1936 Manitoba general election

Election to determine Members of the Legislative Assembly in Manitoba, Canada September 2023 1936 Manitoba general election Manitoba 1921 parliamentary 1932 Manitoba general election 1932 elected members 1941 Manitoba general election 20th Manitoba Legislature 1941 July 27, 1936 55 seats of the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba 27 John Bracken circa 1941.jpg MB Liberal nohash John Bracken August 8, 1922 MB Liberal-Progressive name The Pas 38 23 15 91,357 35.3% 4.3pp 3x4.svg MB PC nohash Errick Willis June 9, 1936 Conservative Deloraine 10 16 6 71,927 27.8% 7.6pp Seymour James Farmer 1932-1936.jpg MB CCF nohash Seymour Farmer 1936 ILP-CCF Winnipeg 5 7 2 30,983 12.0% 4.5pp 3x4.svg MB Social Credit nohash none MB Social Credit name - 7 new 23,413 9.0% new Premier John Bracken MB Liberal-Progressive name Premier after election John Bracken MB Liberal-Progressive name The 1936 Manitoba general election was held July 27, 1936 to elect Members of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Manitoba, Canada. The Liberal-Progressives won minority government in this election, taking 23 seats out of 55 and 35 per cent of the vote. This was the second election in Manitoba after the formation of a Liberal-Progressive alliance in 1932. The Progressive Party, which had governed the province since 1922, forged an alliance with the Liberal Party just prior to the 1932 provincial election to prevent the Conservative Party from winning. This alliance won the 1932 election under Premier John Bracken's leadership, and the two parties had effectively become united by 1936. The Liberal-Progressives faced opposition from a variety of parties in the 1936 election. The Conservative Party remained the dominant opposition group, and the most serious challenge to the government. On the left, the Independent Labour Party (ILP) formed an alliance with the national Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF), and contested the election as the ILP-CCF. The Communist Party also fielded a strong candidate in Winnipeg, while the upstart Social Credit League also ran candidates, hoping to repeat William Aberhart's surprising victory in Alberta the previous year. Despite economic hardships in the province, Bracken expected that his government would be returned with another majority. He was mistaken. Although the Liberal-Progressives won the election, they could claim only twenty-two seats out of 53 after the initial results were declared. The Conservative party, under its new leader, former federal Member of Parliament (MP) Errick Willis, finished a close second with sixteen. The ILP-CCF won seven seats, while the Social Credit League unexpectedly won five. One independent Liberal was also elected. A number of rural ridings, which had previously supported Liberal-Progressive candidates, shifted to the Conservatives or to Social Credit in this poll. The greatest surprise of the election occurred in the Winnipeg constituency, which elected ten members via a single transferable ballot. Former judge Lewis Stubbs, an independent leftist, received an astounding 24,805 votes on the first ballot, almost 20,000 more than his nearest competitor. The second-place candidate, moreover, was James Litterick, the first openly declared communist to win election at the state or federal level in North America. After the election, Bracken attempted to persuade Errick Willis to form a four-year alliance of the Liberal-Progressive and Conservative parties, so as to provide a stable government for the province. Willis rejected the offer the same day, claiming his caucus was unwilling to accept it. The provincial impasse continued until August 13, when the Social Credit League unexpectedly announced that it would provide support to Bracken's government in the legislature. Social Credit