 - 8   63,144 1.94% +1.83
Labour   18 2 4 +100% 55,661 1.71% -0.10
     Independent 10 2 2 - 25,821 0.79% +0.28
     Independent Liberal 5 1 1 - 18,627 0.57% -0.42
United Farmers of Ontario   1 * 1 * 6,909 0.21% *
     Independent Conservative 3 1 - -100% 10,164 0.31% -0.23
     Progressive-Conservative   2 - - - 7,088 0.22% +0.18
     Liberal-Labour   1 * - * 4,187 0.13% *
     Labour-Farmer   1 - - - 1,441 0.04% -0.11
Socialist   1 - - - 672 0.02% -0.04
     Protectionist   1 * - * 129 x *
Total 530 245 245 - 3,256,508 100%  
Sources: http://www.elections.ca -- History of Federal Ridings since 1867

Notes:

* not applicable - the party was not recognized in the previous election

x - less than 0.005% of the popular vote

Vote and seat summaries

Popular vote
Conservative
  
45.35%
Liberal
  
42.90%
Progressive
  
3.93%
United Farmers
  
1.87%
Others
  
5.95%
Seat totals
Liberal
  
47.35%
Conservative
  
37.14%
Progressive
  
4.49%
United Farmers
  
4.49%
Others
  
6.53%

Results by province

The results in the province of Manitoba are used by supporters of electoral reform as a reason to abolish the "First Past the Post" electoral system. Note that with 40% of the vote, the Conservatives did not win a single seat in the province. The explanation for this bizarre occurrence is that only three ridings in Manitoba were three-way races - Springfield, St. Boniface, and Winnipeg North - and one acclamation - Provencher. The other 13 ridings were two-way races between the Conservatives and either the Liberals, Progressives, Liberal-Progressives, or Labour Party. Thus, the main reason for the disproportionality is that parties other than the Conservatives simply chose not to field candidates in ridings where a non-conservative candidate was already running - thus uniting the vote against the Conservatives in those thirteen Manitoba ridings.

Party name BC AB SK MB ON QC NB NS PE YK Total
     Liberal Seats: 1 3 16 4 24 59 4 2 3 - 116
     Popular Vote (%): 37.0 24.5 51.3 18.4 35.3 61.3 46.1 43.5 52.7 44.1 42.8
     Conservative Seats: 12 1 - - 53 4 7 12 1 1 91
     Vote: 54.2 31.5 27.5 39.7 54.9 34.0 53.9 53.7 47.3 55.9 45.4
  Progressive Seats:     4 4 3           11
  Vote:     17.9 11.2 5.1           3.9
  United Farmers of Alberta Seats:   11                 11
  Vote:   38.7                 1.9
  Liberal-Progressive Seats:     1 7 -           8
  Vote:     3.2 19.5 1.4           1.9
  Labour Seats: - 1   2 1     -     4
  Vote: 6.4 4.3   8.7 1.1     2.8     1.7
     Independent Seats: 1 -     - 1         2
     Vote: 2.3 0.1     0.5 1.9         0.8
     Independent Liberal Seats:           1         1
     Vote:           2.3         0.6
  United Farmers of Ontario Seats:         1           1
  Vote:         0.6           0.2
Total seats 14 16 21 17 82 65 11 14 4 1 245
Parties that won no seats:
     Independent Conservative Vote:         0.8 0.1         0.3
     Progressive-Conservative Vote:       2.5   0.3         0.2
     Liberal-Labour Vote:         0.3           0.1
     Labour-Farmer Vote:   0.9                 xx
  Socialist Vote:           0.1         xx
     Protectionist Vote:           xx         xx

xx - less than 0.05% of the popular vote

See also

References

Further reading

  • Argyle, Ray. Turning Points: The Campaigns That Changed Canada - 2011 and Before (2011) excerpt and text search ch 7

External links