CANADIAN FEDERAL ELECTION, 1891

The 'Canadian federal election of 1891' was held on March 5 to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons of the 7th Parliament of Canada. It was won by the Conservative Party of Prime Minister Sir John A. Macdonald.

The main issue of the 1891 campaign was Macdonald's National Policy, a policy of protective tariffs. The Liberals supported reciprocity (free trade) with the United States.
Macdonald led a conservative campaign emphasizing stability, and retained the Conservatives' majority in the House of Commons. It was a close election and he campaigned hard. Macdonald died a few months after the election.
John Abbott succeeded Macdonald as Conservative leader and Prime Minister. Abbott's most famous political comment was "I hate politics."
This was Wilfrid Laurier's first election as leader of the Liberals. Although he lost this election, he increased the Liberals' support and returned in 1896 to win a solid majority.
Voter turn-out: 64.4%

Contents

National results

Results by province

National results

Party		Party leader	# of candidates	Seats			Popular vote
				1887	'Elected'	Change	#	%	Change	Conservative	John A. Macdonald	187	87	'97'	+11.5%	332,961	42.96%	+2.80 %	Liberal-Conservative	25	24	'20'	-16.7%	43,557	5.62%	1.64%	Liberal	Wilfrid Laurier	194	79	'90'	+13.9%	350,512	45.22%	+2.09%	Independent Conservative		4	3	'3'	-	15,045	1.94%	+0.38%	Independent		4	3	' 2'	-66.7%	6,357	0.82%	-0.42%	Nationalist		1	1	'1'	-	-1	0.00%	-0.66%	Independent Liberal		2	5	'1'	-80%	5,573	0.72%	-1.45%	Nationalist Conservative		1	2	' 1'	-50%	1,271	0.16%	-0.32%	Unknown		14	1	-	-100%	16,890	2.18%	-1.15%	Equal Rights		2	★	-	★	2,455	0.32%	★	Progressive2		2	★	-	★	468	0.06%	★
Total			436	205	215	+4.9%	775,089	100%
'Sources:' http://www.elections.ca -- History of Federal Ridings since 1867

'Notes:'

★ Party did not nominate candidates in the previous election.
¹ One Nationalist candidate was elected by acclamation.
² The Parliamentary website identifies two candidates in Nova Scotia as being “Progressives”. This may be an error.
'Acclamations:'
The following Members of Parliament were elected by acclamation;

★ British Columbia: 1 Conservative, 1 Liberal-Conservative

★ Manitoba: 1 Conservative

★ Ontario: 1 Conservative

★ Quebec: 1 Conservative, 2 Liberal, 1 Nationalist

Results by province

Party name			BC	NW	MB	ON	QC	NB	NS	PE	Total	Conservative	Seats:	5	4	1	39	24	10	12	2	97	Popular vote (%):	71.6	81.0	12.6	42.2	45.4	48.9	41.9	48.5	43.0	Liberal-Conservative	Seats:	1		3	7	3	2	4		20	Vote (%):			40.5	5.3	3.0	3.7	10.8		5.6	Liberal	Seats:	-	-	1	44	33	4	5	3	90	Vote (%):	28.4	19.0	46.9	49.1	45.9	41.3	43.6	41.0	45.2	Independent Conservative	Seats:				1	2				3	Vote (%):				1.3	5.9				1.9	Independent	Seats:				1	1	-			2	Vote (%):				0.7	1.2	3.2			0.8	Nationalist	Seats:					1				1	Vote (%):					-				-	Independent Liberal	Seats:						-		1	1	Vote (%):						2.9		10.5	0.7	Nationalist Conservative	Seats:					1				1	Vote (%):					0.7				0.2
'Total seats'			' 6 '	' 4 '	' 5 '	' 92 '	' 65 '	' 16'	' 21'	' 6 '	' 215 '
'Parties that won no seats:'												Unknown	Vote (%):				2.0	3.8		3.1		2.2	Equal Rights	Vote (%):				0.7					0.3	Progressive	Vote (%):							0.5		0.1