The Canadian federal election of 1940 was the 19th general election in Canadian history. It was held March 26, 1940 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 19th Parliament

19th Canadian Parliament

The 19th Canadian Parliament was in session from May 16, 1940 until April 16, 1945. The membership was set by the 1940 federal election on March 26, 1940, and it changed only somewhat due to resignations and by-elections until it was dissolved prior to the 1945 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...

. 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...

 William Lyon Mackenzie King

William Lyon Mackenzie King

William Lyon Mackenzie King, PC, OM, CMG was the dominant Canadian political leader from the 1920s through the 1940s. He served as the tenth Prime Minister of Canada from December 29, 1921 to June 28, 1926; from September 25, 1926 to August 7, 1930; and from October 23, 1935 to November 15, 1948...

's 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...

 was re-elected to their second consecutive majority government.

The election was overshadowed by the Second World War

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

, which caused many Canadians to rally around the government. In response to this, the Conservative Party

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...

 of Robert Manion ran on a platform advocating the creation of an all-party national unity government

National unity government

A national unity government, government of national unity, or national union government is a broad coalition government consisting of all parties in the legislature, usually formed during a time of war or other national emergency.- Canada :During World War I the Conservative government of Sir...

 and ran under the name "National Government" in this election. Though Manion was personally opposed to conscription

Conscription

Conscription is the compulsory enlistment of people in some sort of national service, most often military service. Conscription dates back to antiquity and continues in some countries to the present day under various names...

, the Liberals faced intense pressure in Quebec

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....

 on the question and promised not to institute the measure. This promise was to haunt the Liberals as they faced increasing pressure from the military and especially from English Canada to bring in the measure. To release him from his 1940 promise, King called a plebiscite in 1942 on the question. See also Conscription Crisis of 1944

Conscription Crisis of 1944

The Conscription Crisis of 1944 was a political and military crisis following the introduction of forced military service in Canada during World War II. It was similar to the Conscription Crisis of 1917, but was not as politically damaging....

.

Social Credit

Social Credit Party of Canada

The Social Credit Party of Canada was a conservative-populist political party in Canada that promoted social credit theories of monetary reform...

 ran jointly with the New Democracy

New Democracy (Canada)

New Democracy was a political party in Canada founded by William Duncan Herridge in 1939. Herridge, a former Conservative party adviser who was Canada's Envoy to the United States from 1931-35 during the government of R. B. Bennett....

 movement of William Duncan Herridge

William Duncan Herridge

William Duncan Herridge, PC, KC, MC, DSO was a Canadian politician and diplomat.He was the son of Reverend William T...

.

Some candidates of the Conservative and Social Credit parties insisted on running under the traditional names, however.

