Canadian federal election, 1972

Canadian federal election, 1972
Canada
October 30, 1972

264 seats in the 29th Canadian Parliament
133 seats needed for a majority
Turnout 76.7%[1]
  First party Second party
 
Leader Pierre Trudeau Robert Stanfield
Party Liberal Progressive Conservative
Leader since April 6, 1968 September 9, 1967
Leader's seat Mount Royal Halifax
Last election 155 seats, 45.37% 72 seats, 31.36%
Seats before 147 73
Seats won 109 107
Seat change -38 +34
Popular vote 3,717,804 3,388,980
Percentage 38.42% 35.02%
Swing -6.95pp +3.59pp

  Third party Fourth party
 
Leader David Lewis Réal Caouette
Party New Democratic Social Credit
Leader since April 24, 1971 October 9, 1971
Leader's seat York South Témiscamingue
Last election 22 seats, 16.96% 14 seats, 5.28%1
Seats before 25 15
Seats won 31 15
Seat change +6 ±0
Popular vote 1,725,719 730,759
Percentage 17.83% 7.55%
Swing +0.87pp +2.27pp


Prime Minister before election

Pierre Trudeau
Liberal

Prime Minister-designate

Pierre Trudeau
Liberal

The Canadian federal election of 1972 was held on October 30, 1972, to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons of the 29th Parliament of Canada. It resulted in a slim victory for the governing Liberal Party, which won 109 seats, compared to 107 seats for the opposition Progressive Conservatives. A further 48 seats were won by other parties and independents. On election night, the results appeared to give 109 seats to the Tories, but once the counting had finished the next day, the final results gave the Liberals a minority government and left the New Democratic Party led by David Lewis holding the balance of power. See 29th Canadian parliament for a full list of MPs elected.

Overview

The election was the second fought by Liberal leader, Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau. The Liberals entered the election high in the polls, but the spirit of Trudeaumania had worn off, and a slumping economy hurt his party. The Tories were led by Robert Stanfield, the former premier of Nova Scotia, who had an honest but bumbling image. The Tories tried to capitalize on the public's perception that the Liberals were mismanaging the economy with the slogan, "A Progressive Conservative government will do better."

The Liberals campaigned on the slogan, "The Land is Strong", and television ads illustrating Canada's scenery. The slogan quickly became much derided, and the entire campaign is viewed as being one of the worst managed in recent decades. The party had developed few real issues to campaign on. One program that hurt the Liberals in many parts of the country was official bilingualism, which many English-Canadians viewed as an expensive waste of money.

Party platforms

Liberal Party:

Progressive Conservative Party:

New Democratic Party:

Social Credit Party:

National results

The House of Commons after the 1972 election

The voter turn-out was 76.7%.

One independent candidate was elected: Roch LaSalle was re-elected in his Quebec riding. LaSalle had left the PC caucus to protest the party's failure to recognize Quebec's right to self-determination, and was the only candidate to win the support of the separatist Parti Québécois.

One candidate with no affiliation was elected: Lucien Lamoureux, in the Ontario riding of Stomont-Dundas-Glengarry. Lamoureux, originally elected as a Liberal, had been serving as Speaker of the House of Commons. He ran without affiliation in order to preserve his impartiality as Speaker. He retired after this Parliament, and did not run in the 1974 election.

109 107 31 15 2
Liberal Progressive Conservative NDP SC O
Party Party leader # of
candidates
Seats Popular vote
1968 Dissolution Elected % Change # % Change
     Liberal Pierre Trudeau 263 155 147 109 -29.7% 3,717,804 38.42% -6.95pp
     Progressive Conservative Robert Stanfield 265 72 73 107 +48.6% 3,388,980 35.02% +3.59pp
     New Democratic Party David Lewis 252 22 25 31 +40.9% 1,725,719 17.83% +0.87pp
Social Credit1 Real Caouette 164 14 15 15 +7.1% 730,759 7.55% +2.27pp
     Independent2 53 1 2 1 - 56,685 0.59% +0.14pp
     No affiliation3 26     1   23,938 0.25%  
     Unknown 93     -   32,013 0.33%  
  Rhinoceros4 Cornelius I 1 - - - - 1,565 0.02% +0.02pp
     Vacant 4  
Total 1,117 265 264 264 -0.4% 9,677,463 100%  
Sources: Elections Canada;History of Federal Ridings since 1867; Toronto Star, October 30, 1972

Notes:

"% change" refers to change from previous election

1 Indicates increase from total Social Credit + Ralliement creditiste seats/vote in 1968.

2 Roch LaSalle, who was elected in 1968 as a Progressive Conservative, won re-election as an independent.

3 Lucien Lamoureux who was elected as a Liberal but served as Speaker of the House, won re-election with no party affiliation.

4 The Rhinoceros Party ran a total of 12 candidates, but because it was not recognized by Elections Canada as a registered party, its candidates were listed as independents.

Vote and seat summaries

Popular vote
Liberal
 
38.42%
PC
 
35.02%
NDP
 
17.83%
Social Credit
 
7.55%
Others
 
1.18%
Seat totals
Liberal
 
41.29%
PC
 
40.53%
NDP
 
11.74%
Social Credit
 
5.68%
Independents
 
0.76%

Results by province

Party name BC AB SK MB ON QC NB NS PE NL NT YK Total
     Liberal Seats: 4 - 1 2 36 56 5 1 1 3 - - 109
     Popular Vote: 28.9 25.0 25.3 30.9 38.2 48.9 43.1 33.9 40.5 44.8 29.3 32.2 38.4
     Progressive Conservative Seats: 8 19 7 8 40 2 5 10 3 4 - 1 107
     Vote: 33.0 57.6 36.9 41.6 39.1 17.4 46.8 53.4 51.9 49.0 30.9 53.0 35.0
     New Democratic Party Seats: 11 - 5 3 11 - - - - - 1 - 31
     Vote: 35.0 12.6 35.9 26.3 21.5 6.8 6.3 12.3 7.5 4.7 39.8 11.6 17.8
  Social Credit Seats: - - - - - 15 - - - -     15
  Vote: 2.6 4.5 1.8 0.7 0.4 24.3 3.2 0.3 0.1 0.2     7.6
     Independent Seats: - - - - - 1 -     -   - 1
     Vote: 0.2 xx xx 0.1 0.2 1.7 0.3     0.4   3.1 0.6
     No affiliation Seats: - - - - 1 -   -         1
     Vote: xx 0.1 xx xx 0.5 0.2   xx         0.2
Total seats: 23 19 13 13 88 74 10 11 4 7 1 1 264
Parties that won no seats:
     Unknown Vote: 0.1 0.2 0.1 0.3 0.1 0.7 0.4 0.1   0.9     0.3
Rhinoceros Vote:           0.1             xx

xx - less than 0.05% of the popular vote

See also

References

  1. Pomfret, R. "Voter Turnout at Federal Elections and Referendums". Elections Canada. Elections Canada. Retrieved 11 January 2014.
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