1958 Canadian federal election

none September 2014 September 2023 1958 Canadian federal election Canada 1957 parliamentary no no no 79.4% ( 5.3 pp) 1957 Canadian federal election 1957 1962 Canadian federal election 1962 265 seats in the House of Commons 133 March 31, 1958 24th Canadian Parliament 23rd Canadian Parliament x175px John G. Diefenbaker (cropped).jpg 120 120 160 0 0 CA PC nohash John Diefenbaker December 14, 1956 CA PC name Prince Albert 112 seats, 38.50% 208 96 3,910,852 53.67% 14.64 pp Lester B. Pearson portrait 1958 (close-up).jpg 120 120 160 0 0 CA Liberal nohash Lester B. Pearson January 16, 1958 CA Liberal name Algoma East 105 seats, 40.45% 48 57 2,459,700 33.75% 8.58 pp Major James Coldwell (cropped).jpg 120 120 160 0 0 CA CCF nohash Major James Coldwell March 22, 1942 CA CCF name Rosetown—Biggar (lost re-election) 25 seats, 10.59% 8 17 692,398 9.51% 1.08 pp Solon Earl Low (cropped2).jpg 120 120 160 0 0 CA Social Credit nohash Solon Earl Low April 6, 1944 CA Social Credit name Peace River (lost re-election) 19 seats, 6.54% 0 19 188,717 2.59% 4.03 pp 350px Results by electoral district, shaded by winners' vote share 350px Results by province and territory Prime Minister Prime Minister after election John Diefenbaker CA PC name John Diefenbaker CA PC name Chambre des Communes 1958.png The Canadian parliament after the 1958 election The 1958 Canadian federal election was held to elect members of the House of Commons of Canada of the 24th Parliament of Canada on March 31, 1958, just nine months after the 23rd election. It transformed Prime Minister John Diefenbaker's minority into the largest majority government in Canadian history and the second-largest percentage of the popular vote; only Unionist Prime Minister Robert Borden’s triumph in the 1917 federal election, at 56.93 per cent, was higher. Although the Tories would surpass their 1958-seat total in the 1984 election, the 1958 result (achieved in a smaller House) remains unmatched both in terms of percentage of seats (78.5%) and the size of the government majority over all opposition parties (a 151-seat majority). Voter turnout was 79.4%, the highest percentage of eligible electors to cast a ballot in Canadian federal election history.Pomfret R. Voter Turnout at Federal Elections and Referendums http://www.elections.ca/content.aspx?section=ele&dir=turn&document=index&lang=e Elections Canada Elections Canada 23 February 2014 Overview Diefenbaker called a snap election and capitalized on three factors: Nationally, the Liberals had just chosen a new leader, Lester Pearson, who had given an ill-advised maiden speech in Commons that asked Diefenbaker to resign and recommend the Governor General allow the Liberals to form a government without an election due to the recent economic downturn. Diefenbaker seized on the remark by describing a series of classified Liberal Cabinet documents stating that the economy would face a downturn in that year. This contrasted heavily with the Liberals' 1957 campaign promises. As election day drew near, the Liberals realized they had no chance of returning to power and hoped only to hold onto at least 100 seats. They were cut down to only 48, at the time the smallest seat count in their history. A turnaround in Quebec: Quebec had been largely Liberal since the Conscription Crisis of 1917, but upon the resignation of former Prime Minister Louis St. Laurent, the province had no favourite son leader, as they had since 1948, and its voters were open to new options. Seeking a greater voice in Ottawa, Quebec Premier Maurice Duplessis' Union Nationale used their party machine to ally with the Tories, allowing Diefenbaker's Progressive Conservatives to win two thirds of the seats in what had been a Liberal stronghold for a generation. While the Liberals finished only four percentage points behind the Tories in Quebec, much of their vote was wasted racking up large majorities in their traditional safest seats. Nevertheless, the 