1872 Canadian federal election

1872 Canadian federal election

July 20–October 12, 1872
200 seats in the House of Commons 101 seats needed for a majority
Turnout	70.3% (2.8pp)
First party Second party   Leader John A. Macdonald Edward Blake (unofficial) Party Conservative Liberal Leader since 1867 Leader's seat Kingston Bruce South Last election 100 seats, 34.5% 62 seats, 22.7% Seats won 100 94 Seat change 0 34 Popular vote 123,100 110,556 Percentage 38.7% 34.7% Swing 4.2% 12.0%
1872 Canadian electoral map
The Canadian parliament after the 1872 election
Prime Minister before election John A. Macdonald Conservative Prime Minister after election John A. Macdonald Conservative

The 1872 Canadian federal election was held from July 20 to October 12, 1872, to elect members of the House of Commons of Canada of the 2nd Parliament of Canada. Prime Minister Sir John A. Macdonald's Conservative Party remained in power, defeating the Liberals. However, the Liberals increased their parliamentary representation considerably, while the Conservative seat count remained static, giving them only six more seats than the Liberals. The election produced the country's first minority government. The support of two independent Conservative MPs functionally gave Macdonald an extremely slim majority that allowed it to survive for two years, until it fell due to scandal.

Edward Blake, who had a seat in both the House of Commons of Canada and the Ontario legislature, resigned as Premier of Ontario in order to run in the 1872 federal election as dual mandates had been abolished. Had the Liberals won the election, he likely would have been offered the position of Prime Minister of Canada. The party had no formal leader as such until 1873 when Alexander Mackenzie was given the title after Blake declined due to ill health. Blake was ill during much of the 1872 campaign, and it was Mackenzie who essentially led the Liberal campaign in Ontario, though not outside the province.

The 1872 general election was the first to include the new provinces of Manitoba and British Columbia, which had both joined Canada after the Confederation of 1867. By-elections had been held in both provinces to elect Members of Parliament in the newly created ridings, with Manitoba receiving four seats and British Columbia six. (In 1870 Canada had also expanded to include the current provinces of Alberta, Saskatchewan and the Territories, but no MPs were elected there until 1887.) In 1873, PEI joined Confederation and six more seats were added to the House of Commons, all filled by acclamations in by-elections.

Electoral system

Most of the ridings in this election elected just one member through First past the post, except for the ridings of: Ottawa, Victoria, the City and County of St. John, Cape Breton, Pictou, Hamilton, and Halifax; which elected two members, with each voter casting up to two votes (Plurality block voting).

Results

National

2nd Parliament
Party		Party leader	# of candidates	Seats			Popular vote
				1867	Elected	Change	#	%	Change
	Conservative	Sir John A. Macdonald	92	71	62	-11.3%	82,024	25.76%	2.31pp
	Liberal-Conservative1		48	29	37	24.1%	41,076	12.90%	1.82pp
	Liberal	none (unofficially, Edward Blake)	111	62	94	53.2%	110,556	34.72%	12.05pp
	Independents		4	-	2		5,213	1.64%	1.25pp
	Independent Conservative		3	-	2		2,220	0.70%	0.70pp
	Independent Liberal		4	-	2		5,232	1.64%	0.98pp
	Conservative Labour		1	-	1		1,422	0.45%	0.45pp
	Unknown		104	-	-	-	70,704	22.20%	-11.64pp
Total			367	180	200	11.1	320,037	100%
Source: Parliament of Canada

Note: ¹ Though identifying themselves as Liberal-Conservatives, these MPs and those identifying as Conservatives were both led by Sir John A. Macdonald (himself a Liberal-Conservative) and sat together in the House of Commons.

Acclamations

The following MPs were acclaimed:

• British Columbia: 3 Liberal-Conservatives
• Manitoba: 1 Liberal-Conservative
• Ontario: 3 Conservatives, 3 Liberal-Conservatives, 10 Liberals
• Quebec: 9 Conservatives, 5 Liberal-Conservatives, 5 Liberals
• New Brunswick: 6 Liberals, 1 Independent
• Nova Scotia: 1 Conservative, 4 Liberal-Conservatives, 2 Liberals

Results by province

Party name			BC	Manitoba	Ontario	Quebec	NB	NS	Total
	Conservative	Seats	1	1	26	25	2	7	62
		Popular vote	4.5	29.7	25.9	31.5	8.4	23.5	25.8
	Liberal-Conservative	Seats	3	1	12	12	3	6	37
		Vote			11.9	10.5	17.8	19.8	12.9
	Liberal	Seats	2	1	48	26	9	8	94
		Vote	83.7	35.6	35.3	32.6	46.8	28.1	34.7
	Conservative Labour	Seats			1				1
		Vote			0.9				0.4
	Unknown	Seats	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
		Vote	11.8	14.9	23.4	21.5	26.9	16.4	22.2
	Independent	Seats			-	1	1	-	2
		Vote			0.8	1.7		6.1	1.6
	Independent Liberal	Seats			1		1		2
		Vote			1.7			6.1	1.6
	Independent Conservative	Seats		1		1			2
		Vote		19.8		2.2			0.7
Total seats			6	4	88	65	16	21	200

For a list of candidates elected in the 1872 election, including by-elections held before 1874, see 2nd Canadian parliament.

See also

• List of Canadian federal general elections