1926 Canadian federal election

The 1926 Canadian federal election was held on September 14, 1926, to elect members of the House of Commons of Canada of the 16th Parliament of Canada. The election was called after an event known as the King–Byng affair.

1926 Canadian federal election

September 14, 1926
245 seats in the House of Commons 123 seats needed for a majority
Turnout	67.7% (1.3pp)
First party Second party   Leader W. L. Mackenzie King Arthur Meighen Party Liberal Conservative Leader since 1919 1920 Leader's seat Prince Albert Portage la Prairie (lost re-election) Last election 100 115 Seats won 116 91 Seat change 16 24 Popular vote 1,397,031 1,476,834 Percentage 42.90% 45.35% Swing 3.06pp 0.78pp   Third party Fourth party   Leader Robert Forke John E. Brownlee Party Progressive United Farmers of Alberta Leader's seat Did not stand Did not stand Last election 22 2 Seats won 11 11 Seat change 11 9 Popular vote 128,060 60,740 Percentage 3.93% 1.87% Swing 4.52pp 1.61pp
The Canadian parliament after the 1926 election
Prime Minister before election Arthur Meighen Conservative Prime Minister after election William Lyon Mackenzie King Liberal

In the 1925 federal election, Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King's Liberal Party of Canada had won fewer seats in the House of Commons of Canada than the Conservatives of Arthur Meighen. King, however, was determined to continue to govern with the support of the Progressive Party. The combined Liberal and Progressive caucuses gave Mackenzie King a plurality of seats in the House of Commons, and the ability to form a minority government. The agreement collapsed, however, after a scandal, and King approached the governor-general of Canada, Baron Byng of Vimy, to seek dissolution of the Parliament. Byng refused on the basis that the Conservatives had won the most seats in the prior election and so he called upon Meighen to form a government.

Prime Minister Meighen's government was soon defeated in a vote of non-confidence, and Byng agreed to Meighen's request to dissolve Parliament and call new elections. King effectively campaigned against Byng, instead of against Meighen, in the election and won the most seats in the House of Commons although his party won a smaller proportion of the popular vote than the Conservatives. However, this was largely because the Liberals did not run candidates in all ridings and had an informal electoral pact with the Progressives and Liberal-Progressives. In particular, the election results in Manitoba had Meighen's party capture almost 40 percent of the vote, twice the vote share of any other party, but no seats. Thus, King's Liberals were able to govern with the support of Liberal-Progressive Members of Parliament.

The Progressive Party's Albertan legislators left the party and instead sought re-election under the United Farmers of Alberta banner. At the time, the UFA formed the government in Alberta. They won eleven seats in Alberta, an increase of nine from the previous year and the same number the Progressives won elsewhere. The Progressives' seat count was halved compared to 1925, although when viewed in its totality the election result can also be regarded as a combined net decrease of two seats for the Progressives and UFA.

Byng returned to Britain at the end of the year and was raised to the rank of viscount as an expression of confidence in him. After his party's defeat and the loss of his seat, Meighen resigned as Conservative leader.

National results

Party		Party leader	# of candidates	Seats			Popular vote
				1925	Elected	% Change	#	%	pp Change
	Liberal	W. L. Mackenzie King	203	100	116	+16.0%	1,397,031	42.90%	+3.06
	Conservative	Arthur Meighen	232	115	91	-20.2%	1,476,834	45.35%	-0.78
	Progressive		28	22	11	-50.0%	128,060	3.93%	-4.52
	United Farmers of Alberta		12	2	11	+450%	60,740	1.87%	+1.61
	Liberal–Progressive	Robert Forke	12	-	8		63,144	1.94%	+1.83
	Labour		18	2	4	+100%	55,661	1.71%	-0.10
	Independent		10	2	2	-	25,821	0.79%	+0.28
	Independent Liberal		5	1	1	-	18,627	0.57%	-0.42
	United Farmers of Ontario		1	*	1	*	6,909	0.21%	*
	Independent Conservative		3	1	-	-100%	10,164	0.31%	-0.23
	Progressive-Conservative		2	-	-	-	7,088	0.22%	+0.18
	Liberal-Labour		1	*	-	*	4,187	0.13%	*
	Labour-Farmer		1	-	-	-	1,441	0.04%	-0.11
	Socialist		1	-	-	-	672	0.02%	-0.04
	Protectionist		1	*	-	*	129	x	*
Total			530	245	245	-	3,256,508	100%
Sources: http://www.elections.ca -- History of Federal Ridings since 1867 Archived 2008-12-04 at the Wayback Machine

Notes:

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

x - less than 0.005% of the popular vote

Vote and seat summaries

Popular vote Conservative   45.35% Liberal   42.90% Progressive   3.93% United Farmers   1.87% Others   5.95%

Seat totals Liberal   47.35% Conservative   37.14% Progressive   4.49% United Farmers   4.49% Others   6.53%

Results by province

The results in the province of Manitoba are used by supporters of electoral reform as a reason to abolish the "First Past the Post" electoral system. Note that with 40% of the vote, the Conservatives did not win a single seat in the province.

Party name			BC	AB	SK	MB	ON	QC	NB	NS	PE	YK	Total
	Liberal	Seats:	1	3	16	4	24	59	4	2	3	-	116
		Popular Vote (%):	37.0	24.5	51.3	18.4	35.3	61.3	46.1	43.5	52.7	44.1	42.8
	Conservative	Seats:	12	1	-	-	53	4	7	12	1	1	91
		Vote:	54.2	31.5	27.5	39.7	54.9	34.0	53.9	53.7	47.3	55.9	45.4
	Progressive	Seats:			4	4	3						11
		Vote:			17.9	11.2	5.1						3.9
	United Farmers of Alberta	Seats:		11									11
		Vote:		38.7									1.9
	Liberal-Progressive	Seats:			1	7	-						8
		Vote:			3.2	19.5	1.4						1.9
	Labour	Seats:	-	1		2	1			-			4
		Vote:	6.4	4.3		8.7	1.1			2.8			1.7
	Independent	Seats:	1	-			-	1					2
		Vote:	2.3	0.1			0.5	1.9					0.8
	Independent Liberal	Seats:						1					1
		Vote:						2.3					0.6
	United Farmers of Ontario	Seats:					1						1
		Vote:					0.6						0.2
Total seats			14	16	21	17	82	65	11	14	4	1	245
Parties that won no seats:
	Independent Conservative	Vote:					0.8	0.1					0.3
	Progressive-Conservative	Vote:				2.5		0.3					0.2
	Liberal-Labour	Vote:					0.3						0.1
	Labour-Farmer	Vote:		0.9									xx
	Socialist	Vote:						0.1					xx
	Protectionist	Vote:						xx					xx

xx - less than 0.05% of the popular vote

See also

• List of Canadian federal general elections
• List of political parties in Canada
• 16th Canadian Parliament

Further reading

• Argyle, Ray (2004). Turning Points: The Campaigns that Changed Canada 2004 and Before. Toronto: White Knight Publications. ISBN 978-0-9734186-6-8.
• Hopkins, J. Castell, ed. (1926). The Canadian Annual Review of Public Affairs, 1925–26. Toronto: The Annual Review Company.

External links

• Principles vs Puffiness, by J.L. Granatstein