25 seats the Liberals won in Quebec accounted for more than half of their decimated caucus and, on a proportional basis, was their best performance after Newfoundland. A collapse in support for the Social Credit Party, which lost all 19 of its seats. While it took half the votes it had taken in 1957, third parties historically do not do well in landslides, especially in first-past-the-post voting systems. Prior to the 1957 election, the Socreds were seen as a credible threat to replace the Tories as the main right-wing party in the country, as they had done in British Columbia and Alberta, but the popularity of the Diefenbaker government persuaded many Social Credit supporters to abandon the party. That not only allowed the Tories to pick up Social Credit seats, but also proved decisive in many seats that were four-way races between the PCs, Social Credit, Liberals, and CCF. Notably, the Tories swept all seventeen seats in Alberta, where they had previously held just three seats to Social Credit's thirteen (and Liberal one seat). The election proved to be the start of a long decline for the federal Social Credit Party. It would never seriously challenge the PCs dominance again in federal politics (even in the West) although the BC Social Credit Party would govern that province for all but three years until 1991. Opinion polling 1957 1958 1962 1963 1965 During the 23rd Parliament of Canada + Evolution of voting intentions at national level Polling firmLast day of survey Source PC LPC CCF SC Other Undecided ME Margin of Error SampleElection 1958March 31, 195853.6733.759.502.590.49 7,284,467GallupMarch 1958Polls indicate PCs due for big win August 20, 1957 The Montreal Gazette 1 Arthur Blakely563274113GallupJanuary 19585035964.0GallupNovember 19575033971GallupOctober 1957Léger regain libéral depuis novembre; peu de changement February 1, 1958 La Presse 648341071GallupJuly 1957The most popular party August 20, 1957 The Ottawa Citizen 1 Frank Swanson4735108Election 1957June 10, 195738.5040.4510.596.543.926,680,690 Regional polling Quebec + Evolution of voting intentions at provincial level Polling firmLast day of survey Source PC LPC CCF Other ME Margin of Error SampleElection 1958March 31, 195849.645.62.32.5GallupMarch 1958Diefenbaker à Timmins Le Nouvelliste March 21, 1958 14945GallupJanuary 1958425134GallupNovember 1957435016GallupJuly 19574054Election 1957June 10, 195730.756.81.810.7 Ontario + Evolution of voting intentions at provincial level Polling firmLast day of survey Source PC LPC CCF Other ME Margin of Error SampleElection 1958March 31, 195856.4 32.1 10.5 1.1GallupJanuary 1958583191GallupNovember 19575731102Election 1957June 10, 1957 48.1 36.6 11.9 2.1 Maritime + Evolution of voting intentions at regional level Polling firmLast day of survey Source PC LPC CCF Other ME Margin of Error SampleElection 1958March 31, 1958GallupJanuary 1958574021GallupNovember 1957613711Election 1957June 10, 1957 Western Canada + Evolution of voting intentions at regional level Polling firmLast day of survey Source PC LPC CCF Other ME Margin of Error SampleElection 1958March 31, 1958GallupJanuary 195844201917GallupNovember 195745171721Election 1957June 10, 1957 National results center|300px PartyParty leader# ofcandidatesSeatsPopular vote 1957 Elected % Change # % pp Change CA PC rowProgressive ConservativeJohn Diefenbaker265111208+87.4%3,908,63353.66%+14.85 CA Liberal rowLiberalLester B. Pearson26410448-53.8%2,432,95333.40%-7.35 CA CCF rowCo-operative CommonwealthM.J. Coldwell169258-68.0%692,6689.51%-1.20 CA Liberal-Labour rowCA Liberal-Labour name1110%11,9560.16%- CA Social Credit row-nameSolon Low8219--100%188,3562.59%-3.99 CA Independent rowIndependent92--100%14,2110.20%-0.87 CA Independent rowIndependent Liberal102--100%12,0540.17%-1.25 CA Labor-Progressive row-nameTim Buck18---9,7690.13%+0.02 CA Ralliement créditiste rowCandidats des électeursRéal Caouette1---8,2760.11%-0.01 CA Independent rowIndependent PC51--100%2,0970.03%-0.19 