Canadian federal election, 1874 - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The Canadian federal election of 1874 was held on January 22, 1874, to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons

Canadian House of Commons

The House of Commons of Canada is a component of the Parliament of Canada, along with the Sovereign and the Senate. The House of Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 308 members known as Members of Parliament...

of the 3rd Parliament

3rd Canadian Parliament

The 3rd Canadian Parliament was in session from March 26, 1874 until August 17, 1878. The membership was set by the 1874 federal election on January 22, 1874, and it changed only somewhat due to resignations and by-elections until it was dissolved prior to the 1878 election.It was controlled by a...

of Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

. Sir John A. Macdonald

John A. Macdonald

Sir John Alexander Macdonald, GCB, KCMG, PC, PC , QC was the first Prime Minister of Canada. The dominant figure of Canadian Confederation, his political career spanned almost half a century...

, who had recently been forced out of office as prime minister, and his Conservatives

Conservative Party of Canada

The Conservative Party of Canada , is a political party in Canada which was formed by the merger of the Canadian Alliance and the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada in 2003. It is positioned on the right of the Canadian political spectrum...

were defeated by the Liberal Party

Liberal Party of Canada

The Liberal Party of Canada , colloquially known as the Grits, is the oldest federally registered party in Canada. In the conventional political spectrum, the party sits between the centre and the centre-left. Historically the Liberal Party has positioned itself to the left of the Conservative...

under their new leader Prime Minister

Prime Minister of Canada

The Prime Minister of Canada is the primary minister of the Crown, chairman of the Cabinet, and thus head of government for Canada, charged with advising the Canadian monarch or viceroy on the exercise of the executive powers vested in them by the constitution...

Alexander Mackenzie

Alexander Mackenzie, PC , a building contractor and newspaper editor, was the second Prime Minister of Canada from November 7, 1873 to October 8, 1878.-Biography:...

.

Macdonald's government had been forced to resign on November 5, 1873 because of allegations of corruption relating to the construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway

Canadian Pacific Railway

The Canadian Pacific Railway , formerly also known as CP Rail between 1968 and 1996, is a historic Canadian Class I railway founded in 1881 and now operated by Canadian Pacific Railway Limited, which began operations as legal owner in a corporate restructuring in 2001...

(see the Pacific Scandal

Pacific Scandal

The Pacific Scandal was a political scandal in Canada involving allegations of bribes being accepted by the Conservative government in the attempts of private interests to influence the bidding for a national rail contract...

). The Liberals under Mackenzie formed a government two days later with an election called for January. The Tories were unable to recover from the scandal and lost the election as a result.

The election was the first to occur following Prince Edward Island

Prince Edward Island

Prince Edward Island is a Canadian province consisting of an island of the same name, as well as other islands. The maritime province is the smallest in the nation in both land area and population...

's entry into Confederation, and the first to use secret ballot

Secret ballot

The secret ballot is a voting method in which a voter's choices in an election or a referendum are anonymous. The key aim is to ensure the voter records a sincere choice by forestalling attempts to influence the voter by intimidation or bribery. The system is one means of achieving the goal of...

s in Canada.

Voter turn-out: 69.6%

National results

3rd Parliament
Party	Party leader	# of candidates	Seats			Popular vote
Party	Party leader	# of candidates	1872 Canadian federal election, 1872 The Canadian federal election of 1872 was held from July 20 to October 12, 1872, to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons of the 2nd Parliament of Canada. Prime Minister Sir John A...	Elected	Change	#	%	Change	Liberal Liberal Party of Canada The Liberal Party of Canada , colloquially known as the Grits, is the oldest federally registered party in Canada. In the conventional political spectrum, the party sits between the centre and the centre-left. Historically the Liberal Party has positioned itself to the left of the Conservative...	Alexander Mackenzie Alexander Mackenzie Alexander Mackenzie, PC , a building contractor and newspaper editor, was the second Prime Minister of Canada from November 7, 1873 to October 8, 1878.-Biography:...	140	95	129	+35.8%	128,455	39.49%	+4.77%	Conservative Conservative Party of Canada (historical) The Conservative Party of Canada has gone by a variety of names over the years since Canadian Confederation. Initially known as the "Liberal-Conservative Party", it dropped "Liberal" from its name in 1873, although many of its candidates continued to use this name.As a result of World War I and the...	John A. Macdonald John A. Macdonald Sir John Alexander Macdonald, GCB, KCMG, PC, PC , QC was the first Prime Minister of Canada. The dominant figure of Canadian Confederation, his political career spanned almost half a century...	65	63	39	-38.1%	57,691	17.74%	-8.02%	Liberal-Conservative¹	38	36	26	-27.8%	40,234	12.37%	-0.53%	Conservative Labour Conservative Labour Conservative Labour was the label used by Canadian Conservative Party politician Henry Buckingham Witton as a candidate in Hamilton, Ontario from 1872 to 1875. Witton may have added "Labour" to the Conservative Party name because Hamilton is a largely industrial city...	1	1	-	-100%	1,515	0.47%	+0.02%	Independents	7	1	4	+300%	10,453	3.21%	+1.58%	Independent Liberal	5	2	5	+300%	6,541	2.01%	+0.37%	Independent Conservative	3	2	3	+50%	2,360	0.73%	+0.03%	Unknown	104	-	-	-	78,008	23.98%	+1.78%
Total		355	200	206	+3.0%	325,247	100%
Source: Parliamentary website

