1872 Canadian federal election
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1872 Canadian electoral map | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The Canadian parliament after the 1872 election | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The 1872 Canadian federal election was held from July 20 to October 12, 1872, to elect members of the House of Commons of Canada of the 2nd Parliament of Canada. Prime Minister Sir John A. Macdonald's Conservative Party remained in power, defeating the Liberals. However, the Liberals increased their parliamentary representation considerably, while the Conservative seat count remained static, giving them only six more seats than the Liberals. The election produced the country's first minority government. The support of two independent Conservative MPs functionally gave Macdonald an extremely slim majority that allowed it to survive for two years, until it fell due to scandal.
The 1872 general election was the first to include the new provinces of
Electoral system
Most of the ridings in this election elected just one member through
Results
National
2nd Parliament | |||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Party | Party leader | # of candidates | Seats | Popular vote | |||||
1867 | Elected | Change | # | % | Change | ||||
Conservative
|
Sir John A. Macdonald | 92 | 71 | 62 | -11.3% | 82,024 | 25.76% | +2.31pp | |
Liberal-Conservative 1
|
48 | 29 | 37 | +24.1% | 41,076 | 12.90% | +1.82pp | ||
Liberal | none (unofficially, Edward Blake) | 111 | 62 | 94 | +53.2% | 110,556 | 34.72% | +12.05pp | |
Independents | 4 | - | 2 | 5,213 | 1.64% | +1.25pp | |||
Independent Conservative | 3 | - | 2 | 2,220 | 0.70% | +0.70pp | |||
Independent Liberal | 4 | - | 2 | 5,232 | 1.64% | +0.98pp | |||
Conservative Labour
|
1 | - | 1 | 1,422 | 0.45% | +0.45pp | |||
Unknown | 104 | - | - | - | 70,704 | 22.20% | -11.64pp | ||
Total | 367 | 180 | 200 | +11.1 | 320,037 | 100% | |||
Source: Parliament of Canada |
Note: 1 Though identifying themselves as Liberal-Conservatives, these MPs and those identifying as Conservatives were both led by Sir John A. Macdonald (himself a Liberal-Conservative) and sat together in the House of Commons.
Acclamations
The following MPs were acclaimed:
- British Columbia: 3 Liberal-Conservatives
- Manitoba: 1 Liberal-Conservative
- Ontario: 3 Conservatives, 3 Liberal-Conservatives, 10 Liberals
- Quebec: 9 Conservatives, 5 Liberal-Conservatives, 5 Liberals
- New Brunswick: 6 Liberals, 1 Independent
- Nova Scotia: 1 Conservative, 4 Liberal-Conservatives, 2 Liberals
Results by province
Party name | BC | Manitoba | Ontario | Quebec | NB | NS | Total | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Conservative
|
Seats | 1 | 1 | 26 | 25 | 2 | 7 | 62 | |
Popular vote | 4.5 | 29.7 | 25.9 | 31.5 | 8.4 | 23.5 | 25.8 | ||
Liberal-Conservative
|
Seats | 3 | 1 | 12 | 12 | 3 | 6 | 37 | |
Vote | 11.9 | 10.5 | 17.8 | 19.8 | 12.9 | ||||
Liberal | Seats | 2 | 1 | 48 | 26 | 9 | 8 | 94 | |
Vote | 83.7 | 35.6 | 35.3 | 32.6 | 46.8 | 28.1 | 34.7 | ||
Conservative Labour
|
Seats | 1 | 1 | ||||||
Vote | 0.9 | 0.4 | |||||||
Unknown | Seats | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
Vote | 11.8 | 14.9 | 23.4 | 21.5 | 26.9 | 16.4 | 22.2 | ||
Independent | Seats | - | 1 | 1 | - | 2 | |||
Vote | 0.8 | 1.7 | 6.1 | 1.6 | |||||
Independent Liberal | Seats | 1 | 1 | 2 | |||||
Vote | 1.7 | 6.1 | 1.6 | ||||||
Independent Conservative | Seats | 1 | 1 | 2 | |||||
Vote | 19.8 | 2.2 | 0.7 | ||||||
Total seats | 6 | 4 | 88 | 65 | 16 | 21 | 200 |
See also
Notes
- ^ Blake was also elected in Durham West; he chose to sit for Bruce South instead, and resigned as the Member of Parliament for Durham West.
References
- ^ "Voter Turnout at Federal Elections and Referendums". Elections Canada. Retrieved March 10, 2019.
- ^ Parliamentary Guide 1977, p. 380-381, 418