Canadian federal election, 1878

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The Canadian parliament after the 1878 election
The Canadian parliament after the 1878 election

The Canadian federal election of 1878 was held on September 17 to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons of the 4th Parliament of Canada. It resulted in the end of Prime Minister Alexander Mackenzie's Liberal government after only one term in office. Canada suffered an economic depression during Mackenzie's term, and his party was punished by the voters for it. The Liberals' policy of free trade also hurt their support with the business establishment in Toronto and Montreal.

Sir John A. Macdonald and his Conservative/Liberal-Conservative party was returned to office after having been defeated five years before amidst scandals over the building of the Canadian Pacific Railway.

Voter turn-out: 69.1%


[edit] National results

Party Party leader # of candidates Seats Popular vote
1874 Elected Change # % Change
     Conservative
John A. Macdonald
101 38 85 +118.4% 143,192 26.28% +7.80%
     Liberal-Conservative 60 26 49 +76.9% 85,999 15.78% +3.50%
     Liberal
Alexander Mackenzie
121 126 63 -54.8% 180,074 33.05% -7.74%
     Independent 11 4 5 +25% 14,783 2.71% -0.48%
     Independent Conservative 2 2 2 - 1,001 0.18% -0.76%
     Unknown 117 -   114,043 20.93% -1.93%
     Independent Liberal 4 1 1 +100% 5,388 0.99% -
     Nationalist Conservative 1 * 1 * 401 0.07% *
Total 417 197 206 +3.6% 100.0%
-
Sources: http://www.elections.ca -- History of Federal Ridings since 1867

Note:

* Party did not nominate candidates in the previous election.

Acclamations

The following Members of Parliament were elected by acclamation;

  • British Columbia: 1 Conservative, 1 Liberal-Conservative
  • Manitoba: 2 Conservatives, 1 Liberal-Conservative
  • Quebec: 1 Conservative, 2 Liberal-Conservatives, 1 Liberal
  • New Brunswick: 1 Liberal, 1 Independent

[edit] Results by province

Party name BC MB ON QC NB NS PE Total
     Conservative Seats: 1 2 37 33 1 8 3 85
     Popular vote (%): - 49.6 25.5 35.0 5.9 21.7 31.6 26.3
     Liberal-Conservative Seats: 2 1 23 12 3 6 2 49
     Vote (%): 39.6 - 15.8 13.2 14.3 22.7 12.0 15.8
     Liberal Seats: 2   27 17 9 7 1 63
     Vote (%): -   36.3 21.7 48.2 34.9 37.2 33.1
     Independent Seats: 1   1 1 2 -   5
     Vote (%): 12.2   1.5 1.6 13.1 4.3   2.7
     Independent Conservative Seats:   1   1       2
     Vote (%):   50.4   0.7       0.2
     Unknown Seats:  
     Vote (%): 48.2   19.9 27.4 14.8 14.7 19.3 20.9
     Independent Liberal Seats:       1 -   1
     Vote (%):     1.0   3.7 1.7   1.0
     Nationalist Conservative Seats:     1 -   1
     Vote (%):       0.3       0.1
Total seats 6 4 88 65 16 21 6 206

[edit] See also

Federal political parties | Federal electoral districts | Historical federal electoral districts
Languages