Referendums in Canada
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National referendums are seldom used in Canada. The first two referendums in 1898 and 1942 saw voters in Quebec and the remainder of Canada take dramatically-opposing stands, and the third in 1992 saw most of the voters take a stand dramatically opposed to that of the politicians in power.
National referendums
Plebiscite on prohibition
The question:
- Are you in favor of the passing of an Act prohibiting the importation, manufacture of sale of spirits, wine, ale, beer, cider and all other alcoholic liquors for use as beverages?
French: Êtes-vous favorable à la passation d'une loi défendant l'importation, la fabrication ou la vente de spiritueux, vins, bière, ale, cidre et de toutes autres liqueurs alcooliques comme breuvages ?
Canadian plebiscite on prohibition
September 29, 1898 | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Jurisdiction | Yes | No | ||
Votes | % | Votes | % | |
British Columbia | 5,731 | 54.6 | 4,756 | 45.4 |
Manitoba | 12,419 | 80.7 | 2,978 | 19.3 |
New Brunswick | 26,919 | 73.8 | 9,575 | 26.2 |
Northwest Territories | 6,238 | 68.8 | 2,824 | 31.2 |
Nova Scotia | 34,678 | 86.6 | 5,370 | 13.4 |
Ontario | 154,498 | 57.3 | 115,284 | 42.7 |
Prince Edward Island | 9,461 | 89.2 | 1,146 | 10.8 |
Quebec | 28,582 | 18.9 | 122,614 | 81.1 |
278,526 | 51.3 | 264,547 | 48.7 |
The majority in favour of Prohibition was so slight and turn-out so low that the government said it did not think it right to adopt the measure.
Plebiscite on conscription
The Question:
- Are you in favour of releasing the Government from any obligations arising out of any past commitments restricting the methods of raising men for military service?
French: Consentez-vous à libérer le gouvernement de toute obligation résultant d'engagements antérieurs restreignant les méthodes de mobilisation pour le service militaire ?
Canadian conscription plebiscite, 1942 Provincial results | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Jurisdiction | Yes | No | ||
Votes | % | Votes | % | |
Alberta | 186,624 | 71.1 | 75,880 | 28.9 |
British Columbia | 253,844 | 80.4 | 62,033 | 19.6 |
Manitoba | 218,093 | 80.3 | 53,651 | 19.7 |
New Brunswick | 105,629 | 69.8 | 45,743 | 30.2 |
Nova Scotia | 120,763 | 77.1 | 35,840 | 22.1 |
Ontario | 1,202,953 | 84.0 | 229,847 | 16.0 |
Prince Edward Island | 23,569 | 82.9 | 4,869 | 17.1 |
Quebec | 375,650 | 27.9 | 971,925 | 72.1 |
Saskatchewan | 183,617 | 73.1 | 67,654 | 26.9 |
Yukon | 847 | 74.4 | 291 | 25.6 |
Total civilian vote | 2,670,088 | 63.3 | 1,547,724 | 36.7 |
Military vote | 251,118 | 80.5 | 60,885 | 19.5 |
Canada | 2,921,206 | 64.5 | 1,608,609 | 35.5 |
The referendum was held in all 245 electoral districts, which covered all nine provinces and one of the two territories. Residents in the Northwest Territories did not have a vote, as their area was not organized as an electoral district. Based on the result, the government adopted conscription but with a light touch, adopting the initial policy that those conscripted would not be sent overseas to active fighting.
Referendum on the Charlottetown Accord
The Question:
- Do you agree that the Constitution of Canada should be renewed on the basis of the agreement reached on August 28, 1992?
French: Acceptez-vous que la Constitution du Canada soit renouvelée sur la base de l'entente conclue le 28 août 1992 ?
