1891 Canadian federal election

Template:Short description Template:Use mdy dates Template:Infobox election The 1891 Canadian federal election was held on March 5, 1891, to elect members of the House of Commons of Canada of the 7th Parliament of Canada. It was won by the Conservative Party of Prime Minister Sir John A. Macdonald.

File:John A Macdonald election poster 1891.jpg

An election poster in support of the Conservative party from 1891.

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. Canadian voters would return to the issue of free trade 20 years later in the 1911 federal election.

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, which led to his succession by four different Conservative Prime Ministers until the 1896 election.

It was Wilfrid Laurier's first election as leader of the Liberals. Although he lost the election, he increased the Liberals' support. He returned in 1896 to win a solid majority, despite losing the popular vote.

The Nationalist Party won a seat in Quebec. Dorchester riding elected Cyrille-Émile Vaillancourt.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

National results

File:1891 Canadian parliament.svg

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%	+2.80pp	Liberal-Conservative	25	24	20	-16.7%	43,557	5.62%	-1.64pp	Liberal	Wilfrid Laurier	194	79	90	+13.9%	350,512	45.22%	+2.09pp	Independent Conservative		4	3	3	-	15,045	1.94%	+0.38pp	Independent		4	3	2	-66.7%	6,357	0.82%	-0.42pp	Nationalist		1	1	1	-	-1	0.00%	-0.66pp	Independent Liberal		2	5	1	-80%	5,573	0.72%	-1.45pp	Nationalist Conservative		1	2	1	-50%	1,271	0.16%	-0.32pp	Unknown		14	1	-	-100%	16,890	2.18%	-1.15pp	Equal Rights		2	*	-	*	2,455	0.32%	*	Progressive		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.

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	NWT	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

See also

• List of Canadian federal general elections
• List of political parties in Canada
• 7th Canadian Parliament

Further reading

• Template:Cite book

External links

• The Election of 1891: A Question of Loyalty, by James Marsh