1980 Canadian federal election

Canadian election which resulted in a Liberal majority September 2023 April 2026 1980 Canadian federal election Canada parliamentary no no no 69.3%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 11 January 2014 ( 6.4 pp) 1979 Canadian federal election 1979 31st Canadian Parliament 1984 Canadian federal election 1984 32nd Canadian Parliament 282 seats in the House of Commons 142 February 18, 1980In Frontenac, the election was postponed to March 24 following the death of Social Credit candidate Nelson Lassard. Pierre Trudeau 1979 (UPI press photo) (cropped2).jpg 120 120 160 0 0 CA Liberal nohash Pierre Trudeau April 6, 1968 CA Liberal name Mount Royal 114 seats, 40.11% 114 147 33 4,855,425 44.34% 4.23 pp Joe Clark being interviewed 1979 crop (cropped).jpg 130 120 160 0 0 CA PC nohash Joe Clark February 22, 1976 CA PC name Yellowhead 136 seats, 35.89% 136 103 33 3,552,994 32.45% 3.44 pp Ed Broadbent 1980 (cropped).jpg 120 120 160 0 0 CA NDP nohash Ed Broadbent July 7, 1975 CA NDP name Oshawa 26 seats, 17.88% 27 32 5 2,165,087 19.77% 1.89 pp SC CA Social Credit nohash Fabien Roy March 30, 1979 CA Social Credit name BeauceAfter being defeated in Beauce, Roy was a candidate in the delayed election in Frontenac, which was postponed to March 24 following the death of Social Credit candidate Nelson Lassard. Roy was also defeated in this riding.(lost re-election) 6 seats, 4.61% 5 0 5 185,486 1.70% 2.91 pp 350px Results by electoral district 350px Results by province and territory Prime Minister Prime Minister after election Joe Clark CA PC name Pierre Trudeau CA Liberal name The 1980 Canadian federal election was held on February 18, 1980, to elect members of the House of Commons of Canada of the 32nd Parliament of Canada. It was called when the budget of the minority Progressive Conservative government led by Prime Minister Joe Clark was defeated in the Commons. 2025, it remains the most recent election triggered by the defeat of a government budget in the Commons. The Liberal Party under former Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau won a narrow majority, returning Trudeau to the Premiership for a fourth and ultimately final term. This is the most recent election – and the first since 1935 – in which a sitting government was defeated at the polls after only one elected term. This is also the most recent election in which the Liberals won more seats in Quebec than in the rest of Canada – since this election, no party has ever bested the Liberals' 74-seat showing in Quebec. Background Clark and his government had been under attack for its perceived inexperience, for example in its handling of its 1979 election campaign commitment to move Canada's embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to the hotly disputed territory of Jerusalem.Thompson Elizabeth 2017-12-07 Secret 1979 documents shed new light on why Joe Clark broke Jerusalem embassy promise https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/jerusalem-embassy-tel-aviv-clark-1.4436795 2024-09-08 CBC News en Clark had maintained uneasy relations with the conservative-populist Quebec-based Social Credit Party (nicknamed the Socreds), who were the fourth largest party in the House of Commons. While he needed support from the party's six MPs to get legislation passed, he was unwilling to agree to the conditions they imposed for their support. Clark recruited one Social Credit MP, Richard Janelle, to join the PC caucus. In December 1979, just six months after the 1979 election, Clark's government could not collect enough votes in the House of Commons to survive. Clark's Minister of Finance, John Crosbie, introduced an austere government budget that proposed to increase the excise tax on gasoline by 18¢ per Imperial gallon (about 4¢ a litre) to reduce the federal government's deficit. The New Democratic Party's finance critic, Bob Rae, proposed a subamendment to the budget motion, stating that the House of Commons did not approve of the budget.http://parl.canadiana.ca/view/oop.HOC_3101_125_01/334?r=0&s=1 House of Commons Journals, 31st Parliament, 1st Session 1979-12-13 Canadian Parliamentary Historical Resources Queen's Printer for Canada 2016-07-09 Debate was resumed on the motion of Mr. Crosbie (St John's West), seconded by Mr. MacDonald (Egmont),-That this House approves in general the budgetary policy of the Government. And on the motion of Mr. Gray, seconded by Mr. Lalonde, in amendment thereto,-That all the words after the word 'That' be deleted and the following substituted therefor: 'this House condemns the Government for its budget which will place and unfair and unnecessary burden of higher gasoline prices, higher fuel oil prices, and higher taxes on middle and lower income Canadians.' And on the motion of Mr. Rae, seconded by Mr. Knowles, in amendment to the