CANADIAN FEDERAL ELECTION, 1896

The 'Canadian federal election of 1896' was held on June 23, 1896 to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons of the 8th Parliament of Canada. As a result of the election, the Liberal Party, led by Wilfrid Laurier, formed a majority government.
The election saw a great change in the Liberal Party. While the Liberals had traditionally been the party for radical change and free trade, in the 1896 election, they embraced a much more conservative platform. Because of this, many of the traditional supporters of the Conservative Party moved to the Liberals. The most important change was Laurier's support of the National Policy, an important cause to the powerful business interests of Montreal and Toronto. The Liberal campaign was directed by an ex-Tory, J. Israel Tarte. Laurier was also a strong supporter of provincial rights, and a number of powerful Liberal premiers supported the campaign such as Oliver Mowat (of Ontario) and W.S. Fielding.
The Tories, since the death of John A. Macdonald in 1891, had been disorganized, going through four leaders in five years. The party was also viewed as corrupt and wasteful of public funds. Issues like the Manitoba Schools Question had cost the party support in both French and English Canada. In the 1896 election, the Conservative Party was led by Prime Minister Sir Charles Tupper, a Father of Confederation and former Premier of Nova Scotia.
Voter turn-out: 62.9%

Contents

National results

Results by province

National results

Party		Party leader	# of candidates	Seats			Popular vote
				1891	'Elected'	Change	#	%	Change	Liberal	Wilfrid Laurier	190	90	'117'	+30.0%	401,425	41.37%	-3.85%	Conservative	Charles Tupper	190	97	'71'	-16.9%	430,874	44.40%	+1.44%	Liberal-Conservative	17	20	'15'	-25%	36,541	3.77%	-1.85%	Nationalist		5	1	-	-100%	14,121	1.46%	+1.46%	Independent Conservative		4	3	'4'	+33.3%	12,209	1.26%	-0.68%	Patrons of Industry		31	★	'2'	★	38,275	3.94%	★	McCarthyite	Dalton McCarthy	11	★	'2'	★	12,861	1.33%	★	Independent		18	2	'1'	-50%	13,870	1.43%	+0.61%	Independent Liberal		1	1	'1'	-	2,353	0.24%	-0.48%	Protestant Protective		5	★	-	★	6,233	0.64%	★	Unknown		1	-	-	-	1,622	0.17%	-2.01%
Total			473	214	213	+7.0%	970,384	100%
'Sources:' http://www.elections.ca -- History of Federal Ridings since 1867

'Note:'

★ Party did not nominate candidates in the previous election.
'Acclamations:'
The following Members of Parliament were elected by acclamation;

★ Ontario: 1 Patron of Industry

★ Quebec: 1 Conservative, 2 Liberals

Results by province

Party name			BC	NW	MB	ON	QC	NB	NS	PE	Total	Liberal	Seats:	4	3	2	43	49	4	10	2	117	Popular vote (%):	51.2	46.0	31.0	40.5	53.8	42.5	31.9	51.0	41.4	Conservative	Seats:	2	1	3	34	16	4	9	2	71	Vote (%):	48.8	43.9	45.1	40.9	45.2	31.5	65.4	40.5	44.4	Liberal-Conservative	Seats:			1	7		5	1	1	15	Vote (%):			8.0	4.0	0.4	17.5	2.2	8.5	2.2	Nationalist	Seats:				-	-				-	Vote (%):				3.2	0.5				1.5	Independent Conservative	Seats:				4					4	Vote (%):				3.0					1.3	Patrons of Industry	Seats:				2					2	Vote (%):			7.6	8.3	0.7				3.9	McCarthyite	Seats:			1	1					2	Vote (%):			8.3	2.4					1.3	Independent	Seats:		-		-		1	-		1	Vote (%):		10.0		1.4		8.6	0.5		1.4	Independent Liberal	Seats:				1					1	Vote (%):				0.6					0.2
'Total seats'			' 6 '	' 4 '	' 7'	' 92 '	' 65'	' 14'	' 20'	' 5 '	' 213'
'Parties that won no seats:'												Protestant Protective	Vote (%):				1.5					0.6	Unknown	Vote (%):				0.4					0.2