1891 Canadian federal election
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The 1891 Canadian federal election was held on March 5, 1891, to elect members of the House of Commons of Canada of the 7th Parliament of Canada. It was won by the Conservative Party of Prime Minister Sir John A. Macdonald.
The main issue of the 1891 campaign was Macdonald's National Policy, a policy of protective tariffs. The Liberals supported reciprocity (free trade) with the United States. Canadian voters would return to the issue of free trade 20 years later in the 1911 federal election.
Macdonald led a Conservative campaign emphasizing stability, and retained the Conservatives' majority in the House of Commons. It was a close election and he campaigned hard. Macdonald died a few months after the election, which led to his succession by four different Conservative Prime Ministers until the 1896 election.
It was Wilfrid Laurier's first election as leader of the Liberals. Although he lost the election, he increased the Liberals' support. He returned in 1896 to win a solid majority, despite losing the popular vote.
The Nationalist Party won a seat in Quebec. Dorchester riding elected Cyrille-Émile Vaillancourt.
National results
| Party | Party leader | # of candidates | Seats | Popular vote | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1887 | Elected | Change | # | % | Change | ||||
| Conservative | John A. Macdonald | 187 | 87 | 97 | +11.5% | 332,961 | 42.96% | +2.80pp | |
| Liberal-Conservative | 25 | 24 | 20 | -16.7% | 43,557 | 5.62% | -1.64pp | ||
| Liberal | Wilfrid Laurier | 194 | 79 | 90 | +13.9% | 350,512 | 45.22% | +2.09pp | |
| Independent Conservative | 4 | 3 | 3 | - | 15,045 | 1.94% | +0.38pp | ||
| Independent | 4 | 3 | 2 | -66.7% | 6,357 | 0.82% | -0.42pp | ||
| Nationalist | 1 | 1 | 1 | - | -1 | 0.00% | -0.66pp | ||
| Independent Liberal | 2 | 5 | 1 | -80% | 5,573 | 0.72% | -1.45pp | ||
| Nationalist Conservative | 1 | 2 | 1 | -50% | 1,271 | 0.16% | -0.32pp | ||
| Unknown | 14 | 1 | - | -100% | 16,890 | 2.18% | -1.15pp | ||
| Equal Rights | 2 | * | - | * | 2,455 | 0.32% | * | ||
| Progressive | 2 | * | - | * | 468 | 0.06% | * | ||
| Total | 436 | 205 | 215 | +4.9% | 775,089 | 100% | |||
| Sources: -- |
Notes:
* Party did not nominate candidates in the previous election.
1 One Nationalist candidate was elected by acclamation.
Acclamations:
The following Members of Parliament were elected by acclamation;
- British Columbia: 1 Conservative, 1 Liberal-Conservative
- Manitoba: 1 Conservative
- Ontario: 1 Conservative
- Quebec: 1 Conservative, 2 Liberal, 1 Nationalist
Results by province
| Party name | BC | NWT | MB | ON | QC | NB | NS | PE | Total | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Conservative | Seats: | 5 | 4 | 1 | 39 | 24 | 10 | 12 | 2 | 97 | |
| Popular vote (%): | 71.6 | 81.0 | 12.6 | 42.2 | 45.4 | 48.9 | 41.9 | 48.5 | 43.0 | ||
| Liberal-Conservative | Seats: | 1 | 3 | 7 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 20 | |||
| Vote (%): | 40.5 | 5.3 | 3.0 | 3.7 | 10.8 | 5.6 | |||||
| Liberal | Seats: | - | - | 1 | 44 | 33 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 90 | |
| Vote (%): | 28.4 | 19.0 | 46.9 | 49.1 | 45.9 | 41.3 | 43.6 | 41.0 | 45.2 | ||
| Independent Conservative | Seats: | 1 | 2 | 3 | |||||||
| Vote (%): | 1.3 | 5.9 | 1.9 | ||||||||
| Independent | Seats: | 1 | 1 | - | 2 | ||||||
| Vote (%): | 0.7 | 1.2 | 3.2 | 0.8 | |||||||
| Nationalist | Seats: | 1 | 1 | ||||||||
| Vote (%): | - | - | |||||||||
| Independent Liberal | Seats: | - | 1 | 1 | |||||||
| Vote (%): | 2.9 | 10.5 | 0.7 | ||||||||
| Nationalist Conservative | Seats: | 1 | 1 | ||||||||
| Vote (%): | 0.7 | 0.2 | |||||||||
| Total seats | 6 | 4 | 5 | 92 | 65 | 16 | 21 | 6 | 215 | ||
| Parties that won no seats: | |||||||||||
| Unknown | Vote (%): | 2.0 | 3.8 | 3.1 | 2.2 | ||||||
| Equal Rights | Vote (%): | 0.7 | 0.3 | ||||||||
| Progressive | Vote (%): | 0.5 | 0.1 |
See also
- List of Canadian federal general elections
- List of political parties in Canada
- 7th Canadian Parliament
Notes
Further reading
- Pennington, Christopher John (2011). . Toronto: Allen Lane Canada. ISBN 978-0-670-06621-6.
- Chapleau, Samuel E. St. O. (1891). . Hunter, Rose & Company.