CA Labour rowSocialist2*-*1,1130.02%* CA Independent rowCapital familial H-G Grenier1*-*9680.01%* CA Independent rowRadical chrétien1*-*6870.01%* CA Independent rowIndependent SC1---361x-0.04 CA Independent rowOuvrier canadien1*-*243x* CA Independent rowIndependent Conservative1*-*122x*Total831265265-7,284,467100.00% Sources: http://www.elections.ca History of Federal Ridings since 1867 https://web.archive.org/web/20081204121507/http://www.parl.gc.ca/information/about/process/house/hfer/hfer.asp?Language=E 2008-12-04 Notes: "Previous" refers to standings at previous election, not to standings in the House of Commons at dissolution. * The party did not nominate candidates in the previous election. x - less than 0.005% of the popular vote Vote and seat summaries Ternary plots - shift of electoral support (1957-1958) 350 200 yes center Electoral districts identified by colours of winning parties File:Ternary CA1957.svg 1957 Ternary plot of 1957 results File:Ternary CA1958.svg 1958 Ternary plot of 1958 results Popular vote #ddd 600px 410px PC #9999FF 53.67 Liberal #F08080 33.75 CCF CA CCF 9.50 Social Credit CA Social Credit 2.59 Others #DCDCDC 0.84 Seat totals #ddd 600px 410px PC #9999FF 78.49 Liberal #F08080 18.11 CCF CA CCF 3.01 Others #DCDCDC 0.37 Results by province Party name BC AB SK MB ON QC NB NS PE NL YK NW Total CA PC rowProgressive ConservativeSeats:18 17 16 14 67 50 7 12 4 2 1 - 208 CA PC rowVote (%):49.4 59.9 51.4 56.7 56.4 49.6 54.1 57.0 62.2 45.2 54.5 42.8 53.7 CA Liberal rowLiberalSeats:- - - - 14 25 3 - - 5 - 1 48 CA Liberal rowVote (%):16.1 13.7 19.6 21.6 32.1 45.6 43.4 38.4 37.5 54.4 43.3 57.2 33.4 CA CCF rowCo-operative CommonwealthSeats:4 - 1 - 3 - - - - -     8 CA CCF rowVote (%):24.5 4.4 28.4 19.6 10.5 2.3 1.8 4.5 0.3 0.2     9.5 CA Luberal-Labour rowLiberal-LabourSeats:        1               1 CA Labour rowVote (%):        0.5               0.2 Total Seats22 17 17 14 85 75 10 12 4 7 1 1 265 Parties that won no seats: CA Social Credit row-nameVote (%):9.6 21.6 0.4 1.8 0.3 0.6 0.7           2.6 CA Independent rowIndependentVote (%):    xx xx 0.1 0.6             0.2 CA Independent rowIndependent LiberalVote (%):          0.6       0.2     0.2 CA Labor-Progressive row-nameVote (%):0.4 0.3 0.1 0.4 0.1 0.1             0.1 CA Ralliement créditiste rowC. des électeursVote (%):          0.4             0.1 CA Independent rowIndependent PCVote (%):  0.1     0.1               xx CA Socialist row-nameVote (%):        xx xx             xx CA Independent rowCapitale familialeVote (%):          xx             xx CA Independent rowRadical chrétienVote (%):          xx             xx CA Independent rowIndependent SCVote (%):  0.1                     xx CA Independent rowOuvrier canadienVote (%):          xx             xx CA Independent rowInd. ConservativeVote (%):                    2.3   xx xx - less than 0.05% of the popular vote See also Canada Politics List of Canadian federal general elections List of political parties in Canada 24th Canadian Parliament References Further reading LeDuc Lawrence Pammett Jon H. McKenzie Judith L. Turcotte André Dynasties and Interludes: Past and Present in Canadian Electoral Politics 2010 Dundurn Press Toronto 978-1-55488-886-3 https://archive.org/details/dynastiesinterlu0000unse registration Beck James Murray James Murray Beck Pendulum of Power; Canada's Federal Elections 1968 Prentice-Hall of Canada Scarborough 978-0-13-655670-1 https://archive.org/details/pendulumofpower0000unse registration Canada, Chief Electoral Officer Twenty-Fourth General Election, 1958: Report of the Chief Electoral Officer 1958 Queen's Printer Ottawa https://archive.org/details/31761115541161 External links The Elections of 1957 and 1958, by P.E. Bryden Electoral Results by Party, on Parliament of Canada site https://web.archive.org/web/20140329190035/http://www.parl.gc.ca/ParlInfo/Compilations/ElectionsAndRidings/ResultsParty.aspx 2014-03-29 1958 Federal Category:March 1958 in Canada