1874 Canadian federal election

The 1874 Canadian federal election was held on January 22, 1874, to elect members of the House of Commons of Canada of the 3rd Parliament of Canada. Sir John A. Macdonald, who had recently been forced out of office as prime minister, and his Conservatives were defeated by the Liberal Party under their new leader Prime Minister Alexander Mackenzie.

1874 Canadian federal election

← 1872 January 22, 1874 1878 →

206 seats in the House of Commons
104 seats needed for a majority
Turnout69.6%[1] (Decrease0.7pp)
  First party Second party
 
Leader Alexander Mackenzie John A. Macdonald
Party Liberal Conservative
Leader since March 6, 1873 July 1, 1867
Leader's seat Lambton Kingston
Last election 95 seats, 34.7% 100 seats, 38.7%
Seats won 129 65
Seat change Increase35 Decrease35
Popular vote 128,455 97,925
Percentage 39.5% 30.1%
Swing Increase4.8% Decrease8.6%

1874 Canadian electoral map

The Canadian parliament after the 1874 election

Prime Minister before election

Alexander Mackenzie
Liberal

Prime Minister after election

Alexander Mackenzie
Liberal

Macdonald's government had been forced to resign on November 5, 1873, because of allegations of corruption relating to the construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway (see the Pacific Scandal). The Liberals under Mackenzie formed a government two days later with an election called for January. The Tories were unable to recover from the scandal and lost the election as a result.

The election was the first general election after Prince Edward Island's entry into Confederation, and the first to use secret ballots in Canada.

National results edit

 
3rd Parliament
Party Party leader # of candidates Seats Popular vote
1872 Elected Change # % Change
  Liberal Alexander Mackenzie 140 95 129 +35.8% 128,455 39.49% +4.77pp
  Conservative John A. Macdonald 65 63 39 -38.1% 57,691 17.74% -8.02pp
  Liberal-Conservative1 38 36 26 -27.8% 40,234 12.37% -0.53pp
  Conservative Labour   1 1 - -100% 1,515 0.47% +0.02pp
  Independents 7 1 4 +300% 10,453 3.21% +1.58pp
  Independent Liberal 5 2 5 +300% 6,541 2.01% +0.37pp
  Independent Conservative 3 2 3 +50% 2,360 0.73% +0.03pp
  Unknown 104 -    - - 78,008 23.98% +1.78pp
Total 355 200 206 +3.0% 325,247 100%  
Source: Parliamentary website Archived 2015-09-24 at the Wayback Machine, Detailed riding results Archived 2015-09-24 at the Wayback Machine

Notes:

1 Liberal-Conservatives sat with the Conservative caucus in the House of Commons.

Acclamations

The following Members of Parliament were elected by acclamation;

  • Ontario: 1 Liberal-Conservative, 13 Liberals
  • Quebec: 10 Conservatives, 4 Liberal-Conservatives, 15 Liberals
  • New Brunswick: 1 Conservative, 3 Liberals, 1 Independent Liberal
  • Nova Scotia: 5 Liberals
  • Prince Edward Island: 2 Liberals

Results by province edit

Party name  BC   MB   ON   QC  NB   NS   PEI  Total
  Liberal Seats 3 1 61 34 10 15 5 129
  Popular vote 34.1 47.0 39.6 34.8 47.1 38.1 56.8 39.5
  Conservative Seats 1 1 15 17 2 2 1 39
  Vote 4.5 13.8 19.5 17.6 6.8 17.8 17.5 17.7
  Liberal-Conservative Seats 1   10 12 1 2 - 26
  Vote 16.9   10.4 14.9 8.6 19.2 15.4 12.4
  Conservative Labour Seats     -         -
  Vote     0.9         0.5
  Unknown Seats                
  Vote 29.2 13.8 27.2 27.5 19.9 9.0 10.3 24.0
  Independent Seats   1 - - 2 1   4
  Vote   9.5 0.8 2.3 17.6 7.7   3.2
  Independent Liberal Seats 1   2   1 1   5
  Vote 15.4   1.7     8.2   2.0
  Independent Conservative Seats   1   2       3
  Vote   15.9   2.9       0.7
Total seats 6 4 88 65 16 21 6 206

See also edit

References edit

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