Canadian General Election 1917

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← 1911General election 19171921 →
 %
60
50
40
30th
20th
10
0
56.93
38.80
1.05
3.22
Independent
Otherwise.
Gains and losses
compared to 1911
 % p
 10
   8th
   6th
   4th
   2
   0
  -2
  -4
  -6
  -8th
+8.37
-7.02
-0.70
-1.18
Independent
Otherwise.
82
153
82 153 
A total of 235 seats

The 13th Canadian General Election (English. 13th Canadian General Election , French. 13e élection fédérale canadienne ) was held on 17 December 1917. 235 deputies were elected the Canadian House of Commons (Engl. House of Commons , fr. Chambre des Communes ). Towards the end of the First World War, the question of the introduction of conscription split the country into two irreconcilable camps (see conscription crisis of 1917 ). With the Unionist Party , a short-lived coalition of Conservatives and a few liberals who supported conscription, Prime Minister Robert Borden won the largest majority any party ever achieved in a federal election. Candidates from the opposition Liberal Party who supported their party leader Wilfrid Laurier were mostly elected in the French-speaking province of Québec , where conscription was met with unanimous opposition.

The vote

The last election was in 1911 and won by the Conservatives. According to the electoral law, a new election should have taken place in 1916 at the latest. During the First World War , the government postponed the election date by a year. It hoped, as has already happened in Great Britain , to be able to form a coalition of all political forces for the duration of the war. Wilfrid Laurier , leader of the Liberal Party , refused to cooperate because of the unresolved issue of conscription . This met with unanimous rejection in the liberal homeland of Québec . Laurier feared that the Francophone population would turn away from the Liberals if they supported conscription. When Borden then propagated a “unionist” government, the Liberal Party fell out. Numerous MPs and provincial parties from the English-speaking part of the country supported the government.

To ensure the victory of the conscription advocates, Borden introduced two laws that influenced the election in favor of the government. The Wartime Elections Act deprived conscientious objectors and persons who immigrated to Canada from enemy states after 1902 the right to vote. In addition, female relatives of soldiers who served in the war in Europe were also allowed to vote, which meant that some women were eligible to vote in a federal election for the first time. The Military Voters Act allowed soldiers stationed abroad to cast their votes for any constituency. This enabled government officials to persuade soldiers (who were mostly for conscription) to cast their votes where the government believed it would be most useful.

Shortly after these laws were passed in October 1917, Borden convinced a section of the Liberals to join his coalition. He then dissolved parliament and called for a new election in order to obtain a clear mandate for conscription. In the election campaign, candidates from the Unionist Party competed against liberals who rejected conscription and continued to be party chairman Wilfrid Laurier (hence the name "Laurier-Liberals"). The election ended in a split in the country along the language border. The Liberals won 82 seats, including 62 in Québec. The Unionists, who won 153 seats, were successful in only three predominantly English-speaking constituencies in Québec.

The turnout was 75.0%.

Results

Overall result

Overview of the provinces and territories
Robert Borden
Wilfrid Laurier
Political party Chairman candidates
data 		Seats
1911 		Seats
1917 		+/- be right Share of
voters 		+/-
  Government ( unionist party ) Robert Borden 211 132 153 + 21 1,070,694 56.93% + 8.38% 1
  Opposition ( Laurier Liberals ) Wilfrid Laurier 213 085 082 - 03 729.756 38.80% - 7.02% 2
  Labor Party 022nd 001 - 01 34,558 1.84% + 0.91%
  Opposition labor 008th 22,251 1.18% + 1.18%
  Independent 005 12,023 0.64% - 0.15%
  Independent liberals 002 7,753 0.41% + 0.41%
  Non-Partisan League 003 2,863 0.15% + 0.15%
  not known 012 3,773 0.20% - 1.78%
  Independent Conservatives 003 - 03
total 476 221 235 + 14 1,880,702 100.0%

1 compared to the results of the Conservative Party and the Liberal Conservative Party in the 1911 general election.
2 compared to the results of the Liberal Party in the 1911 general election

Result by provinces and territories

Political party BC FROM SK MB ON QC NB NS PE YK total
Government ( unionist party ) Seats 13 11 16 14th 74 3 7th 12 2 1 153
Percentage ownership % 68.4 61.0 74.1 79.7 62.3 24.7 59.4 48.4 49.8 54.3 56.9
Opposition ( Laurier Liberals ) Seats 1 1 8th 62 4th 4th 2 82
Percentage ownership % 25.6 30.6 23.4 20.3 32.1 73.4 40.6 45.5 50.2 45.7 38.8
Labor Party Percentage ownership % 5.6 0.8 2.3 0.3 6.1 1.8
Opposition labor Percentage ownership % 5.0 2.6 1.2 1.0
Independent Percentage ownership % 0.5 1.2 0.5 0.6
Independent liberals Percentage ownership % 0.8 0.5 0.4
Non-Partisan League Percentage ownership % 2.2 0.2
not known proportion of 0.4 0.1 0.7 0.2
Totally sit 13 12 16 15th 82 65 11 16 4th 1 235

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Voter Turnout at Federal Elections and Referendums. Elections Canada, February 18, 2013, accessed July 4, 2015 .

See also