1904 Canadian federal election

The 1904 Canadian federal election was held on November 3, 1904 to elect members of the House of Commons of Canada of the 10th Parliament of Canada. Prime Minister Sir Wilfrid Laurier led the Liberal Party of Canada to a third term in government, with an increased majority, and over half of the popular vote.

1904 Canadian federal election

← 1900 November 3, 1904 1908 →

214 seats in the House of Commons
108 seats needed for a majority
Turnout71.6%[1] (Decrease5.8pp)
  First party Second party
 
Leader Wilfrid Laurier Robert Borden
Party Liberal Conservative
Leader since 1887 1901
Leader's seat Quebec East[a] Halifax (lost re-election)
Last election 128 seats, 50.3% 79 seats, 46.1%
Seats won 137 75
Seat change Increase9 Decrease4
Popular vote 521,041 470,430
Percentage 50.9% 45.9%
Swing Increase0.6% Decrease0.2%


The Canadian parliament after the 1904 election

Prime Minister before election

Wilfrid Laurier
Liberal

Prime Minister after election

Wilfrid Laurier
Liberal

Sir Robert Borden's Conservatives and Liberal-Conservatives were unable to challenge the Liberals effectively, and lost a small portion of their popular vote, along with four seats, including his own.[2] Borden re-entered parliament the next year in a by-election.

This was the last election until 1949 in which parts of the Northwest Territories were granted representation. Most of the settled regions of the NWT entered Confederation as the provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan on 1 September 1905, although its MP's continued to sit as representatives of the old ridings until the 10th Parliament's dissolution.

One of the key issues in the election was Imperial Preference.[2]

National results

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Party Party leader # of
candidates
Seats Popular vote
1900 Elected Change # % Change
  Liberal Wilfrid Laurier 208 128 137 +7.0% 521,041 50.88% +0.63pp
  Conservative Robert Borden 199 69 70 +1.4% 454693 44.40% +1.18pp
  Liberal-Conservative 6 10 5 -50.0% 15,737 1.54% -1.34pp
  Independent 6 3 1 -66.7% 10,205 1.00% -0.40pp
  Independent Conservative 2 1 1 - 5,039 0.49% -0.57pp
  Unknown 13 - - - 11,659 1.14% +1.14pp
Labour   2 - - - 2,159 0.21% -0.10pp
Socialist   3 * - * 1,794 0.18% *
  Nationalist   1 * - * 1,429 0.14% *
  Independent Liberal 3 1 - -100% 309 0.03% -0.48pp
Total 443 213 214 +0.5% 1,024,065 100%  
Sources: http://www.elections.ca -- History of Federal Ridings since 1867[failed verification]

Note:

* Party did not nominate candidates in the previous election.

Results by province

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Party BC NW MB ON QC NB NS PE YK Total
  Liberal Seats: 7 7 7 37 53 7 18 1 - 137
  Popular Vote (%): 49.5 58.4 49.7 47.5 55.1 51.0 52.9 49.1 41.4 50.9
  Conservative Seats: - 2 3 44 12 5 - 3 1 70
  Vote (%): 38.8 37.8 41.8 46.3 43.0 42.0 44.5 50.9 58.6 44.4
  Liberal-Conservative Seats:   1   3   1       5
  Vote (%):   3.8   2.1   6.8       1.5
  Independent Seats:   - - 1 -   -     1
  Vote (%):   xx 5.8 0.6 1.3   1.6     1.0
  Independent Conservative Seats:       1           1
  Vote (%):       1.2           0.5
Total seats 7 10 10 86 65 13 18 4 1 214
Parties that won no seats:
  Unknown Vote (%): 4.6     2.4 xx         1.1
Labour Vote (%):     2.7   0.7     0.8     0.2
Socialist Vote (%): 7.1                 0.2
  Nationalist Vote (%):         0.6         0.5
  Independent Liberal Vote (%):       xx   0.2 0.1     xx

xx - indicates less than 0.05% of the popular vote.

See also

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Notes

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  1. ^ Laurier was also elected in Wright; he chose to sit for Quebec East instead, and resigned as the Member of Parliament for Wright.

References

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  1. ^ "Voter Turnout at Federal Elections and Referendums". Elections Canada. Retrieved March 10, 2019.
  2. ^ a b Garner, J. W. (1904). "Record of Political Events". Political Science Quarterly. 19 (4): 740. doi:10.2307/2140340. ISSN 0032-3195.

Further reading

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