1963 Canadian federal election
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The Canadian parliament after the 1963 election | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The 1963 Canadian federal election was held on April 8, 1963 to elect members of the House of Commons of Canada of the 26th Parliament of Canada. It resulted in the defeat of the minority Progressive Conservative (Tory) government of Prime Minister John Diefenbaker, with the Liberals returning to power for the first time in 6 years, where they would remain for twenty of the next twenty-one years (winning every election except the 1979 election until their landslide defeat in 1984). For the Social Credit Party, despite getting their highest ever share of the vote, the party lost 6 seats compared to its high-water mark in 1962.
Overview
During the
When it turned out that nearly half of his cabinet was also prepared to resign over the issue, Diefenbaker announced that he himself would resign with immediate effect and recommend that the
The Liberal Party of
Kennedy strongly favoured Pearson and made an effort to help his election campaign. Kennedy sent his consultant, Lou Harris, to work on the Pearson campaign and General Lauris Norstad publicly criticised the Conservatives for not meeting their NATO contributions.[2] Harris later said "One of the highlights of my life was helping Pearson".[3]
Despite winning 41% of the vote, which is usually sufficient for ensuring the election of a
The social-democratic NDP had been formed in 1961 by a socialist party, the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation, and by the Canadian Labour Congress. The 1963 election was the second vote contested by the NDP. The party won slightly fewer votes, and two fewer seats, than they had received in the 1962 election. They were again disappointed by the failure of their new partnership with the labour movement to produce an electoral breakthrough, particularly in the province of Ontario, which has the largest population and the largest number of seats in the House of Commons.
The Social Credit Party was unable to increase its representation in western Canada, and lost four of its Quebec seats despite gaining a slightly better share of the vote compared to 1962. Indeed, 1963 represented the highest share the party would ever get. The continuing lopsided result led to a split in the party when Thompson refused to step aside so that Réal Caouette could become party leader. Caouette and his followers left the Social Credit Party to sit as the Ralliement des créditistes.
National results
Party | Party leader | # of candidates |
Seats | Popular vote | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1962 | Elected | % Change | # | % | pp Change
| ||||
Liberal | Lester Pearson | 265 | 99 | 128 | +29.3% | 3,276,996 | 41.48% | +4.51 | |
Progressive Conservative | John Diefenbaker | 265 | 116 | 95 | -18.1% | 2,591,613 | 32.80% | -4.42 | |
Social Credit | R.N. Thompson | 224 | 30 | 24 | -20.0% | 940,703 | 11.91% | +0.30 | |
New Democrats
|
Tommy Douglas | 232 | 19 | 17 | -10.5% | 1,044,701 | 13.22% | -0.35 | |
Liberal-Labour
|
1 | 1 | 1 | - | 16,794 | 0.21% | +0.01 | ||
Independent Liberal | 6 | - | - | - | 14,658 | 0.19% | +0.05 | ||
Independent | 9 | - | - | - | 5,236 | 0.07% | -0.04 | ||
Communist | Leslie Morris | 12 | - | - | - | 4,234 | 0.05% | -0.03 | |
Independent PC | 2 | - | - | - | 1,965 | 0.02% | -0.01 | ||
Independent Conservative | 2 | * | - | * | 1,159 | 0.01% | * | ||
Ouvrier Indépendant | 1 | - | - | - | 1,064 | 0.01% | +0.01 | ||
Independent Social Credit | 2 | * | - | * | 717 | 0.01% | * | ||
Nationalist | 1 | * | - | * | 540 | 0.01% | * | ||
Candidat libéral des electeurs | 1 | - | - | - | 496 | 0.01% | -0.02 | ||
Socialist Labour
|
1 | * | - | * | 43 | x | * | ||
Total | 1,023 | 265 | 265 | - | 7,900,919 | 100% | |||
Sources: http://www.elections.ca History of Federal Ridings since 1867 |
Notes:
* 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
Party name | BC | AB | SK | MB | ON | QC | NB | NS | PE | NL | YK | NW | Total | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Liberal | Seats: | 7 | 1 | - | 2 | 51 | 47 | 6 | 5 | 2 | 7 | - | - | 128 | |
Popular Vote: | 32.3 | 22.1 | 24.1 | 33.8 | 45.8 | 45.6 | 47.3 | 46.7 | 46.4 | 64.5 | 41.0 | 43.2 | 41.5 | ||
Progressive Conservative | Seats: | 4 | 14 | 17 | 10 | 27 | 8 | 4 | 7 | 2 | - | 1 | 1 | 95 | |
Vote: | 23.4 | 45.3 | 53.7 | 42.3 | 35.0 | 19.5 | 40.4 | 46.9 | 52.0 | 30.1 | 49.6 | 56.8 | 32.8 | ||
Social Credit | Seats: | 2 | 2 | - | - | - | 20 | - | - | - | 24 | ||||
Vote: | 13.3 | 25.8 | 3.9 | 7.0 | 2.0 | 27.3 | 8.6 | 0.1 | 9.4 | 11.9 | |||||
New Democrats
|
Seats: | 9 | - | - | 2 | 6 | - | - | - | - | - | 17 | |||
Vote: | 30.3 | 6.5 | 18.2 | 16.7 | 16.2 | 7.1 | 3.7 | 6.4 | 1.6 | 4.2 | 13.2 | ||||
Liberal-Labour
|
Seats: | 1 | 1 | ||||||||||||
Vote: | 0.6 | 0.2 | |||||||||||||
Total seats: | 22 | 17 | 17 | 14 | 85 | 75 | 10 | 12 | 4 | 7 | 1 | 1 | 265 | ||
Parties that won no seats: | |||||||||||||||
Independent Liberal | Vote: | 0.3 | 0.1 | 1.3 | 0.2 | ||||||||||
Independent | Vote: | xx | 0.1 | xx | 0.2 | xx | 0.1 | 0.1 | |||||||
Communist | Vote: | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.1 | xx | 0.1 | ||||||||
Independent PC | Vote: | xx | 0.1 | xx | |||||||||||
Independent Conservative | Vote: | xx | xx | ||||||||||||
Ouvrier Indépendant | Vote: | 0.1 | xx | ||||||||||||
Independent Social Credit | Vote: | xx | xx | ||||||||||||
Nationalist | Vote: | xx | xx | ||||||||||||
C. l. des electeurs | Vote: | xx | xx | ||||||||||||
Socialist Labour
|
Vote: | xx | xx |
- xx - less than 0.05% of the popular vote
See also
- List of Canadian federal general elections
- List of political parties in Canada
- 26th Canadian Parliament
References
- ^ Pomfret, R. "Voter Turnout at Federal Elections and Referendums". Elections Canada. Elections Canada. Retrieved February 23, 2014.
- ^ Kendall Holloway, Steven (2006). Canadian Foreign Policy: Defining the National Interest. Broadview Press. p. 141.
- ^ Honnig, Bonnie (2021). Shell-Shocked Feminist Criticism After Trump. Fordham University Press.
Further reading
- Saywell, John T., ed. (1964). Canadian Annual Review for 1963. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.
- 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.