Canadian federal election, 1949

Canadian federal election, 1949
1945 ←
members		 June 27, 1949
 → 1953
members
262 seats in the 21st Canadian Parliament
132 seats needed for a majority
  First party Second party
 
Leader Louis St. Laurent George A. Drew
Party Liberal PC
Leader since 1948 1948
Leader's seat Quebec East Carleton
Last election 117 65
Seats won 191 41
Seat change +74 -24
Popular vote 2,874,813 1,734,261
Percentage 49.15% 29.65%
Swing +9.37% +2.03%
  Third party Fourth party
 
Leader Major James Coldwell Solon Earl Low
Party CCF Social Credit
Leader since 1942 1944
Leader's seat Rosetown—Biggar Peace River
Last election 28 13
Seats won 13 10
Seat change -15 -3
Popular vote 784,770 135,217
Percentage 13.42% 2.31%
Swing -2.13% -1.74%
Prime Minister before election

Louis St. Laurent
Liberal

 Prime Minister-designate

Louis St. Laurent
Liberal

The Canadian federal election of 1949 was held on June 27 to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons of the 21st Parliament of Canada. It was the first election in Canada in almost thirty years in which the Liberal Party of Canada was not led by William Lyon Mackenzie King. King had retired in 1948, and was replaced as Liberal leader and Prime Minister by Louis St. Laurent. It was also the first federal election with Newfoundland voting, having joined Canada in March of that year. The Liberal Party was re-elected with its fourth consecutive majority government, winning just under 50% of the vote.

The Progressive Conservative Party, led by former Premier of Ontario George Drew, gained little ground in this election.

Smaller parties, such as the social democratic Co-operative Commonwealth Federation, and Social Credit, a party that advocated monetary reform, lost support to the Liberals, and to a lesser extent, the Conservatives.

Voter turn-out: 73.8%


Contents

National results

Party Party leader # of
candidates		 Seats Popular vote
1945 Elected % Change # % % Change
     Liberal Louis St. Laurent 258 117 191 +63.2% 2,874,813 49.15% +9.37%
     Progressive Conservative George Drew 249 65 41 -21.5% 1,734,261 29.65% +2.03%
     Co-operative Commonwealth M.J. Coldwell 180 28 13 -53.6% 784,770 13.42% -2.13%
     Social Credit Solon Low 28 13 10 -23.1% 135,217 2.31% -1.74%
     Independent 28 6 4 -33.3% 119,827 2.05% -2.84%
     Independent Liberal 15 8 1 -87.5% 30,407 0.52% -1.27%
     Liberal-Labour   2 - 1   11,730 0.20% +0.19%
     Liberal-Progressive   1 1 1 - 9,192 0.16% +0.04%
     Union of Electors Réal Caouette 56 - - - 86,087 1.47% +1.46%
     Labour Progressive Tim Buck 17 1 - -100% 32,623 0.56% -1.58%
     Independent PC 6 1 - -100% 8,195 0.14% -0.14%
     Farmer-Labour   1 - - - 6,161 0.11% -0.07%
     National Unity Adrien Arcand 1 * - * 5,590 0.10% *
     Nationalist   1 * - * 4,994 0.09% *
     Independent Social Credit 2 * - * 4,598 0.08% *
     Labour   2 - - - 415 0.01% x
     Socialist Labour   1 * - * 271 x *
Total 851 243 262 +7.8% 5,849,151 100%  
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

Results by province

Party name BC AB SK MB ON QC NB NS PE NL Terr Total
     Liberal Seats: 11 5 14 11 55 68 8 10 3 5 1 191
     Popular Vote: 36.7 33.8 43.4 45.1 45.1 60.4 53.8 52.7 49.2 71.9 49.0 49.1
     Progressive Conservative Seats: 3 2 1 1 25 2 2 2 1 2 - 41
     Vote: 27.9 16.8 14.4 22.0 37.4 24.5 39.4 37.5 48.4 27.9   29.7
     Co-operative Commonwealth Seats: 3 - 5 3 1 - - 1 - - - 13
     Vote: 31.5 10.0 40.9 25.9 15.2 1.1 4.2 9.9 2.4 0.2 17.0 13.4
     Social Credit Seats: - 10 -   -             10
     Vote: 0.5 37.4 0.9   0.2             2.3
     Independent Seats: 1     - - 3 -         4
     Vote: 2.6     2.1 0.1 6.1 0.2       34.0 2.1
     Independent Liberal Seats:         1 - -         1
     Vote:         0.3 1.3 1.4         0.5
     Liberal-Labour Seats:         1 -           1
     Vote:         0.6 xx           0.2
     Liberal-Progressive Seats:       1               1
     Vote:       2.9               0.2
Total Seats 18 17 20 16 83 73 10 13 4 7 1 262
Parties that won no seats:
     Union of Electors Vote:         0.1 5.1 1.0         1.5
     Labour Progressive Vote: 0.8 0.7 0.4 2.0 0.7 0.3           0.6
     Independent PC Vote:         xx 0.5           0.1
     Farmer-Labour Vote:         0.3             0.1
     National Unity Vote:           0.4           0.1
     Nationalist Vote:           0.3           0.1
     Independent Social Credit Vote:   1.4                   0.1
     Labour Vote:         xx xx           xx
     Socialist Labour Vote:         xx             xx

See also

Canadian politics portal

References

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