1896 Canadian federal election
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1896 Canadian electoral map | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The Canadian parliament after the 1896 election | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The 1896 Canadian federal election was held on June 23, 1896, to elect members of the
Description
The governing
Though Bowell nominally remained Prime Minister until the election was called, leadership of the Conservative Party had been functionally taken over by Sir Charles Tupper, a Father of Confederation and former Premier of Nova Scotia. Earlier, in February 1896, Tupper introduced remedial legislation to settle the Manitoba dispute, but it was filibustered by an alliance of extreme Protestants led by Dalton McCarthy and the Liberals. This filibuster resulted in Tupper abandoning the bill and asking for a dissolution. Parliament was dissolved on April 24, 1896, and, in accordance with an agreement between Bowell and Tupper that the latter would become Prime Minister following the election call, he became prime minister on May 1, 1896, thus forming the 7th Canadian Ministry.
Tupper argued that the real issue of the election was the future of Canadian industry, and he insisted that Conservatives needed to unite to defeat the Patrons of Industry. However, the Conservatives were so bitterly divided over the Manitoba Schools Question that wherever he spoke, he was faced with a barrage of criticism, most notably at a two-hour address he gave at Massey Hall in Toronto, which was constantly interrupted by the crowd.
The election saw a great change in the Liberal Party. While the Liberals had traditionally been the party for radical change and
The Conservatives won more votes in the 1896 election than the Liberals (48.2% of the votes in comparison to 41.4% for the Liberals). However, the Liberals took more seats. The Conservatives captured about half of the seats in English Canada. They suffered losses in Quebec, where Tupper's reputation as an ardent
Tupper initially refused to resign as Prime Minister, insisting that Laurier would be unable to form a government. However, when Tupper attempted to make appointments as prime minister, Governor General Lord Aberdeen refused. Tupper resigned, and the governor general invited Laurier to form a government.
National results
Party | Party leader | # of candidates |
Seats | Popular vote | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1891 | Elected | Change | # | % | Change | ||||
Liberal | Wilfrid Laurier | 190 | 90 | 117 | +30.0% | 401,425 | 41.37% | -3.85pp | |
Conservative
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Charles Tupper | 190 | 97 | 71 | -16.9% | 430,874 | 44.40% | +1.44pp | |
Liberal-Conservative
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17 | 20 | 15 | -25% | 36,541 | 3.77% | -1.85pp | ||
Nationalist | 5 | 1 | - | -100% | 14,121 | 1.46% | +1.46pp | ||
Independent Conservative | 4 | 3 | 4 | +33.3% | 12,209 | 1.26% | -0.68pp | ||
Patrons of Industry | 31 | * | 2 | * | 38,275 | 3.94% | * | ||
McCarthyite
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Dalton McCarthy | 11 | * | 2 | * | 12,861 | 1.33% | * | |
Independent | 18 | 2 | 1 | -50% | 13,870 | 1.43% | +0.61pp | ||
Independent Liberal | 1 | 1 | 1 | - | 2,353 | 0.24% | -0.48pp | ||
Nationalist Conservative | - | 1 | - | -100% | - | - | - | ||
Protestant Protective | 5 | * | - | * | 6,233 | 0.64% | * | ||
Unknown | 1 | - | - | - | 1,622 | 0.17% | -2.01pp | ||
Total | 473 | 215 | 213 | +7.0% | 970,384 | 100% | |||
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;
- Ontario: 1 Patron of Industry
- Quebec: 1 Conservative, 2 Liberals
Results by province
Party name | BC | NW | MB | ON | QC | NB | NS | PE | Total | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Liberal | Seats: | 3 | 3 | 2 | 43 | 49 | 4 | 10 | 2 | 117 | |
Popular vote (%): | 51.2 | 46.0 | 31.0 | 40.5 | 53.8 | 42.5 | 31.9 | 51.0 | 41.4 | ||
Conservative
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Seats: | 2 | 1 | 3 | 34 | 16 | 4 | 9 | 2 | 71 | |
Vote (%): | 48.8 | 43.9 | 45.1 | 40.9 | 45.2 | 31.5 | 65.4 | 40.5 | 44.4 | ||
Liberal-Conservative
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Seats: | 1 | 7 | - | 5 | 1 | 1 | 15 | |||
Vote (%): | 8.0 | 4.0 | 0.4 | 17.5 | 2.2 | 8.5 | 2.2 | ||||
Nationalist | Seats: | 1* | - | - | - | ||||||
Vote (%): | 3.2 | 0.5 | 1.5 | ||||||||
Independent Conservative | Seats: | 4 | 4 | ||||||||
Vote (%): | 3.0 | 1.3 | |||||||||
Patrons of Industry | Seats: | 2 | 2 | ||||||||
Vote (%): | 7.6 | 8.3 | 0.7 | 3.9 | |||||||
McCarthyite
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Seats: | 1 | 1 | 2 | |||||||
Vote (%): | 8.3 | 2.4 | 1.3 | ||||||||
Independent | Seats: | - | - | 1 | - | 1 | |||||
Vote (%): | 10.0 | 1.4 | 8.6 | 0.5 | 1.4 | ||||||
Independent Liberal | Seats: | 1 | 1 | ||||||||
Vote (%): | 0.6 | 0.2 | |||||||||
Total seats | 6 | 4 | 7 | 92 | 65 | 14 | 20 | 5 | 213 | ||
Parties that won no seats: | |||||||||||
Protestant Protective | Vote (%): | 1.5 | 0.6 | ||||||||
Unknown | Vote (%): | 0.4 | 0.2 |
- George Ritchie Maxwell elected in Burrard.
Further reading
- Argyle, Ray (2004). Turning Points: The Campaigns that Changed Canada 2004 and Before. Toronto: White Knight Publications. ISBN 978-0-9734186-6-8.
- Blake, Donald E. "1896 and All That: Critical Elections in Canada", Canadian Journal of Political Science, June 1979, Vol. 12 Issue 2, pp. 259–280
- Crunican, Paul (1974). Priests and Politicians: Manitoba Schools and the Election of 1896. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. ISBN 978-0-8020-5265-0.
See also
- List of Canadian federal general elections
- List of political parties in Canada
- 8th Canadian Parliament
Notes
- ^ Laurier was also elected in Saskatchewan (Provisional District); he chose to sit for Quebec East instead, and resigned as the Member of Parliament for Saskatchewan (Provisional District).
References
- ^ "Voter Turnout at Federal Elections and Referendums". Elections Canada. Retrieved March 10, 2019.