Manitoba general election, 1932

Manitoba's general election of June 16, 1932 was held to elect Members of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Manitoba, Canada.

This was the second election in Manitoba where the single transferable ballot was used in all electoral divisions. Winnipeg elected ten members in this manner, while all other constituencies elected one member by instant runoff voting.

The election was called soon after the announcement of an alliance between the governing Progressive Party of John Bracken and the Liberal Party led by Murdoch Mackay. These parties were ideologically similar, and had a common interest in preventing the Conservative Party from coming to power. National Liberal leader William Lyon Mackenzie King supported this alliance, out of concern that a Conservative victory would strengthen the hand of Conservative Prime Minister Richard Bennett.

Bracken tried to bring the Conservatives into his coalition, but was rebuffed by Conservative leader Fawcett Taylor. Taylor's refusal to consider a consensus government was used against him in the campaign.

The election was also contested by the social democratic Independent Labour Party, under the leadership of John Queen. Though it was the second-largest party in the legislature after the 1920 election, Labour had slumped to only three seats in 1927 amid a general period of decline in the Canadian left. While the ILP was poised to improve its showing in the 1932 campaign, it was not a serious contender for government.

Some members of the provincial Liberal Party opposed the Liberal-Progressive alliance, and contested the election as "continuing Liberals". Their leader was David Campbell, the mayor of St. Boniface.

Leslie Morris and Jacob Penner of the Communist Party campaigned in the city of Winnipeg, and other Communist candidates ran in the outlying areas. As the Communist Party was under legal restrictions at the time, they ran as "United Front Workers" candidates. Former Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) George Armstrong ran as a candidate of the Socialist Party, and Jessie MacLennan campaigned as a labour candidate unaffiliated with the ILP.

The result was a resounding victory for the governing alliance, as Liberals, Progressives and their allies won 38 out of 55 seats. The Conservatives fell from fifteen seats to ten. Having lost his third consecutive election, Fawcett Taylor resigned as Conservative leader in 1933. The Independent Labour Party managed a modest recovery after its poor showing in 1927, increasing its caucus to five members. No other parties' candidates were elected, although two former Progressives were elected as independents. The Continuing Liberals fared especially poorly, and disappeared after the election.

Leslie Morris came 309 votes short of winning the tenth seat in Winnipeg. Had he won, he would have been the first Communist elected to a provincial legislature in Canada.

Results

Party Party Leader # of
candidates		 Seats Popular Vote
1927 Elected Change # % % Change
     Liberal-Progressive John Bracken 53 36 38 +2   39.6% -13.5%
     Conservative Fawcett Taylor 49 15 10 -5   35.4% +8.2%
     Independent Labour John Queen 15 3 5 +2   16.5% +6.0%
     Continuing Liberal David Campbell 13 - 0 -   2.0% n/a
  United Front 4 0 0 -      
Socialist 1 0 0 -      
     Independent 11 1 2 +1      
Total   55 55     100%  
Preceded by
1927 Manitoba election		 List of Manitoba elections Succeeded by
1936 Manitoba election

See also

Results by electoral division

Arthur:

Assiniboia:

First Count

Smith was eliminated.

Second Count

Beautiful Plains:

Birtle:

Brandon City:

First Count

Cater was eliminated. Clement was eliminated on the second count with 1555 votes.

Third Count

Carillon:

Cypress:

Dauphin:

First Count

Wicks was eliminated.

Second Count

Deloraine:

Dufferin:

Emerson:

First Count

Kolodzinski was eliminated.

Second Count

Ethelbert:

Fairford:

Fisher:

First Count

Hamilton was eliminated. Note that one source lists Hamilton as a Continuing Liberal.

Second Count

Gilbert Plains:

Gimli:

First Count

Ewanchuk was eliminated. Kapusta was eliminated on the second count with 716 votes, and Thorvaldson was eliminated on the third count with 858 votes.

Fourth Count

Gladstone:

Glenwood:

Hamiota:

Iberville:

Kildonan and St. Andrews:

First Count

Cook was eliminated.

Second Count

Killarney:

Lakeside:

Lansdowne:

La Verendrye:

First Count

Ramsay was eliminated.

Second Count

Manitou:

Minnedosa:

First Count

St. John was eliminated.

Second Count

Morris:

Mountain:

Morden and Rhineland:

Norfolk:

Portage la Prairie:

Roblin:

Rockwood:

First Count

Lewis was eliminated.

Second Count

Rupertsland (16 July):

First Count

Atkinson was eliminated.

Second Count

Russell:

St. Boniface:

First Count

Campbell was eliminated. Gagnon was eliminated after the second count with 3560 votes.

Third Count

St. Clements:

First Count

Smith was eliminated. Dunn was eliminated after the second count with 1824 votes.

Second Count

St. George:

Ste. Rose:

Springfield:

First Count

Matheson was eliminated. McRury and Grant were eliminated after the second count with 1113 and 251 votes, respectively.

Third Count

Swan River:

First Count

Goodman was eliminated.

Second Count

Turtle Mountain:

The Pas (deferred):

Virden:

Winnipeg (ten members):

First Count (quota: 7000 votes): Evans and Queen declared elected

Final standings:

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 lists slightly different results from Kildonan & St. Andrews, Lansdowne, La Verendrye, Morris, Springfield and Turtle Mountain; the other two sources are more comprehensive, 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

Portage la Prairie (res. Fawcett Taylor, 1933), November 27, 1933:

Arthur (dec. Duncan McLeod, May 10, 1935), June 24, 1935:

Russell (Isaac Griffiths to cabinet, May 28, 1935), July 4, 1935:

Carillon (dec. Albert Prefontaine, 1935), July 4, 1935:

Gimli (res. Einar Jonasson, 1935)

Winnipeg (res. Ralph Maybank, October 1, 1935)

Winnipeg (res. John Thomas Haig, 1935)

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