Canadian federal election, 1891

Canadian federal election, 1891

March 5, 1891

215 seats in the 7th Canadian Parliament 108 seats needed for a majority   First party Second party   Leader John A. Macdonald Wilfrid Laurier Party Conservative Liberal Leader since 1867 1887 Leader's seat Kingston Quebec East Last election 122 seats, 47.4% 80 seats, 43.1% Seats won 117 90 Seat change 5 10 Popular vote 376,518 350,512 Percentage 48.6% 45.2% Swing 1.2% 2.1%

Prime Minister before election John A. Macdonald Conservative Prime Minister-designate John A. Macdonald Conservative

The Canadian federal election of 1891 was held on March 5 to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons of the 7th Parliament of Canada. It was won by the Conservative Party of Prime Minister Sir John A. Macdonald.

A Conservative election poster from 1891.

The main issue of the 1891 campaign was Macdonald's National Policy, a policy of protective tariffs. The Liberals supported reciprocity (free trade) with the United States.

Macdonald led a conservative campaign emphasizing stability, and retained the Conservatives' majority in the House of Commons. It was a close election and he campaigned hard. Macdonald died a few months after the election, which led to his succession by four different Conservative Prime Ministers until the 1896 election.

Senator John Abbott succeeded Macdonald as Conservative leader and Prime Minister after Macdonald's death on June 6, 1891. Abbott's most famous political comment was "I hate politics." He had in fact supported John Sparrow David Thompson to succeed Macdonald. Abbott, in failing health, was finally succeeded by Thompson in 1892. Mackenzie Bowell, another senator, succeeded Thompson after his sudden death from a heart attack on December 12, 1894. Bowell was ousted by several of his own cabinet ministers and replaced by Charles Tupper in April 1896, who led the Conservatives in the June 1896 election.

It was Wilfrid Laurier's first election as leader of the Liberals. Although he lost the election, he increased the Liberals' support and returned in 1896 to win a solid majority.

This election was the lowest voter turnout by percentage until then in Canadian federal elections, at 64.4%

Canadian voters would return to the issue of free trade 20 years later in the 1911 federal election.

National results

The Canadian parliament after the 1891 election

↓
117	90	8
Conservative	Liberal	O

Party		Party leader	# of candidates	Seats			Popular vote
				1887	Elected	Change	#	%	Change
	Conservative	John A. Macdonald	187	87	97	+11.5%	332,961	42.96%	+2.80pp
	Liberal-Conservative		25	24	20	-16.7%	43,557	5.62%	-1.64pp
	Liberal	Wilfrid Laurier	194	79	90	+13.9%	350,512	45.22%	+2.09pp
	Independent Conservative		4	3	3	-	15,045	1.94%	+0.38pp
	Independent		4	3	2	-66.7%	6,357	0.82%	-0.42pp
	Nationalist		1	1	1	-	-^1	0.00%	-0.66pp
	Independent Liberal		2	5	1	-80%	5,573	0.72%	-1.45pp
	Nationalist Conservative		1	2	1	-50%	1,271	0.16%	-0.32pp
	Unknown		14	1	-	-100%	16,890	2.18%	-1.15pp
	Equal Rights		2	*	-	*	2,455	0.32%	*
	Progressive^2		2	*	-	*	468	0.06%	*
Total			436	205	215	+4.9%	775,089	100%
Sources: http://www.elections.ca -- History of Federal Ridings since 1867

Notes:

* Party did not nominate candidates in the previous election.

¹ One Nationalist candidate was elected by acclamation.

² The Parliamentary website identifies two candidates in Nova Scotia as being “Progressives”. This may be an error.

Acclamations:

The following Members of Parliament were elected by acclamation;

• British Columbia: 1 Conservative, 1 Liberal-Conservative
• Manitoba: 1 Conservative
• Ontario: 1 Conservative
• Quebec: 1 Conservative, 2 Liberal, 1 Nationalist

Results by province

Party name			BC	NW	MB	ON	QC	NB	NS	PE	Total
	Conservative	Seats:	5	4	1	39	24	10	12	2	97
		Popular vote (%):	71.6	81.0	12.6	42.2	45.4	48.9	41.9	48.5	43.0
	Liberal-Conservative	Seats:	1		3	7	3	2	4		20
		Vote (%):			40.5	5.3	3.0	3.7	10.8		5.6
	Liberal	Seats:	-	-	1	44	33	4	5	3	90
		Vote (%):	28.4	19.0	46.9	49.1	45.9	41.3	43.6	41.0	45.2
	Independent Conservative	Seats:				1	2				3
		Vote (%):				1.3	5.9				1.9
	Independent	Seats:				1	1	-			2
		Vote (%):				0.7	1.2	3.2			0.8
	Nationalist	Seats:					1				1
		Vote (%):					-				-
	Independent Liberal	Seats:						-		1	1
		Vote (%):						2.9		10.5	0.7
	Nationalist Conservative	Seats:					1				1
		Vote (%):					0.7				0.2
Total seats			6	4	5	92	65	16	21	6	215
Parties that won no seats:
	Unknown	Vote (%):				2.0	3.8		3.1		2.2
	Equal Rights	Vote (%):				0.7					0.3
	Progressive	Vote (%):							0.5		0.1

Vote and seat summaries

Popular vote
Conservative			48.58%
Liberal			45.22%
Others			6.20%

Seat totals
Conservative			54.42%
Liberal			41.86%
Others			3.72%

See also

• List of Canadian federal general elections
• List of political parties in Canada
• 7th Canadian Parliament

External links

• The Election of 1891: A Question of Loyalty, by James Marsh