Canadian federal election, 1925

Canadian federal election, 1925

October 29, 1925

245 seats in the 15th Canadian Parliament 123 seats needed for a majority   First party Second party Third party   Leader Arthur Meighen W. L. Mackenzie King Robert Forke Party Conservative Liberal Progressive Leader since 1920 1919 1922 Leader's seat Grenville candidate in Portage la Prairie York North (lost re-election) Brandon Last election 49 118 58 Seats won 115 100 22 Seat change +66 -18 -36 Popular vote 1,454,253 1,252,684 266,319 Percentage 46.13% 39.74% 8.45% Swing +16.18pp -1.41pp -12.65pp

Prime Minister before election William Lyon Mackenzie King Liberal Prime Minister-designate William Lyon Mackenzie King Liberal

The Canadian federal election of 1925 was held on October 29 to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons of the 15th Parliament of Canada. Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King's Liberal Party formed a minority government. This precipitated the "King-Byng Affair".

The Liberals under Mackenzie King won fewer seats than Arthur Meighen's Conservatives. A third party, the Progressives, which had nominated candidates for the first time in the 1921 election, held the balance of the seats. King decided to hold on to power with the help of the Progressives. The Progressives were closely aligned with the Liberals, and enabled King to form a minority government.

This plan was complicated by the fact that his party won fewer seats than the Conservatives, and that King himself had lost his seat in the House of Commons. Meighen was outraged by King's move, and demanded that King resign from the Prime Minister's office. King asked a Liberal Member of Parliament from Prince Albert, Saskatchewan to resign so that he could run in the resulting by-election. Prince Albert was one of the safest seats in Canada for the Liberals, and King won easily.

With King back in Parliament, a huge scandal rocked the King cabinet when one of his appointees was discovered to be accepting bribes. Anticipating a vote of censure by the Commons, King asked the Governor General, Baron Byng of Vimy, to call an election. The Governor General refused, and King resigned.

King claimed this was interference in Canadian politics by an official appointed by a foreign power. King showed rare fire, and rallied the Progressives back into his camp. He defeated Meighen on a vote of confidence after only three days, making the Meighen government of 1926 the shortest lived government in Canadian history. This time, Byng called an election.

The Canadian parliament after the 1925 election

National results

↓
115	100	22	8
Conservative	Liberal	Progressive	O

Party		Party leader	# of candidates	Seats			Popular vote
				1921	Elected	% Change	#	%	pp Change
	Conservative	Arthur Meighen	232	49	115	+132.7%	1,454,253	46.13%	+16.18
	Liberal	W. L. Mackenzie King	216	118	100	-15.3%	1,252,684	39.74%	-1.41
	Progressive	Robert Forke	68	58	22	-62.1%	266,319	8.45%	-12.65
	Labour	J.S. Woodsworth	20	3	2	-33.3%	56,987	1.81%	-0.93
	Independent		8	2	2	-	16,212	0.51%	-2.52
	United Farmers of Alberta		2	2	2	-	8,053	0.26%	-0.46
	Independent Liberal		10	-	1		31,140	0.99%	+0.90
	Independent Conservative		6	1	1	-	16,759	0.53%	+0.14
	Unknown		5	-	-	-	20,583	0.65%	+0.16
	Liberal-Protectionist		2	*	-	*	6,915	0.22%	*
	Independent Liberal-Progressive		1	*	-	*	4,958	0.16%	*
	Labour-Farmer		2	*	-	*	4,774	0.15%	*
	Liberal–Progressive		1	*	-	*	3,319	0.11%	*
	Independent Labour		1	*	-	*	2,901	0.09%	*
	Socialist		1	-	-	-	1,888	0.06%	-0.04
	Independent Progressive		1	1	-	-100%	1,768	0.06%	-0.05
	Farmer		1	*	-	*	1,130	0.04%	*
	Progressive-Conservative		1	*	-	*	1,120	0.04%	*
	Farmer Labour		1	*	-	*	762	0.02%	*
Total			579	235	245	+3.8%	3,152,525	100%
Sources: http://www.elections.ca -- History of Federal Ridings since 1867

Notes:

* not applicable - the party was not recognized in the previous election

Vote and seat summaries

Popular vote
Conservative			46.13%
Liberal			39.74%
Progressive			8.45%
Others			5.68%

Seat totals
Conservative			46.94%
Liberal			40.82%
Progressive			8.98%
Others			3.27%

Results by province

Party name			BC	AB	SK	MB	ON	QC	NB	NS	PE	YK	Total
	Conservative	Seats:	10	3	-	7	67	4	10	11	2	1	115
		Popular Vote (%):	49.3	31.8	25.4	41.3	56.3	34.2	59.7	56.4	33.1	59.4	46.1
	Liberal	Seats:	3	4	15	1	12	59	1	3	2	-	100
		Vote (%):	34.7	27.6	41.9	20.3	30.9	59.6	37.0	41.9	52.0	40.6	39.7
	Progressive	Seats:	-	7	6	7	2						22
		Vote (%):	6.1	26.5	31.8	25.1	8.8						8.5
	Labour	Seats:	-	-		2	-	-		-			2
		Vote:	6.3	6.1		9.6	1.2	0.2		1.6			1.8
	Independent	Seats:	1				-	1	-				2
		Vote (%):	2.6				0.6	1.4	0.8				0.5
	United Farmers of Alberta	Seats:		2									2
		Vote (%):		5.0									0.3
	Independent Liberal	Seats:						1					1
		Vote (%):						3.8					1.0
	Independent Conservative	Seats:					1						1
		Vote (%):					1.4						0.5
Total seats			14	16	21	17	82	65	11	14	4	1	245
Parties that won no seats:
	Unknown	Vote (%):			0.1		0.9	0.2			15.0		0.7
	Liberal-Protectionist	Vote (%):						0.9					0.2
	Independent Liberal-Progressive	Vote (%):							3.3				0.2
	Labour-Farmer	Vote (%):		3.0									0.2
	Liberal–Progressive	Vote (%):				1.9							0.1
	Independent Labour	Vote (%):				1.7							0.1
	Socialist	Vote (%):	1.0										0.1
	Independent Progressive	Vote (%):			0.9								0.1
	Farmer	Vote (%):						0.1					xx
	Progressive-Conservative	Vote (%):						0.1					xx
	Farmer Labour	Vote (%):					0.1						xx

See also

• List of Canadian federal general elections
• List of political parties in Canada
• 15th Canadian Parliament

References

External links

• Principles vs Puffiness, by J.L. Granatstein