amendment,-That the amendment be amended by changing the period at the end thereof to a comma, and by adding immediately after the words: 'and this House unreservedly condemns the Government for its outright betrayal of election promises to lower interest rates, to cut taxes, and to stimulate the growth of the Canadian economy, without a mandate from the Canadian people for such a reversal.' The NDP's 27 MPs were set against the budget. The five remaining Social Credit MPs abstained, upset that the revenues from the increased gas tax were not allocated to Quebec. In addition, one Tory MP (Alvin Hamilton) was too ill to attend the vote while two others (Flora MacDonald and Lloyd Crouse) were abroad. Meanwhile, the Liberals assembled all but one member of their caucus (Serge Joyal), even going as far as to take two MPs (Maurice Dionne and Claude Lajoie) out of the hospital for the vote.14 December 1979 Emotions fill the Commons as the gov't goes down in defeat https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=w9EjUEod0xMC&dat=19791214&printsec=frontpage&hl=fr live https://web.archive.org/web/20200621060909/https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=w9EjUEod0xMC&dat=19791214&printsec=frontpage&hl=fr June 21, 2020 March 13, 2024 Regina Leader-Post 51 The Canadian Press Rae's subamendment was adopted by a vote of 139–133, bringing down the government and forcing an election. Former Liberal Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, who had served since 1968, had announced his resignation as leader of the Liberal Party following its defeat in 1979. However, no leadership convention had been held when Clark's Progressive Conservative government fell. Trudeau quickly rescinded his resignation and led the party to victory, winning 33 more seats than in 1979. That enabled the Liberals to form a majority government. Clark's Tories campaigned under the slogan "Real change deserves a fair chance", but less than a third of voters voted to give Clark another chance. The loss of the budget vote just seven months into his mandate and his subsequent defeat in the February 18 general election resulted in his ouster as leader by Brian Mulroney in 1983. The Socreds' abstention on the crucial budget vote, even if not decisive (the vote would still have passed by 139–138 had they opposed it), contributed to a perception that the party had become irrelevant since the death of iconic leader Réal Caouette in 1976. In 1980 it ran 20 fewer candidates than it had run in 1979 and lost more than three-fifths of its vote share. It lost all of its seats to Liberal challengers, though all but one of its incumbent MPs posted respectable second-place finishes. After having been the third- or fourth-largest party in the country for most of its existence, Social Credit rapidly declined into obscurity. It would never come remotely close to winning seats again, although the party nominally continued to exist until 1993. The new House was very regionally polarized. The Liberals were shut out of seats west of Manitoba, although receiving more than 20 per cent of the vote in each western province. The Liberal party piled up massive seat counts in the two most populous provinces to achieve their victory. Liberal candidates collected more than two thirds of the votes cast in Quebec, and the party took half its seats in just that one province. The Tories won only one seat out of 75 in Quebec, though they took 12 per cent of the vote there. The Tories won 43 per cent of the seats in the four Atlantic provinces, which helped them elect more than a hundred MPs overall. All but 14 of them were elected in ridings west of Quebec. Opinion polling 1979 1980 1984 1988 1993 National polling showed: + Evolution of voting intentions at national level Polling firmLast day of survey Source LPC PC NDP SC Other ME Margin of Error SampleElection 1980February 18, 198044.3432.4519.771.701.74GallupFebruary 1980Each leader takes solace from polls at campaign end February 18, 1980 The Globe and Mail 1482823CTVFebruary 15, 1980433322CTVFebruary 1, 1980Undecided vote soaring in wake of Iran 'caper' February 4, 1980 The Citizen 14633174GallupJanuary 1980Tories have trouble: Student views on politics differ little from parents' January 30, 1980 The Globe and Mail P9 John Fraser492820GallupSeptember 1979Liberals still Canadian favorite: Gallup October 13, 1979 The Citizen 14137193GallupJuly 19794338203GallupJune 1979'Time for change' July 11, 1979 The Citizen 10403818Election 1979May 22, 197940.1135.8917.884.611.51 Quebec + Evolution of voting intentions at national level Polling firmLast day of survey Source LPC PC NDP SC Other ME Margin of Error SampleElection 1980February 18, 198068.212.69.1 5.94.2QIPODecember 22, 197958% to vote for Trudeau: Quebec poll December 26, 1979 The Montreal Gazette 1 Ray Doucet7411114Election 