did not formally join with the Liberal-Progressives in a coalition government, but provided critical support to Bracken's minority government for the next four years. Ironically, Bracken's own constituency of The Pas was the site of one of the two deferred elections. He was re-elected, while a second Independent Liberal was returned in Rupertsland. Including the Social Credit MLAs, Bracken's government could count on the support of only 28 members out of 55. He was nonetheless able to keep his government intact for four years, and in late 1940 formed a new wartime coalition government with the Conservatives, CCF and Social Credit. This coalition contested the 1941 election, and won a landslide majority. The Communist Party was not included in this coalition, as it had been declared illegal after the start of World War II. James Litterick was expelled from the legislature in 1940 and went into hiding. He and CPC leader Tim Buck surrendered themselves to police in 1942 and spent time in the Don Jail, being released in 1942 or 1943. Litterick's whereabouts after the war are unknown. His disappearance has been the cause of speculation in the Canadian left. Some say that he was a spy for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, and that he was killed as a traitor during the war by other members of the Communist Party. This has never been verified, however. Like the previous Manitoba elections, all the voters cast preferential votes. Ten MLAs were elected in Winnipeg through Single transferable votes; all others were elected through Instant-runoff voting. Results +Manitoba general election (July 27, 1936) https://www.electionsmanitoba.ca/downloads/HistoricalResultsSummaries/1936.pdf Twentieth General Election Held July 27, 1936 - Summary of Results electionsmanitoba.ca Elections Manitoba January 21, 2023PartyLeaderFirst-preference votesSeats Votes % FPv First-preference votes Cand. Total candidates standing for each party 1932 Elected Change MB Liberal-Progressive row-nameJohn Bracken91,35736.149362313 MB Conservative row-nameErrick Willis71,92728.43710166 MB CCF rowILP-CCFSeymour Farmer30,98317.313572 MB Independent row-name27,55210.94–11 MB Social Credit row-name–23,4139.212–55 MB Communist row-nameJames Litterick5,8642.31–11 MB Independent-Liberal row-name2,3400.92–22 MB Independent-LP row-name–––2–2 MB Independent-Progressive row-name–––1–1 MB Independent-Farmer-Labour row-name–––1–1 Valid 253,436 100.0 118 55 55 – Rejected 5,524 Total votes cast 258,960 Registered voters/TurnoutExcludes constituencies where candidates returned by acclamation 391,902 66.1 a Results by riding Bold names indicate members returned by acclamation. Incumbents are marked with *. #EA6D6A Arthur: John R. Pitt* #EEDDAA Assiniboia: James Aiken #9999FF Beautiful Plains: John Poole #EA6D6A Birtle: Francis Bell #9999FF Brandon: George Dinsdale* #EA6D6A Carillon: Edmond Prefontaine* #EA6D6A Cypress: James Christie* #EA6D6A Dauphin: Robert Hawkins* #9999FF Deloraine: Errick Willis #EA6D6A Dufferin: John Munn* #DCDCDC Emerson: Herbert Wright (Ind-Lib Independent-Liberal) #90EE90 Ethelbert: William Lisowsky #EA6D6A Fairford: Stuart Garson* #EA6D6A Fisher: Nicholas Bachynsky* #90EE90 Gilbert Plains: Stanley Fox #EEDDAA Gimli: Joseph Wawrykow #EA6D6A Gladstone: William Morton* #EA6D6A Glenwood: James Breakey* #90EE90 Hamiota: Norman Turnbull #EA6D6A Iberville: John Lamont #9999FF Kildonan & St. Andrews: James McLenaghen* #9999FF Killarney: John Laughlin #EA6D6A Lakeside: Douglas Campbell* #EA6D6A Lansdowne: Matthew Sutherland #EA6D6A La Verendrye: Sauveur Marcoux #9999FF Manitou: Hugh Morrison #9999FF Minnedosa: Earl Rutledge* #9999FF Morden & Rhineland: Wallace C. Miller #EA6D6A Morris: William Clubb* #EA6D6A Mountain: Ivan Schultz* #9999FF Norfolk: John Lawrie #9999FF Portage la Prairie: Toby Sexsmith* #90EE90 Roblin: