Canadian General Election 1878

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%

40

30th

20th

10

0

33.05

26.28

15.78

3.88

21.00

Lib

Cons

Lib-Kon

Independent

Otherwise.

Gains and losses

compared to 1874

% p

10

8th

6th

4th

2

0

-2

-4

-6

-8th

-6.44

+8.54

+3.41

-2.07

-3.45

Lib

Cons

Lib-Kon

Independent

Otherwise.

63

1

8th

49

85

63 1 8th 49 85

A total of 206 seats

Lib : 63
Otherwise: 1
Independent: 8
Lib-Kon : 49
Cons : 85

The fourth Canadian general election (Engl. 4th Canadian General Election , French. 4e élection fédérale canadienne ) took place on 17 September 1878. 206 deputies were elected the Canadian House of Commons (Engl. House of Commons , fr. Chambre des Communes ). The Conservative Party replaced the Liberals as the strongest force.

The vote

The election ended in the defeat of the liberal government of Prime Minister Alexander Mackenzie . Canada had been hit by a recession during Mackenzie's tenure and his party was expelled from the opposition for this reason. Liberal support for free trade had also met with little recognition, especially from entrepreneurs in Toronto and Montreal , who feared overwhelming US competition.

The victory of the Conservatives and their affiliated Liberal Conservatives enabled John Macdonald to take over as head of government for the second time after being overthrown in the Pacific scandal five years earlier .

The turnout was 69.1%.

Results

Overall result

Overview of the provinces

John Macdonald

Alexander Mackenzie

Political party		Chairman	candidates data	Seats 1874	Seats 1878	+/-	be right	Share of voters	+/-
	Conservative Party	John Macdonald	101	039	085	+ 46	143.192	26.28%	+ 8.54%
	Liberal Conservative Party ¹	John Macdonald	060	026th	049	+ 23	85,999	15.78%	+ 3.41%
	Liberal Party	Alexander Mackenzie	121	129	063	- 66	180.074	33.05%	- 6.44%
	Independent		011	004th	005	+ 01	14,783	2.71%	- 0.50%
	Independent Conservatives		002	003	002	- 01	1,001	0.18%	- 0.55%
	Independent liberals		004th	005	001	- 04th	5,388	0.99%	- 1.02%
	Nationalist Conservatives		001		001	+ 01	401	0.07%	+ 0.07%
	not known		117				114.043	20.93%	- 3.05%
total			417	206	206		0544.881	100.0%

¹ The Liberal Conservatives and the Conservatives formed a parliamentary group in the House of Commons

Acclamations

11 MPs were elected by acclamation due to a lack of opposing candidates :

British Columbia: 1 Conservative, 1 Liberal Conservative
Manitoba: 2 Conservatives, 1 Liberal Conservative
Québec: 1 Conservative, 2 Liberal Conservatives, 1 Liberal
New Brunswick: 1 Liberal, 1 Independent

Result by provinces

Political party			BC	MB	ON	QC	NB	NS	PE	total
	Conservative Party	Seats	1	2	37	33	1	8th	3	85
	Conservative Party	Percentage ownership %		49.6	25.5	35.5	5.9	21.7	31.6	26.3
	Liberal Conservative Party	Seats	2	1	23	12	3	6th	2	49
	Liberal Conservative Party	Percentage ownership %	39.6		15.8	13.2	14.3	22.7	12.0	15.8
	Liberal Party	Seats	2		27	17th	9	7th	1	63
	Liberal Party	Percentage ownership %			36.3	21.7	48.2	34.9	37.2	33.1
	Independent	Seats	1		1	1	2			5
	Independent	Percentage ownership %	12.2		1.5	1.6	13.1	4.3		2.7
	Independent Conservatives	Seats		1		1				2
	Independent Conservatives	Percentage ownership %		50.4		0.7				0.2
	Independent liberals	Seats					1			1
	Independent liberals	Percentage ownership %			1.7		3.7	1.7		1.0
	Nationalist Conservatives	Seats				1				1
	Nationalist Conservatives	Percentage ownership %				0.3				0.1
	not known	Percentage ownership %	48.2		19.9	27.4	14.8	14.7	19.3	20.9
Total seats			6th	4th	88	65	16	21st	6th	206

Web links

Elections Canada (Electoral Authority)

Individual evidence

^ Voter Turnout at Federal Elections and Referendums. Elections Canada, February 18, 2013, accessed July 3, 2015 .