1958 Canadian federal election

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1958 Canadian federal election

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First party Second party   Leader John Diefenbaker Lester B. Pearson Party Progressive Conservative Liberal Leader since December 14, 1956 January 16, 1958 Leader's seat Prince Albert Algoma East Last election 112 105 Seats won 208 48 Seat change 96 57 Popular vote 3,910,852 2,459,700 Percentage 53.67% 33.75% Swing 14.64 pp 8.58 pp   Third party Fourth party   Leader Major James Coldwell Solon Earl Low Party Co-operative Commonwealth Social Credit Leader since March 22, 1942 April 6, 1944 Leader's seat Rosetown—Biggar (lost re-election) Peace River (lost re-election) Last election 25 19 Seats won 8 0 Seat change 17 19 Popular vote 692,398 188,717 Percentage 9.50% 2.59% Swing 1.21 pp 4.03 pp

Results by electoral district, shaded by winners' vote share Results by province and territory

The Canadian parliament after the 1958 election

Prime Minister before election John Diefenbaker Progressive Conservative Prime Minister after election John Diefenbaker Progressive Conservative

The 1958 Canadian federal election was held to elect members of the

Diefenbaker called a snap election and capitalized on three factors:

• Nationally, the
  Lester Pearson
  , who had given an ill-advised maiden speech in Commons that asked Diefenbaker to resign and recommend the Governor General allow the Liberals to form a government without an election due to the recent economic downturn. Diefenbaker seized on the remark by describing a series of classified Liberal Cabinet documents stating that the economy would face a downturn in that year. This contrasted heavily with the Liberals' 1957 campaign promises. As election day drew near, the Liberals realized they had no chance of returning to power and hoped only to hold onto at least 100 seats. They were cut down to only 48, at the time the smallest seat count in their history.
• A turnaround in Quebec: Quebec had been largely Liberal since the Conscription Crisis of 1917, but upon the resignation of former Prime Minister Louis St. Laurent, the province had no favourite son leader, as they had since 1948, and its voters were open to new options. Seeking a greater voice in Ottawa, Quebec Premier Maurice Duplessis' Union Nationale used their party machine to ally with the Tories, allowing Diefenbaker's Progressive Conservatives to win two thirds of the seats in what had been a Liberal stronghold for a generation. While the Liberals finished only four percentage points behind the Tories in Quebec, much of their vote was wasted racking up large majorities in their traditional safest seats. Nevertheless, the 25 seats the Liberals won in Quebec accounted for more than half of their decimated caucus and, on a proportional basis, was their best performance after Newfoundland.
• A collapse in support for the
  BC Social Credit Party
  would govern that province for all but three years until 1991.

National results

Notes:

"Previous" refers to standings at previous election, not to standings in the House of Commons at dissolution.

* The party did not nominate candidates in the previous election.

x - less than 0.005% of the popular vote

Vote and seat summaries

Results by province

xx - less than 0.05% of the popular vote

See also

• List of Canadian federal general elections
• List of political parties in Canada
• 24th Canadian Parliament

References

Further reading

• LeDuc, Lawrence; Pammett, Jon H.; McKenzie, Judith L.; Turcotte, André (2010). Dynasties and Interludes: Past and Present in Canadian Electoral Politics. Toronto: Dundurn Press.
  ISBN 978-1-55488-886-3
  .
• Beck, James Murray (1968). Pendulum of Power; Canada's Federal Elections. Scarborough: Prentice-Hall of Canada.
  ISBN 978-0-13-655670-1
  .

• The Elections of 1957 and 1958, by P.E. Bryden
• Electoral Results by Party, on Parliament of Canada site Archived 2014-03-29 at the Wayback Machine