Sidney Rogers #9999FF Rockwood: Mungo Lewis #DCDCDC Rupertsland: Oddur Olafson (Ind-Lib Independent-Liberal) #EA6D6A Russell: Isaac Griffiths* #EEDDAA St. Boniface: Harold Lawrence* #EEDDAA St. Clements: Herbert Sulkers #90EE90 St. George: Salome Halldorson #EA6D6A Ste. Rose: Maurice Dane MacCarthy* #EA6D6A Springfield: Evelyn Shannon #9999FF Swan River: George Renouf* #EA6D6A The Pas: John Bracken* #9999FF Turtle Mountain: Alexander Welch* #EA6D6A Virden: Robert Mooney* #EA6D6A Winnipeg: William Major* #EA6D6A Winnipeg: John Stewart McDiarmid* #EEDDAA Winnipeg: Seymour Farmer* #EEDDAA Winnipeg: Marcus Hyman* #EEDDAA Winnipeg: John Queen* #9999FF Winnipeg: James Barry #9999FF Winnipeg: Huntly Ketchen* #9999FF Winnipeg: Ralph Webb* #DCDCDC Winnipeg: Lewis Stubbs* #FF6347 Winnipeg: James Litterick Turnover on runoff Among the single-member ridings, there was only one case where the first-place candidate in first-preference votes failed to win: St. Boniface - Summary of results (1936) |- ! rowspan="2" colspan="2"|Party ! rowspan="2"|Candidate ! colspan="2"|First-preference votes ! colspan="3"|Maximum votes |- style="text-align:right; background-color:#E9E9E9; text-align:center" ! Votes ! % FPv First-preference votes ! Votes ! Round ! Initial vs transfer votes mix MB Liberal-Progressive row-name | style="text-align:left;" |L.P. Gagnon | 3,630 | 32.22 | 4,235 | 3 | style="text-align:left;" |4235 3630 6000 MB CCF row | style="text-align:left;" |Independent Labour | style="text-align:left;" |Harold Lawrence* | 3,157 | 28.03 | 4,620 | 3 | style="text-align:left;" |4620 3157 6000 MB Conservative row-name | style="text-align:left;" |G.C. McLean | 2,747 | 24.39 | 2,890 | 2 | style="text-align:left;" |2890 2747 6000 MB Social Credit row-name | style="text-align:left;" |J.F. Jodoin | 1,730 | 15.36 | 1,730 | 1 | style="text-align:left;" |1730 1730 6000 |- | colspan="3" style="text-align:left;" |Total |11,264 |100.00 |colspan="3"|   |- | colspan="5" style="text-align:left;" |Exhausted votes |2,409 |21.39% | style="text-align:left;" |2409 0 6000 |} Winnipeg Winnipeg: + Winnipeg MLAs returned by party Party MLAs MB Liberal-Progressive row-name2 ILP-CCF 3 MB Conservative row-name3 MB Independent row-name1 MB Communist row-name1Total10 Ten MLAs were elected through Single transferable vote. Winnipeg (ten members) 17 Lewis Stubbs MB Independent 31.27 24,805 7,214 James Litterick MB Communist 7.39 5,864 7,971 7,214 Ralph Webb*Webb's surplus of 36 votes was not transferred until the 13th count MB Conservative 7.03 5,581 7,250 7,250 7,250 7,250 7,250 7,250 7,250 7,250 7,250 7,250 7,250 7,214 William Major* MB Liberal-Progressive 6.56 5,211 5,558 5,564 5,568 5,574 5,589 5,863 5,907 6,457 6,482 6,576 6,691 6,692 6,694 6,704 6,848 7,920 John Stewart McDiarmid* MB Liberal-Progressive 5.86 4,652 5,235 5,252 5,267 5,278 5,298 5,618 5,642 6,462 6,519 6,650 6,800 6,802 6,806 6,817 7,039 8,289 James Barry MB Conservative 5.11 4,055 4,702 4,713 4,724 4,735 4,747 4,817 4,867 4,964 4,999 5,411 5,551 5,559 5,566 5,587 7,251 Mary Dyma MB Liberal-Progressive 4.85 3,849 4,313 4,338 4,346 4,385 4,403 4,511 4,543 4,696 4,721 4,769 4,869 4,870 4,877 4,891 4,944 Huntly Ketchen* MB Conservative 4.76 3,775 4,471 4,485 4,490 4,505 4,546 4,598 4,626 4,760 4,803 5,507 5,713 5,727 5,730 5,750 7,771 Marcus Hyman* MB Cooperative Commonwealth Federation 4.36 3,459 4,357 4,408 4,430 4,562 4,586 4,607 4,623 4,649 4,905 4,947 5,280 5,283 5,429 5,775 5,871 6,127 John Queen*Queen's surplus of 172 votes was not transferred until the 14th count MB Cooperative Commonwealth Federation 3.41 2,709 5,754 5,949 6,027 6,216 6,264 6,381 6,476 6,596 7,386 7,386 7,386 7,386 7,214 R.W.B. Swail MB Conservative 3.15 2,500 3,106 3,110 3,117 3,123 3,141 3,169 3,197 3,275 3,300 4,577 4,739 4,746 4,749 4,760 Gunnar Thorvaldson MB Conservative 3.03 2,400 2,783 2,791 