Voter turn-out: 69.9%

National results

Party		Party leader	# of candidates	Seats			Popular vote
				1935 Canadian federal election, 1935 The Canadian federal election of 1935 was held on October 14, 1935 to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons of the 18th Parliament of Canada. The Liberal Party of William Lyon Mackenzie King won a majority government, defeating Prime Minister R.B. Bennett's Conservative Party.The central...	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...	Mackenzie King William Lyon Mackenzie King William Lyon Mackenzie King, PC, OM, CMG was the dominant Canadian political leader from the 1920s through the 1940s. He served as the tenth Prime Minister of Canada from December 29, 1921 to June 28, 1926; from September 25, 1926 to August 7, 1930; and from October 23, 1935 to November 15, 1948...	242	173	179	+2.3%	2,365,979	51.32%	+6.64%	National Government 1	Robert Manion	199	*	36	-	1,348,260	29.24%	+0.57%	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...  1	8	39	3	53,799	1.17%	Co-operative Commonwealth Co-operative Commonwealth Federation The Co-operative Commonwealth Federation was a Canadian political party founded in 1932 in Calgary, Alberta, by a number of socialist, farm, co-operative and labour groups, and the League for Social Reconstruction...	J. S. Woodsworth J. S. Woodsworth James Shaver Woodsworth was a pioneer in the Canadian social democratic movement. Following more than two decades ministering to the poor and the working class, J. S...	93	7	8	+14.3%	388,103	8.42%	-1.07%	Social Credit Social Credit Party of Canada The Social Credit Party of Canada was a conservative-populist political party in Canada that promoted social credit theories of monetary reform...	J.H. Blackmore John Horne Blackmore John Horne Blackmore , a school teacher and principal by training, was the first leader of what became the Social Credit Party of Canada, a political party in Canada that promoted the social credit theories of monetary reform....	9	17	7	-58.3%	46,271	1.00%	-1.51%	New Democracy New Democracy (Canada) New Democracy was a political party in Canada founded by William Duncan Herridge in 1939. Herridge, a former Conservative party adviser who was Canada's Envoy to the United States from 1931-35 during the government of R. B. Bennett....	W.D. Herridge William Duncan Herridge William Duncan Herridge, PC, KC, MC, DSO was a Canadian politician and diplomat.He was the son of Reverend William T...	17	*	3	*	73,083	1.59%	*	Liberal-Progressive Liberal-Progressive Liberal-Progressive was a label used by a number of candidates in Canadian elections between 1926 and 1953. In federal and Ontario politics, there was no formal Liberal-Progressive party, but it was an alliance between two separate parties...		4	4	3	-25.0%	27,815	0.60%	-0.07%	Independent 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...		32	1	2	+100%	147,216	3.19%	+1.96%	Independent		19	1	1	-	57,247	1.24%	+0.85%	Independent 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...		5	1	1	-	10,431	0.23%	+0.21%	Unity Unity (Canada) Unity or Progressive Unity was the name used in Saskatchewan, Canada, by a popular front party initiated by the Communist Party of Canada for the 1938 Saskatchewan and 1940 Canadian election....		2	*	1	*	12,337	0.27%	*	United Reform Movement United Reform The United Reform Movement or United Reform was an attempt in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada, to create a left wing farmer-labour coalition....		1	*	1	*	13,868	0.30%	*	Independent National		2	*	-	*	12,710	0.28%	*	Unknown		2	-	-	-	4,622	0.10%	+0.02%	Communist Communist Party of Canada The Communist Party of Canada is a communist political party in Canada. Although is it currently a minor or small political party without representation in the Federal Parliament or in provincial legislatures, historically the Party has elected representatives in Federal Parliament, Ontario...	Tim Buck Tim Buck Timothy "Tim" Buck was a long-time leader of the Communist Party of Canada...	8	-	-	-	8,699	0.19%	-0.27%	Farmer-Labour		2	*	-	*	8,126	0.18%	*	National Unity		1	*	-	*	7,534	0.16%	*	NDP 2		2	*	-	*	6,761	0.15%	*	United Farmers of Ont. United Farmers of Ontario The United Farmers of Ontario was a political party in Ontario, Canada. It was the Ontario provincial branch of the United Farmers movement of the early part of the 20th century.- Foundation and rise :... -Labour		1	-	-	-	4,761	0.10%	-0.06%	Labour		1	-	-	-	3,916	0.08%	-0.25%	United Progressive		1	*	-	*	2,727	0.06%	*	National Liberal Progressive National Liberal Progressive National Liberal Progressive was a political label used by in the Canadian federal election of 1940, by W. Garfield Case, in Grey North electoral district in Ontario....		1	*	-	*	2,434	0.05%	*	National Labour		1	*	-	*	2,354	0.05%	*	Anti-Conscriptionist Anti-Conscriptionist In the 1940 federal election in Canada, Louis-Gérard Gosselin ran as an Anti-Conscriptionist candidate. Running in the Quebec riding of St. Henry, Gosselin received 642 votes on a platform opposing the imposition of conscription during World War II....		1	*	-	*	642	0.01%	*	Canadian Labour		1	*	-	*	398	0.01%	*	United Reform United Reform The United Reform Movement or United Reform was an attempt in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada, to create a left wing farmer-labour coalition....		1	*	-	*	269	0.01%	*	Social Credit-National Unity Social Credit-National Unity Social Credit-National Unity was the label used by Harry Watson Arnold when he ran in the 1940 federal election in Canada. Arnold ran in the riding of Saskatoon City...		1	*	-	*	241	0.01%	*
Total			657	245	245	-0.8%	4,610,603	100%
Sources: http://www.elections.ca -- History of Federal Ridings since 1867

Notes:

* The party did not nominate candidates in the previous election.

x - less than 0.005% of the popular vote

¹ "Change" and "% Change% figures compare total of "National Government" and "Conservative" to 1935 Conservative vote.

² Two candidates appear to have run under the "New Democratic Party" banner. It is unlikely that this was related in any way to the Cooperative Commonwealth Federation's adoption of this name in 1960. This may be a mis-reporting of party label - these candidates may have been "New Democracy" candidates.