1979May 22, 197961.713.55.116.03.7 National results center|300pxPartyParty leader# ofcandidatesSeatsPopular vote1979DissolutionElected% Change#%Change CA Liberal row Liberal Pierre Trudeau282114114147+28.9%4,855,42544.34%+4.23pp CA PC row Progressive Conservative Joe Clark282136136103-24.3%3,552,99432.45%-3.44pp CA NDP row New Democratic Party Ed Broadbent280262732+23.1%2,165,08719.77%+1.89pp CA Social Credit row-name Fabien Roy8165--100%185,4861.70%-2.91pp CA Rhinoceros (historical) row-name Cornelius I121--- 110,597 1.01%+0.46pp CA Marxist-Leninist row-name Hardial Bains177----14,728 0.13%+0.01pp CA Libertarian row-name  58----14,6560.13%-0.01pp CA Union populaire row-name  54----14,474 0.13%-0.04pp CA Independent rowIndependent55----14,4720.13%-0.13pp CA Independent rowUnknown41----12,5320.11%-0.07pp CA Communist row-name William Kashtan 52----6,0220.05%-0.02pp CA Independent rowNo affiliation14----3,0630.03%+0.03ppTotal1,497282282282-10,949,536100%  Sources: Elections Canada, History of Federal Ridings since 1867 Notes: "% change" refers to change from previous election. Changes to party standings from previous election: Social Credit MP Richard Janelle crossed the floor to join the PC Party. PC MP John Diefenbaker died during the parliamentary session. New Democrat MP Stan Hovdebo was elected in the subsequent by-election. Vote and seat summaries Ternary plots - shift of electoral support (1979-1980) 350 200 yes center Electoral districts identified by colours of winning parties File:Ternary CA1979.svg 1979 Ternary plot of 1979 results File:Ternary CA1980.svg 1980 Ternary plot of 1980 results Popular vote #ddd 600px 410px Liberal #F08080 44.34 PC #9999FF 32.45 NDP #F4A460 19.77 Social Credit CA Social Credit 1.70 Others #DCDCDC 1.74 Seat totals #ddd 600px 410px Liberal #F08080 52.12 PC #9999FF 36.52 NDP #F4A460 11.34 Results by province and territory Party nameBCABSKMBONQCNBNSPENLNTYKTotal CA Liberal rowLiberal Seats: - - - 2 52 74 7 5 2 5 - - 147 CA Liberal row Popular Vote:22.2 22.2 24.3 28.0 41.9 68.2 50.1 39.9 46.8 47.0 35.8 39.6 44.3 CA PC rowProgressive Conservative Seats:16 21 7 5 38 1 3 6 2 2 1 1 103 CA PC row Vote:41.5 64.9 38.9 37.7 35.5 12.6 32.5 38.7 46.3 36.0 24.7 40.6 32.4 CA NDP rowNew Democratic Party Seats:12 - 7 7 5 - - - - - 1 - 32 CA NDP row Vote:35.3 10.3 36.3 33.5 21.8 9.1 16.2 20.9 6.6 16.7 38.4 19.8 19.8 Total seats:28 21 14 14 9575 10 11 4 7 2 1 282 Parties that won no seats: CA Social Credit row-name Vote:0.1 1.0 xx   xx 5.9             1.7 CA Rhinoceros (historical) row-name Vote:0.40.7 0.1 0.4 0.2 3.0 0.5 0.2     1.1   1.0 CA Marxist-Leninist row-name Vote:0.1 0.1 0.1 0.2 0.1 0.2 xx xx xx 0.1     0.1 CA Libertarian row-name Vote:    xx   0.3 0.1 xx           0.1 CA Union populaire row-name Vote:          0.5             0.1 CA Independent row Independent Vote:0.3 0.3 0.1 xx 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.4 0.3 0.1     0.1 CA Independent row Non-Affiliated Vote:xx 0.5 0.2 0.1 xx 0.2 0.3     0.1     0.1 CA Communist row-name Vote:0.1 0.1 xx 0.1 0.1 xx             0.1 CA Independent row No affiliation Vote:         xx 0.1 0.1           xx xx - less than 0.05% of the popular vote. Notes Number of parties: 9 First appearance: none Final appearance: Union populaire Final appearance before hiatus: Marxist–Leninist Party of Canada (returned in 1993) See also Canada Politics List of Canadian federal general elections List of political parties in Canada 32nd Canadian Parliament Articles on parties' candidates in this election: Independent Liberal Libertarian New Democrats Progressive Conservative Rhinoceros References Further reading Byers R. B. Canadian annual review of politics and public affairs. 1980 1982 University of Toronto Press Toronto 978-1-4426-7194-2 https://archive.org/details/canadianannualre0000unse_e5a4 registration Penniman Howard Canada at the Polls, 1979 and 1980: A Study of the Federal General Elections 1981 American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research Washington D.C. 0844734748 https://archive.org/details/canadaatpolls1970000unse registration Simpson Jeffrey Jeffrey Simpson Discipline of Power: the Conservative Interlude and the Liberal Restoration 1996 University of Toronto Press Toronto 978-0-8020-7620-5 https://archive.org/details/disciplineofpowe0000simp registration Government reports Canada, Chief Electoral Officer Thirty-Second General Election, 1980: Report of the Chief Electoral Officer 1980 Queen's Printer Ottawa https://archive.org/details/31761115529745 Canada, Chief Electoral Officer Thirty-Second General Election, 1980: Report of the Chief Electoral Officer - Respecting Election Expenses 1980 Queen's Printer Ottawa https://archive.org/details/micro_IA40243509_0262 External links Riding map The Elections of 1979 and 1980, by Robert Bothwell Federal election Federal election 1980