Manitoba general election, 1920

Manitoba's general election of 29 June 1920 was held to elect members of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Manitoba, Canada.

Background

Between the previous 1915 election and the 1920 campaign, Manitoba experienced profound social and cultural change. Since the formal introduction of partisan politics in 1888, Manitoba had been dominated by the Liberal and Conservative parties, which governed the province in succession. After World War I, new political groups and interests emerged to threaten the two-party system.

The Winnipeg General Strike of 1919 brought labour issues to the forefront of provincial concern, and radicalized many working-class Manitobans. In previous elections, labour and socialist parties were a marginal force; going into the 1920 election, they stood to make significant electoral gains. In the rural constituencies, several candidates ran for office as farmer representatives, or as "people's candidates" opposed to partisan government.

Against this backdrop, the governing Liberal Party of Tobias C. Norris was forced to run a defensive campaign. Supported by the Winnipeg Free Press, the Liberals portrayed themselves as a stabilizing force amid the province's changes.

The 1920 election is notable for an experiment in electoral reform in the City of Winnipeg. Previously, the city had been represented in the legislature by six single-member constituencies. For the 1920 election, these seats were replaced by a single ten-member constituency. The method of election was called proportional representation at the time, but would today be referred to as the single transferable ballot.

Outcome

The election resulted in a fragmented parliament, with no group holding effective power over the legislature. Norris's Liberals remained the largest party, but were reduced to a minority government with 21 seats out of 55. The party remained in office until 1922, but could do little in the way of legislative initiatives.

Twelve "farmer" and "independent farmer" candidates were elected in rural constituencies. These legislators were a heterogeneous group, and did not run a united campaign. While not a "political party" in the traditional sense, they were able to form a functional caucus group in the legislature. Some members of this group later joined the political wing of the United Farmers of Manitoba.

The Labour Party won an impressive victory in Winnipeg, with party leader F. J. Dixon finishing more than 7,000 votes ahead of his nearest rival. The province's various working-class and left-wing parties ran a united campaign in the city, and were rewarded with four seats out of ten: Dixon and William Ivens were elected from the Dominion Labour Party, George Armstrong from the Socialist Party, and John Queen from the Social Democratic Party. Robert B. Russell narrowly failed to win a second seat for the Socialists. The Ex-Soldiers and Ex-Sailors Party of Manitoba also campaigned with the labour candidates in Winnipeg.

Ivens, Armstrong, Queen and Russell were all serving prison sentences at the time of their election, resulting from their activities in the Winnipeg General Strike. Many believed the prison sentences were politically motivated, and the issue was a rallying cry for labour in the campaign.

Seven other labour MLAs were elected in the rest of the province, making the Labour group the third largest in the legislature.

The Conservative Party managed a minor recovery from its disastrous showing in 1915, winning eight seats under new leader Richard G. Willis. Willis himself was not elected.

Three independents were also elected to the legislature.

Party results

Party Party leader # of
candidates		 Seats Popular vote
1915 Elected % Change # % % Change
     Liberal Tobias C. Norris   40 21 -47.5%   35.1% -20%
Farmer -     12     14.1%  
     Labour F. J. Dixon     9     17.7%  
  Socialist     1     2.8%  
     Social Democratic (1)   1 1 -      
     Conservative Richard G. Willis   5 8 +60.0%   18.5% -14.5%
     Independents/others (1)   1 3 +200%   2.6%  
Total   47 55 +17.0%   100%  

Note:

(1) SDP popular vote included in "Independents/others".

Preceded by
1915 Manitoba election		 List of Manitoba elections Succeeded by
1922 Manitoba election

Riding results

Arthur:

Assiniboia:

Beautiful Plains:

Birtle:

Brandon City:

Carillon:

Cypress:

Dauphin:

Deloraine:

Dufferin:

Emerson:

Ethelbert:

Fairford:

Fisher:

Gilbert Plains:

Gimli:

Gladstone:

Glenwood:

Hamiota:

Iberville:

Kildonan & St. Andrews:

Killarney:

Lakeside:

Lansdowne:

La Verendrye:

Manitou:

Minnedosa:

Morden and Rhineland:

Morris:

Mountain:

Norfolk:

Portage la Prairie:

Roblin:

Rockwood:

Rupertsland:

Russell:

St. Boniface:

St. Clements:

St. George:

Ste. Rose:

Springfield:

Swan River:

The Pas:

Turtle Mountain:

Virden:

Winnipeg:

First Count (quota: 4312; Dixon and Johnson declared elected):

Second Count (Dixon surplus; Ivens declared elected):

Third Count (Johnson surplus):

Fourth Count (Ivens surplus):

Fifth Count (Gislason and Lyon eliminated):

Sixth Count (Turnbull eliminated):

Seventh Count (Holling eliminated):

Eighth Count (Lawrence eliminated):

Ninth Count (Johns eliminated):

Tenth Count (McInnes eliminated):

Eleventh Count (Prout eliminated):

Twelfth Count (Torrance eliminated):

Thirteenth Count (Lowery eliminated):

Fourteenth Count (Forrester eliminated):

Fifteenth Count (Tipping eliminated):

Sixteenth Count (McMartin eliminated):

Seventeenth Count (Law eliminated):

Eighteenth Count (Skinner eliminated):

Nineteenth Count (James eliminated):

Twentieth Count (Fisher eliminated):

Twenty-First Count (Lightfoot eliminated):

Twenty-Second Count (Hamilton eliminated):

Twenty-Third Count (Carey eliminated):

Twenty-Fourth Count (Gibben eliminated):

Twenty-Fifth Count (Pritchard eliminated):

Twenty-Sixth Count (Warde eliminated):

Twenty-Seventh Count (Cartwright eliminated):

Twenty-Eighth Count (Parrish eliminated):

Twenty-Ninth Count (Christie eliminated):

Thirtieth Count (D.A. Armstrong eliminated)

Thirty-First Count (Morden eliminated; Haig declared elected):

Thirty-Second Count (Jacob eliminated; Queen declared elected):

(Numbers for the thirty-third vount not listed. Dick eliminated. Stovel elected with 4674 votes; Cameron elected with 4394 votes.)

Thirty-Fourth Count (Haig’s surplus):

Thirty-Fifth Count (Queen’s surplus):

Thirty-Sixth Count (Stovel’s surplus):

Thirty-Seventh Count (Cameron’s surplus; Armstrong, Rogers and Tupper declared elected):

Sources

The first ballot results for Winnipeg and results for all other constituencies are taken from an official Manitoba government publication entitled "Manitoba elections, 1920-1941" (cross-referenced with an appendix to the government's report of the 2003 provincial election). The Canadian Parliamentary Guide for 1921 lists slightly different results for Dufferin and Gladstone; the other two sources contain more information, however, and may be taken as more reliable.

All ballot results for Winnipeg after the first count are taken from reports in the Winnipeg Free Press newspaper. It is possible that some errors appeared in the original publication.

Post-election changes

The Independent and Farmer members formed a parliamentary bloc after the election, known as the Independent-Farmer group. Albert Kristjansson later left the Labour caucus to sit with this group.

Birtle (George Malcolm to cabinet, September 30, 1920), October 14, 1920:

Lakeside (Charles Duncan McPherson to cabinet, January 20, 1921), January 31, 1921:

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