Canadian federal election, 1925

Canadian federal election, 1925
Canada
October 29, 1925

245 seats in the 15th Canadian Parliament
123 seats needed for a majority
  First party Second party Third party
 
Leader Arthur Meighen W. L. Mackenzie King Robert Forke
Party Conservative Liberal Progressive
Leader since 1920 1919 1922
Leader's seat Grenville
candidate in Portage la Prairie
York North (lost re-election) Brandon
Last election 49 118 58
Seats won 115 100 22
Seat change +66 -18 -36
Popular vote 1,454,253 1,252,684 266,319
Percentage 46.13% 39.74% 8.45%
Swing +16.18pp -1.41pp -12.65pp


Prime Minister before election

William Lyon Mackenzie King
Liberal

Prime Minister-designate

William Lyon Mackenzie King
Liberal

The Canadian federal election of 1925 was held on October 29 to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons of the 15th Parliament of Canada. Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King's Liberal Party formed a minority government. This precipitated the "King-Byng Affair".

The Liberals under Mackenzie King won fewer seats than Arthur Meighen's Conservatives. A third party, the Progressives, which had nominated candidates for the first time in the 1921 election, held the balance of the seats. King decided to hold on to power with the help of the Progressives. The Progressives were closely aligned with the Liberals, and enabled King to form a minority government.

This plan was complicated by the fact that his party won fewer seats than the Conservatives, and that King himself had lost his seat in the House of Commons. Meighen was outraged by King's move, and demanded that King resign from the Prime Minister's office. King asked a Liberal Member of Parliament from Prince Albert, Saskatchewan to resign so that he could run in the resulting by-election. Prince Albert was one of the safest seats in Canada for the Liberals, and King won easily.

With King back in Parliament, a huge scandal rocked the King cabinet when one of his appointees was discovered to be accepting bribes. Anticipating a vote of censure by the Commons, King asked the Governor General, Baron Byng of Vimy, to call an election. The Governor General refused, and King resigned.

King claimed this was interference in Canadian politics by an official appointed by a foreign power. King showed rare fire, and rallied the Progressives back into his camp. He defeated Meighen on a vote of confidence after only three days, making the Meighen government of 1926 the shortest lived government in Canadian history. This time, Byng called an election.

The Canadian parliament after the 1925 election

National results

115 100 22 8
Conservative Liberal Progressive O
Party Party leader # of
candidates
Seats Popular vote
1921 Elected % Change # % pp Change
     Conservative Arthur Meighen 232 49 115 +132.7% 1,454,253 46.13% +16.18
     Liberal W. L. Mackenzie King 216 118 100 -15.3% 1,252,684 39.74% -1.41
Progressive Robert Forke 68 58 22 -62.1% 266,319 8.45% -12.65
Labour J.S. Woodsworth 20 3 2 -33.3% 56,987 1.81% -0.93
     Independent 8 2 2 - 16,212 0.51% -2.52
United Farmers of Alberta   2 2 2 - 8,053 0.26% -0.46
  Independent Liberal 10 - 1   31,140 0.99% +0.90
  Independent Conservative 6 1 1 - 16,759 0.53% +0.14
  Unknown 5 - - - 20,583 0.65% +0.16
Liberal-Protectionist   2 * - * 6,915 0.22% *
  Independent Liberal-Progressive 1 * - * 4,958 0.16% *
Labour-Farmer   2 * - * 4,774 0.15% *
Liberal–Progressive   1 * - * 3,319 0.11% *
Independent Labour 1 * - * 2,901 0.09% *
Socialist   1 - - - 1,888 0.06% -0.04
  Independent Progressive 1 1 - -100% 1,768 0.06% -0.05
Farmer   1 * - * 1,130 0.04% *
  Progressive-Conservative   1 * - * 1,120 0.04% *
Farmer Labour   1 * - * 762 0.02% *
Total 579 235 245 +3.8% 3,152,525 100%  
Sources: http://www.elections.ca -- History of Federal Ridings since 1867

Notes:

* not applicable - the party was not recognized in the previous election

Vote and seat summaries

Popular vote
Conservative
 
46.13%
Liberal
 
39.74%
Progressive
 
8.45%
Others
 
5.68%
Seat totals
Conservative
 
46.94%
Liberal
 
40.82%
Progressive
 
8.98%
Others
 
3.27%

Results by province

Party name BC AB SK MB ON QC NB NS PE YK Total
     Conservative Seats: 10 3 - 7 67 4 10 11 2 1 115
     Popular Vote (%): 49.3 31.8 25.4 41.3 56.3 34.2 59.7 56.4 33.1 59.4 46.1
     Liberal Seats: 3 4 15 1 12 59 1 3 2 - 100
     Vote (%): 34.7 27.6 41.9 20.3 30.9 59.6 37.0 41.9 52.0 40.6 39.7
  Progressive Seats: - 7 6 7 2           22
  Vote (%): 6.1 26.5 31.8 25.1 8.8           8.5
  Labour Seats: - -   2 - -   -     2
  Vote: 6.3 6.1   9.6 1.2 0.2   1.6     1.8
     Independent Seats: 1       - 1 -       2
     Vote (%): 2.6       0.6 1.4 0.8       0.5
  United Farmers of Alberta Seats:   2                 2
  Vote (%):   5.0                 0.3
  Independent Liberal Seats:           1         1
  Vote (%):           3.8         1.0
  Independent Conservative Seats:         1           1
  Vote (%):         1.4           0.5
Total seats 14 16 21 17 82 65 11 14 4 1 245
Parties that won no seats:
  Unknown Vote (%):     0.1   0.9 0.2     15.0   0.7
Liberal-Protectionist Vote (%):           0.9         0.2
  Independent Liberal-Progressive Vote (%):             3.3       0.2
Labour-Farmer Vote (%):   3.0                 0.2
Liberal–Progressive Vote (%):       1.9             0.1
Independent Labour Vote (%):       1.7             0.1
  Socialist Vote (%): 1.0                   0.1
  Independent Progressive Vote (%):     0.9               0.1
Farmer Vote (%):           0.1         xx
  Progressive-Conservative Vote (%):           0.1         xx
Farmer Labour Vote (%):         0.1           xx

See also

References

    External links

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