Canadian federal election, 1972

Canadian federal election, 1972

1968 ←
members
October 30, 1972
→ 1974
members

264 seats in the 29th Canadian Parliament
133 seats needed for a majority
  First party Second party
 
Leader Pierre Trudeau Robert Stanfield
Party Liberal PC
Leader since 1968 1967
Leader's seat Mount Royal Halifax
Last election 155 72
Seats won 109 107
Seat change -46 +35
Popular vote 3,717,804 3,388,980
Percentage 38.42% 35.02%
Swing -6.95% +3.65%

  Third party Fourth party
 
Leader David Lewis Réal Caouette
Party New Democrat Social Credit
Leader since 1971 1971
Leader's seat York South Témiscamingue
Last election 22 141
Seats won 31 15
Seat change +9 +1
Popular vote 1,725,719 730,759
Percentage 17.83% 7.55%
Swing +0.87% +2.27%


Prime Minister before election

Pierre Trudeau
Liberal

Prime Minister-designate

Pierre Trudeau
Liberal

The Canadian federal election of 1972 was held on October 30, 1972 to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons of the 29th Parliament of Canada. It resulted in a slim victory for the governing Liberal Party, which won 109 seats, compared to 107 seats for the opposition Progressive Conservatives. A further 48 seats were won by other parties and independents. On election night, the results appeared to give 109 seats to the Tories, however once the counting had finished the next day, the final results gave the Liberals a minority government and left the New Democratic Party led by David Lewis holding the balance of power. See 29th Canadian parliament for a full list of MPs elected.

Contents

Overview

The election was the second fought by Liberal leader, Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau. The Liberals entered the election high in the polls, but the spirit of Trudeaumania had worn off, and a slumping economy hurt his party. The Tories were led by Robert Stanfield, the former premier of Nova Scotia, who had an honest but bumbling image. The Tories tried to capitalize on the public's perception that the Liberals were mismanaging the economy with the slogan, "A Progressive Conservative government will do better."

The Liberals campaigned on the slogan, "The Land is Strong", and television ads illustrating Canada's scenery. The slogan quickly became much derided, and the entire campaign is viewed as being one of the worst managed in recent decades. The party had developed few real issues to campaign on. One program that hurt the Liberals in many parts of the country was official bilingualism, which many English-Canadians viewed as an expensive waste of money.

Party platforms

Liberal Party:

Progressive Conservative Party:

New Democratic Party:

Social Credit Party:

National results

The voter turn-out was 76.7%.

One independent candidate was elected: Roch LaSalle was re-elected in his Quebec riding. LaSalle had left the PC caucus to protest the party's failure to recognize Quebec's right to self-determination, and was the only candidate to win the support of the separatist Parti Québécois.

One candidate with no affiliation was elected: Lucien Lamoureux, in the Ontario riding of Stomont-Dundas-Glengarry. Lamoureux, originally elected as a Liberal, had been serving as Speaker of the House of Commons. He ran without affiliation in order to preserve his impartiality as Speaker. He retired after this Parliament, and did not run in the 1974 election.

109
107
31
15
2
O
Party Party leader # of
candidates
Seats Popular vote
1968 Dissolution Elected % Change # % Change
     Liberal
Pierre Trudeau
263 155 147 109 -29.7% 3,717,804 38.42% -6.95%
     Progressive Conservative
Robert Stanfield
265 72 73 107 +48.6% 3,388,980 35.02% +3.65%
     New Democratic Party
David Lewis
252 22 25 31 +40.9% 1,725,719 17.83% +0.87%
     Social Credit1
Real Caouette
164 14 15 15 +7.1% 730,759 7.55% +2.27%
     Independent2 53 1 2 1 - 56,685 0.59% +0.14%
     No affiliation3 26     1   23,938 0.25%  
     Unknown 93     -   32,013 0.33%  
     Rhinoceros4
Cornelius I
1 - - - - 1,565 0.02% -0.06%
     Vacant 4  
Total 1,117 265 264 264 -0.4% 9,677,463 100%  
Sources: Elections Canada;History of Federal Ridings since 1867; Toronto Star, October 30, 1972

Notes:

"% change" refers to change from previous election

1 Indicates increase from total Social Credit + Ralliement creditiste seats/vote in 1968.

2 Roch LaSalle, who was elected in 1968 as a Progressive Conservative, won re-election as an independent.

3 Lucien Lamoureux who was elected as a Liberal but served as Speaker of the House, won re-election with no party affiliation.

4 The Rhinoceros Party ran a total of 12 candidates, but because it was not recognized by Elections Canada as a registered party, its candidates were listed as independents.

Results by province

Party name BC AB SK MB ON QC NB NS PE NL NT YK Total
     Liberal Seats: 4 - 1 2 36 56 5 1 1 3 - - 109
     Popular Vote: 28.9 25.0 25.3 30.9 38.2 48.9 43.1 33.9 40.5 44.8 29.3 32.2 38.4
     Progressive Conservative Seats: 8 19 7 8 40 2 5 10 3 4 - 1 107
     Vote: 33.0 57.6 36.9 41.6 39.1 17.4 46.8 53.4 51.9 49.0 30.9 53.0 35.0
     New Democratic Party Seats: 11 - 5 3 11 - - - - - 1 - 31
     Vote: 35.0 12.6 35.9 26.3 21.5 6.8 6.3 12.3 7.5 4.7 39.8 11.6 17.8
     Social Credit Seats: - - - - - 15 - - - -     15
     Vote: 2.6 4.5 1.8 0.7 0.4 24.3 3.2 0.3 0.1 0.2     7.6
     Independent Seats: - - - - - 1 -     - -   1
     Vote: 0.2 xx xx 0.1 0.2 1.7 0.3     0.4 3.1   0.6
     No affiliation Seats: - - - - 1 -   -         1
     Vote: xx 0.1 xx xx 0.5 0.2   xx         0.2
Total seats: 23 19 13 13 88 74 10 11 4 7 1 1 264
Parties that won no seats:
     Unknown Vote: 0.1 0.2 0.1 0.3 0.1 0.7 0.4 0.1   0.9     0.3
     Rhinoceros Vote:           0.1             xx

xx - less than 0.05% of the popular vote

See also

Canadian politics portal

References