1966 Prince Edward Island general election

Canadian provincial election September 2023 1966 Prince Edward Island general election Prince Edward Island parliamentary no no no 1962 Prince Edward Island general election 1962 1966 05 30 (11 July 19661st Kings district election was delayed July 11, 1966) 1970 Prince Edward Island general election 1970 All 32 seats in the Legislative Assembly of Prince Edward Island 17 Lib PE Liberal nohash Alex Campbell PE Liberal name December 11, 1965 5th Prince 11 seats, 49.4% 17 6 47,065 50.5% 1.1pp Prince Edward Island general election,1966 results by district.svg 400px Seats won by each party per district. Voters elect two members (one Councillor and Assemblyman) from each of the 16 districts. Premier Walter R. Shaw PE PC name Premier after election Alex Campbell PE Liberal name 50th General Assembly of Prince Edward Island members Walter R. Shaw Sept. 1964 (cropped).jpg PE PC nohash Walter R. Shaw September 17, 1957 PE PC name 1st Queens 19 seats, 50.6% 15 4 46,118 49.5% 1.1pp x175px The 1966 Prince Edward Island general election was held on May 30, 1966.http://www.electionspei.ca/pdfs/ceoreports/results/1966Report.pdf Provincial General Election Results, 1966 Elections PEI 2015-05-25 https://web.archive.org/web/20150525203935/http://www.electionspei.ca/pdfs/ceoreports/results/1966Report.pdf 2015-05-25 dead The election in the riding of 1st Kings was delayed until July 11, 1966 due to the death of Liberal Assemblyman and candidate William Acorn.http://www.electionspei.ca/provincial/historical/ceoreports/general/general-1966-05-30.pdf Prince Edward Island Chief Electoral Officer report for 1966 2006-09-29 2007-10-08 https://web.archive.org/web/20071008133044/http://www.electionspei.ca/provincial/historical/ceoreports/general/general-1966-05-30.pdf dead As it turned out, other ridings elected a total of 15 Liberals and 15 Progressive Conservatives, and the riding of 1st Kings would by itself decide the general election. The Progressive Conservative government of 1958-1962 had attempted to ensure its re-election by rejigging the electoral map in the Queen's County and also working to win 1st Kings by unusual methods such as naming one of the PC candidates (Keith Mackenzie) as Minister of Transports, and paving 45 kilometres of road in the district.Political historian Wayne MacKinnon, as quoted on http://fruitsandvotes.com/?p=250 At the time, a reporter from the Charlottetown Guardian commented on how "the riding may well sink under the weight of the [paving] machines". The strategy failed as both Liberal candidates in 1st Kings ultimately won. The Progressive Conservative government also split the 5th Queens district into two districts. The government broke with the tradition of each county having five ridings and ten members. By splitting 5th Queens, it gave the city of Charlottetown two ridings and therefore four members and gave Queen's County a sixth district and 12 members. This was the single biggest change to the map since 1893 when the ridings were devised. In that time population shifts had made some changes needed, as Charlottetown's population was more than five times that of some of the more rural ridings. The Progressive Conservatives had hoped that traditionally Progressive Conservative Charlottetown would vote in two additional Progressive Conservative members to the legislature; on election day the new riding elected two Progressive Conservatives, but the now modified old riding (Fifth Queen's) elected two Liberals. The government's twin defeats in 1st Kings and 5th Queen's gave the Liberals a 17 to 15 majority and enabled Liberal leader Alex Campbell to become Premier. Party Standings + ↓ 17 15 Liberal PC PartyParty LeaderSeatsPopular Vote1962ElectedChange#%Change PE Liberal rowLiberalAlex Campbell1117+647,06550.5%+1.1% PE PC rowPE PC nameWalter R. Shaw1915-446,11849.5%-1.1% Popular vote #ddd 600px 410px Liberal PE Liberal 50.51 PC PE PC 49.49Seats summary #ddd 600px 410px Liberal PE Liberal 53.13 PC PE PC 46.87 Electoral reform The Legislature of Prince Edward Island had two levels of membership from 1893 to 1996 - Assemblymen and Councillors. This was a holdover from when the Island had a bicameral legislature, the General Assembly and the Legislative Council. In 1893, the Legislative Council was abolished and had its membership merged with the Assembly, though the two titles remained separate and were elected by different electoral franchises. Assembleymen were elected by eligible voters within a district. Up until past the 1962 election, Councillors were only elected by landowners within a district. The Shaw government passed an Act in 1963, eliminating this requirement.http://www.revparl.ca/11/2/11n2_88e_Driscoll.pdf History and Politics of Prince Edward Island Fred Driscoll Canadian Parliamentary Review Henceforth, until multi-member seats were abolished (1996), the Assemblyman and the Councillor in each district would be elected by universal adult suffrage identically. But each seat would be filled in separate contest, through First past the post. The separate contests were held that way despite the fact that the members would sit in the same chamber. They ensured that in each contest a party would run just one candidate so no candidate had to run against others of the same party as would have happened in a one-ballot, multi-member district. It also allowed one contest to be between Catholics of various parties and the other contest to be between Protestants of various parties.Bolger, Canada's Smallest Province, p. 294-5; 308-316 As well the ability of a voter to cast multiple votes in a contest was discontinued. Henceforth the rule would be "one man, one vote" or actually "one man, two votes".Bolger, Canada's Smallest Province, p. 316 Members Elected Kings District Assemblyman Party Councillor Party 1st Kings     Bruce L. Stewart Liberal     Daniel J. MacDonald Liberal 2nd Kings     Walter Dingwell Progressive Conservative     Leo Rossiter Progressive Conservative 3rd Kings     Thomas A. Curran Progressive Conservative     Preston MacLure Progressive Conservative 4th Kings     Lorne Bonnell Liberal     Keir Clark Liberal 5th Kings     Cyril Sinnott Progressive Conservative     George J. Ferguson Liberal Prince District Assemblyman Party Councillor Party 1st Prince     Prosper Arsenault Liberal     Robert E. Campbell Liberal 2nd Prince     George Dewar Progressive Conservative     Robert Grindlay Progressive Conservative 3rd Prince     Henry Wedge Progressive Conservative     Keith Harrington Progressive Conservative 4th Prince     Max Thompson Liberal     Frank Jardine Liberal 5th Prince     Earle Hickey Liberal     Alexander B. Campbell Liberal Queens District Assemblyman Party Councillor Party 1st Queens     Frank Myers Progressive Conservative     Walter Russell Shaw Progressive Conservative 2nd Queens     Sinclair Cutcliffe Liberal     Lloyd MacPhail Progressive Conservative 3rd Queens     Cecil A. Miller Liberal     J. Russell Driscoll Progressive Conservative 4th Queens     J. Stewart Ross Liberal     Harold P. Smith Liberal 5th Queens     Gordon L. Bennett Liberal     Elmer Blanchard Liberal 6th Queensnew riding     J. David Stewart Progressive Conservative     Alban Farmer Progressive Conservative References Further reading Saywell John John Saywell Canadian Annual Review for 1966 1967 University of Toronto Press Toronto https://archive.org/details/canadianannualre0000unse_o2i8 registration Category:1966 elections in Canada Category:Elections in Prince Edward Island Category:1966 in Prince Edward Island Category:May 1966 in Canada