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...	AB Alberta Alberta is a province of Canada. It had an estimated population of 3.7 million in 2010 making it the most populous of Canada's three prairie provinces...	SK Saskatchewan Saskatchewan is a prairie province in Canada, which has an area of . Saskatchewan is bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, and on the south by the U.S. states of Montana and North Dakota....	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....	QC 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...	PE 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...	YK Yukon Yukon is the westernmost and smallest of Canada's three federal territories. It was named after the Yukon River. The word Yukon means "Great River" in Gwich’in....	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:	10	7	12	13	56	62	5	10	4	-	179	Popular Vote:	37.4	37.9	43.0	43.5	50.3	64.4	54.6	50.4	55.3	46.4	51.3 | rowspan="2"|National Government	Seats:	4	-	2	1	22	-	5	1	-	1	36	Vote:	28.8	13.0	14.1	26.2	40.2	18.0	43.4	40.1	44.7	53.6	30.0	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:			-	-	3	-					3	Vote:			0.2	1.7	2.2	1.1					1.2	Co-operative Commonwealth Co-operative Commonwealth Federation The Co-operative Commonwealth Federation was a Canadian political party founded in 1932 in Calgary, Alberta, by a number of socialist, farm, co-operative and labour groups, and the League for Social Reconstruction...	Seats:	1	-	5	1	-	-	-	1			8	Vote:	28.4	13.0	27.5	19.6	3.8	0.7	0.4	6.0			8.6	Social Credit Social Credit Party of Canada The Social Credit Party of Canada was a conservative-populist political party in Canada that promoted social credit theories of monetary reform...	Seats:		7		-							7	Vote:		16.5		0.6							1.0	New Democracy New Democracy (Canada) New Democracy was a political party in Canada founded by William Duncan Herridge in 1939. Herridge, a former Conservative party adviser who was Canada's Envoy to the United States from 1931-35 during the government of R. B. Bennett....	Seats:	-	3	-	-		-					3	Vote:	0.1	18.0	3.3	0.4		0.9					1.6	Liberal-Progressive Liberal-Progressive Liberal-Progressive was a label used by a number of candidates in Canadian elections between 1926 and 1953. In federal and Ontario politics, there was no formal Liberal-Progressive party, but it was an alliance between two separate parties...	Seats:				2	1						3	Vote:				4.7	0.8						0.6	Independent Liberal	Seats:	-				-	2	-	-			2	Vote:	xx				1.0	10.2	1.6	3.3			3.3	Independent	Seats:	1	-	-	-	-	-		-			1	Vote:	3.0	0.2	1.0	3.4	0.4	2.1		0.2			1.3	United Reform Movement United Reform The United Reform Movement or United Reform was an attempt in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada, to create a left wing farmer-labour coalition....	Seats:			1								1	Vote:			3.7								0.3	Unity Unity (Canada) Unity or Progressive Unity was the name used in Saskatchewan, Canada, by a popular front party initiated by the Communist Party of Canada for the 1938 Saskatchewan and 1940 Canadian election....	Seats:			1								1	Vote:			3.3								0.3	Independent Conservative	Seats:						1					1	Vote:						0.9					0.2
Total Seats			16	17	21	17	82	65	10	12	4	1	245
Parties that won no seats:
Independent Nat. Gov.	Vote:	0.1					1.1					0.3	Communist Communist Party of Canada The Communist Party of Canada is a communist political party in Canada. Although is it currently a minor or small political party without representation in the Federal Parliament or in provincial legislatures, historically the Party has elected representatives in Federal Parliament, Ontario...	Vote:	0.4	0.3	0.6	xx	0.2	0.1					0.2	Farmer-Labour	Vote:					0.5						0.2	National Unity	Vote:			2.0								0.2	NDP (?)	Vote:	1.6				xx						0.2	UFO-Labour United Farmers of Ontario The United Farmers of Ontario was a political party in Ontario, Canada. It was the Ontario provincial branch of the United Farmers movement of the early part of the 20th century.- Foundation and rise :...	Vote:					0.3						0.1	Unknown	Vote:			1.2		xx						0.1	Labour	Vote:						0.3					0.1	United Progressive	Vote:			1.0								0.1	National Liberal Progressive National Liberal Progressive National Liberal Progressive was a political label used by in the Canadian federal election of 1940, by W. Garfield Case, in Grey North electoral district in Ontario....	Vote:					0.2						0.1	National Labour	Vote:						0.2					0.1	Anti-Conscriptionist Anti-Conscriptionist In the 1940 federal election in Canada, Louis-Gérard Gosselin ran as an Anti-Conscriptionist candidate. Running in the Quebec riding of St. Henry, Gosselin received 642 votes on a platform opposing the imposition of conscription during World War II....	Vote:						0.1					xx	Canadian Labour	Vote:					xx						xx	United Reform United Reform The United Reform Movement or United Reform was an attempt in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada, to create a left wing farmer-labour coalition....	Vote:			0.1								xx

• xx - less than 0.05% of the popular vote

See also

• List of Canadian federal general elections
• List of political parties in Canada
• 19th Canadian Parliament
  19th Canadian Parliament
  The 19th Canadian Parliament was in session from May 16, 1940 until April 16, 1945. The membership was set by the 1940 federal election on March 26, 1940, and it changed only somewhat due to resignations and by-elections until it was dissolved prior to the 1945 election.It was controlled by a...