National Referendum on the Charlottetown Accord
(October 26, 1992) | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Jurisdiction | Yes | No | ||
Votes | % | Votes | % | |
Alberta | 483,275 | 39.8 | 731,975 | 60.2 |
British Columbia | 525,188 | 31.8 | 1,126,761 | 68.2 |
Manitoba | 198,230 | 38.0 | 322,971 | 62.0 |
New Brunswick | 230,010 | 61.7 | 145,096 | 38.3 |
Newfoundland | 133,193 | 63.1 | 77,881 | 36.9 |
Northwest Territories | 14,750 | 61.0 | 9,416 | 39.0 |
Nova Scotia | 218,618 | 48.7 | 230,182 | 51.3 |
Ontario | 2,410,119 | 50.1 | 2,397,665 | 49.9 |
Prince Edward Island | 48,687 | 74.0 | 17,124 | 26.0 |
Quebec | 1,710,117 | 43.4 | 2,232,280 | 56.6 |
Saskatchewan | 203,361 | 44.6 | 252,459 | 55.4 |
Yukon | 5,354 | 43.6 | 6,922 | 56.4 |
6,185,902 | 45.0 | 7,550,732 | 55.0 |
Proposed referendums
During the
There had been discussion regarding a national referendum over the issue of same-sex marriage, which was a highly divisive issue in Canada. A national plebiscite had been suggested by Alberta Premier Ralph Klein and some Conservatives and Liberal backbenchers. However, Paul Martin's Liberal government, with the support of the NDP and Bloc Québécois, passed the Civil Marriage Act, legalizing same-sex marriage through Parliament in July 2005 without holding a plebiscite. In December 2006, Stephen Harper's government introduced a motion to re-open the marriage debate, which lost. Notably, members of all parties, including some Conservative cabinet members, voted it down.
Provincial and Territorial referendums
Alberta
Alberta has held several referendums during its history.
Three concerned the adoption, retention and abandonment of Prohibition on the private sale of liquor (1915, 1920 and 1923).
Another was on the government take-over of the electrical generation and distribution system, at the time a mixed system of municipal and private corporate ownership, and the preferred method of rural electrification - private or provincial government.
British Columbia
In
A
The second referendum was held on May 12, 2009, in conjunction with the provincial election. The results were a "supermajority" of 60.92% voting for retaining the current "first past the post" electoral system and 39.8% voting for the proposed Single Transferable Vote.
A mail-in referendum was held from June 13 to August 5, 2011, on the fate of the province's harmonized sales tax. The government pledged to discontinue the tax if more than 50% of the voters opt to have the tax discontinued. It was passed, with 55% in favour.
The province held another referendum on proportional representation in late 2018. With 42% turnout, proportional representation was defeated by 61% of the vote.
Manitoba
Manitoba held a referendum on Prohibition in 1902. A majority voted against prohibition.[1]
Newfoundland and Labrador
The island of
A referendum was held in Newfoundland and Labrador in 1995 that approved replacing the province's system of parochial schools with a largely public school system. In 1997, a second referendum to amend the Terms of Union to allow for the Catholic and Pentecostal school systems to be disbanded and brought into the public system.
New Brunswick
On May 14, 2001, New Brunswick held a referendum on whether to continue to permit Video Lottery Terminals to operate in the province. 53.1% of those who voted in favour of retaining the terminals.
NWT
Two referendums were held in Northwest Territories.
- 1982 division of territory into two regions
- 1992 boundary between the two regions, creating Territory of Nunavut in 1999.
Nova Scotia
In 2004, Nova Scotia held a plebiscite on whether to allow 'Sunday shopping'. The result was a slight victory for the No side although the government went ahead and legalized Sunday Shopping the following year after a court decision overturned the law.
Ontario
On October 10, 2007, Ontario held a referendum on whether to adopt a mixed-member proportional system of elections. The proposed system failed with 63% voting for the status quo in favour of First-Past-the-Post. See 2007 Ontario electoral reform referendum for more information. This was the first referendum in that province since 1924 when a referendum on prohibition was held.
Prince Edward Island
The small province of Prince Edward Island (under 150,000 people and therefore in scale more like a
On January 18, 1988, a provincial plebiscite was held to determine if Islanders were in favour of a fixed link to the mainland. It passed 60% to 40%. This allowed the provincial and federal governments to attract contractors to build what is now the Confederation Bridge.
On November 28, 2005, Islanders were asked to vote by plebiscite whether or not they wanted
A plebiscite was held in 2016 concerning mixed-member proportional representation, with the result of 52% of Islanders voting to adopt the changes. Citing low voter turn out (below 40%) in the plebiscite, the government refused to implement the reforms. Another PEI plebiscite on electoral reform is scheduled for 2019.
Quebec
Three referendums were held in Quebec:
- 1919 - April 10: Referendum on the legalization of the sale of alcohol. The Yes side won.
- 1980 - May 20: Referendum on the Sovereignty-Association proposal. The No side won.
- 1995 - October 30: Referendum on Sovereignty with optional partnership offer. The No side narrowly won.
Officially though, there have been four, as the 1992 pan-Canadian referendum was organized by the DGEQ in Quebec, whereas Elections Canada organized it in the rest of Canada.
Yukon
Two referendums were held in Yukon.
- 1916 August Prohibition. Wets won by three votes.[2]
- 1920 February Prohibition. Prohibitionists narrowly had more votes than those who wanted bars continued and also narrowly more votes than those who wanted government liquor stores.[3]