Notes:

¹ Liberal-Conservatives sat with the Conservative caucus in the House of Commons.

Acclamations

The following Members of Parliament were elected by acclamation;

Ontario: 1 Liberal-Conservative, 13 Liberals
Quebec: 10 Conservatives, 4 Liberal-Conservatives, 15 Liberals
New Brunswick: 1 Conservative, 3 Liberals, 1 Independent Liberal
Nova Scotia: 5 Liberals
Prince Edward Island: 2 Liberals

Results by province

Party name			BC British Columbia British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...	MB Manitoba Manitoba is a Canadian prairie province with an area of . The province has over 110,000 lakes and has a largely continental climate because of its flat topography. Agriculture, mostly concentrated in the fertile southern and western parts of the province, is vital to the province's economy; other...	ON Ontario Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....	QU Quebec Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....	NB New Brunswick New Brunswick is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the only province in the federation that is constitutionally bilingual . The provincial capital is Fredericton and Saint John is the most populous city. Greater Moncton is the largest Census Metropolitan Area...	NS Nova Scotia Nova Scotia is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the most populous province in Atlantic Canada. The name of the province is Latin for "New Scotland," but "Nova Scotia" is the recognized, English-language name of the province. The provincial capital is Halifax. Nova Scotia is the...	PEI Prince Edward Island Prince Edward Island is a Canadian province consisting of an island of the same name, as well as other islands. The maritime province is the smallest in the nation in both land area and population...	Total	Liberal Liberal Party of Canada The Liberal Party of Canada , colloquially known as the Grits, is the oldest federally registered party in Canada. In the conventional political spectrum, the party sits between the centre and the centre-left. Historically the Liberal Party has positioned itself to the left of the Conservative...	Seats	3	1	61	34	10	15	5	129	Popular vote	34.1	47.0	39.6	34.8	47.1	38.1	56.8	39.5	Conservative Conservative Party of Canada (historical) The Conservative Party of Canada has gone by a variety of names over the years since Canadian Confederation. Initially known as the "Liberal-Conservative Party", it dropped "Liberal" from its name in 1873, although many of its candidates continued to use this name.As a result of World War I and the...	Seats	1	1	15	17	2	2	1	39	Vote	4.5	13.8	19.5	17.6	6.8	17.8	17.5	17.7	Liberal-Conservative	Seats	1		10	12	1	2	-	26	Vote	16.9		10.4	14.9	8.6	19.2	15.4	12.4	Conservative Labour Conservative Labour Conservative Labour was the label used by Canadian Conservative Party politician Henry Buckingham Witton as a candidate in Hamilton, Ontario from 1872 to 1875. Witton may have added "Labour" to the Conservative Party name because Hamilton is a largely industrial city...	Seats			-					-	Vote			0.9					0.5	Unknown	Seats									Vote	29.2	13.8	27.2	27.5	19.9	9.0	10.3	24.0	Independent	Seats		1	-	-	2	1		4	Vote		9.5	0.8	2.3	17.6	7.7		3.2	Independent Liberal	Seats	1		2		1	1		5	Vote	15.4		1.7			8.2		2.0	Independent Conservative	Seats		1		2				3	Vote		15.9		2.9				0.7
Total seats			6	4	88	65	16	21	6	206																																							Liberal-Conservative																																						Unknown																			Independent																			Independent Liberal																			Independent Conservative

National results

Results by province

See also