2,802 2,808 2,821 2,925 2,960 3,041 3,063 Seymour Farmer*Farmer's surplus of 433 votes was not transferred until the 15th count MB Cooperative Commonwealth Federation 2.48 1,969 4,533 4,704 4,812 5,250 5,338 5,408 5,493 5,555 6,596 6,692 7,647 7,647 7,647 7,214 G.E. Smith MB Social Credit 2.24 1,780 2,502 2,536 2,564 2,576 3,025 3,045 4,024 4,063 4,149 4,200 C. Rice-Jones MB Liberal-Progressive 2.23 1,767 2,124 2,133 2,142 2,147 2,157 2,349 2,375 Paul Bardal MB Liberal-Progressive 1.46 1,155 1,489 1,498 1,503 1,513 1,527 William Ivens* MB Cooperative Commonwealth Federation 1.42 1,130 2,080 2,199 2,245 2,412 2,435 2,464 2,506 2,542 H. Streuber MB Social Credit 1.22 964 1,273 1,289 1,320 1,329 1,648 1,673 A.C. Benjamin MB Social Credit 0.99 788 1,147 1,167 1,182 1,188 Beatrice A. Brigden MB Cooperative Commonwealth Federation 0.77 607 978 1,010 1,093 C.G. Stewart MB Cooperative Commonwealth Federation 0.40 318 504 520 – – 34 65 141 238 427 606 743 951 2,990 2,990 2,990 2,990 3,550 5,916 17 133,666 79,344 1,486 7,214 80,830 (60.47%) * - Incumbent a Winnipeg (analysis of transferred votes, ranked in order of 1st preference votes) #DCDCDC Independent Lewis Stubbs 1 24805 31.27 24805 25000 #FF6347 Communist James Litterick 2 7971 10.05 5864 25000 #9999FF Conservative Ralph Webb 2 7250 9.14 5581 25000 #EA6D6A Liberal-Progressive William Major 17 7920 10.79 5211 25000 #EA6D6A Liberal-Progressive John Stewart McDiarmid 17 8289 11.29 4652 25000 #9999FF Conservative James Barry 16 7251 9.57 4055 25000 #EA6D6A Liberal-Progressive Mary Dyma 16 4944 5.08 3849 25000 #9999FF Conservative Huntly Ketchen 16 7771 10.25 3775 25000 #EEDDAA ILP-CCF Marcus Hyman 17 6127 8.34 3459 25000 #EEDDAA ILP-CCF John Queen 10 7386 9.40 2709 25000 #9999FF Conservative R.W.B. Swail 15 4760 6.23 2500 25000 #9999FF Conservative Gunnar Thorvaldson 10 3063 3.90 2400 25000 #EEDDAA ILP-CCF Seymour Farmer 12 7647 10.41 1969 25000 #90EE90 Social Credit G.E. Smith 11 4200 5.36 1780 25000 #EA6D6A Liberal-Progressive C. Rice-Jones 8 2375 3.01 1767 25000 #EA6D6A Liberal-Progressive Paul Bardal 6 1527 1.93 1155 25000 #EEDDAA ILP-CCF William Ivens 9 2542 3.23 1130 25000 #90EE90 Social Credit H. Streuber 7 1673 2.11 964 25000 #90EE90 Social Credit A.C. Benjamin 5 1188 1.50 788 25000 #EEDDAA ILP-CCF Beatrice A. Brigden 4 1093 1.38 607 25000 #EEDDAA ILP-CCF C.G. Stewart 3 520 0.66 318 25000 5916 7.46 4 25000 5916 7.46 Sources The first ballot results for Winnipeg and results for all other constituencies are taken from an official Manitoba government publication entitled "Manitoba elections, 1920-1941", cross-referenced with an appendix to the government's report of the 2003 provincial election. The vote transfers, as given above, are presented in Glashan, P.R. in Canada (1951) (available online). The Canadian parliamentary guide lists slightly different results for Glenwood, but the other two sources are more comprehensive and may be taken as more reliable. All ballot results for Winnipeg after the first count are taken from reports in the Winnipeg Free Press newspaper. It is possible that some errors appeared in the original publication. Post-election changes The ILP-CCF parliamentary group became known as CCF after the election. Winnipeg (dec. Marcus Hyman, 1938). Winnipeg (James Litterick disqualified from the legislature, 1940). Lewis Stubbs was initially the only member of the legislature to remain in opposition when a four-party coalition was formed in 1940. He was later joined by Salome Halldorson of Social Credit, as well as John Poole and Huntly Ketchen of the Conservatives. Further reading The Canadian Annual Review of Public Affairs, 1935 and 1936 1939 The Annual Review Company Toronto https://archive.org/details/canadianannualre0000unse_k4i7 Category:1936 elections in Canada 1936 Category:1936 in Manitoba Category:July 1936 in Canada