The Canadian federal election of 1896 was held on June 23, 1896 to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons

Canadian House of Commons

The House of Commons of Canada is a component of the Parliament of Canada, along with the Sovereign and the Senate. The House of Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 308 members known as Members of Parliament...

 of the 8th Parliament

8th Canadian Parliament

The 8th Canadian Parliament was in session from August 19, 1896 until October 9, 1900. The membership was set by the 1896 federal election on June 23, 1896, and it changed only somewhat due to resignations and by-elections until it was dissolved prior to the 1900 election.It was controlled by a...

 of Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

. Though the Conservative Party

Conservative Party of Canada (historical)

The Conservative Party of Canada has gone by a variety of names over the years since Canadian Confederation. Initially known as the "Liberal-Conservative Party", it dropped "Liberal" from its name in 1873, although many of its candidates continued to use this name.As a result of World War I and the...

 won a plurality of the popular vote, the Liberal Party

Liberal Party of Canada

The Liberal Party of Canada , colloquially known as the Grits, is the oldest federally registered party in Canada. In the conventional political spectrum, the party sits between the centre and the centre-left. Historically the Liberal Party has positioned itself to the left of the Conservative...

, led by Wilfrid Laurier

Wilfrid Laurier

Sir Wilfrid Laurier, GCMG, PC, KC, baptized Henri-Charles-Wilfrid Laurier was the seventh Prime Minister of Canada from 11 July 1896 to 6 October 1911....

, won the majority of seats to form the next government.

The governing Conservative Party

Conservative Party of Canada (historical)

The Conservative Party of Canada has gone by a variety of names over the years since Canadian Confederation. Initially known as the "Liberal-Conservative Party", it dropped "Liberal" from its name in 1873, although many of its candidates continued to use this name.As a result of World War I and the...

, since the death of John A. Macdonald

John A. Macdonald

Sir John Alexander Macdonald, GCB, KCMG, PC, PC , QC was the first Prime Minister of Canada. The dominant figure of Canadian Confederation, his political career spanned almost half a century...

 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

Manitoba Schools Question

The Manitoba Schools Question was a political crisis in the Canadian Province of Manitoba that occurred late in the 19th century, involving publicly funded separate schools for Roman Catholics and Protestants...

 had cost the party support in both French and English Canada. Entering the election, the Tories were led by Sir Charles Tupper

Charles Tupper

Sir Charles Tupper, 1st Baronet, GCMG, CB, PC was a Canadian father of Confederation: as the Premier of Nova Scotia from 1864 to 1867, he led Nova Scotia into Confederation. He later went on to serve as the sixth Prime Minister of Canada, sworn in to office on May 1, 1896, seven days after...

, a Father of Confederation

Canadian Confederation

Canadian Confederation was the process by which the federal Dominion of Canada was formed on July 1, 1867. On that day, three British colonies were formed into four Canadian provinces...

 and former Premier of Nova Scotia

Nova Scotia

Nova Scotia is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the most populous province in Atlantic Canada. The name of the province is Latin for "New Scotland," but "Nova Scotia" is the recognized, English-language name of the province. The provincial capital is Halifax. Nova Scotia is the...

. Earlier, in February 1896, Tupper introduced remedial legislation to settle the Manitoba dispute, but it was filibustered by an alliance of extreme Protestants led by Dalton McCarthy

Dalton McCarthy

Dalton McCarthy , or D'Alton McCarthy, was a Canadian lawyer and parliamentarian. It was his firm, Boulton & McCarthy in Barrie, that was the first incarnation of what is now Canada's largest law firm, McCarthy Tétrault.McCarthy was first elected to the Canadian House of Commons in the 1878...

 and the Liberal Party. This filibuster resulted in Tupper abandoning the bill and asking for a dissolution. Parliament was dissolved on April 24, 1896, and, as per the agreement that Tupper would become Prime Minister

Prime Minister of Canada

The Prime Minister of Canada is the primary minister of the Crown, chairman of the Cabinet, and thus head of government for Canada, charged with advising the Canadian monarch or viceroy on the exercise of the executive powers vested in them by the constitution...

 following the election call, he became prime minister on May 1, 1896, thus forming the 7th Canadian Ministry

7th Canadian Ministry

The Seventh Canadian Ministry was the cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Sir Charles Tupper. It governed Canada from 1 May to 8 July 1896. It was formed after the 7th Canadian Parliament was dissolved, and lost the 8th Canadian federal election, so it never faced a parliament...

.

Tupper argued that the real issue of the election was the future of Canadian industry, and insisted that Conservatives needed to unite to defeat the Patrons of Industry

Patrons of Industry

The Grand Association of the Patrons of Industry in Ontario was a Canadian farmers' organization formed in 1890 that cooperated with the urban labour movement to address the political frustrations of both groups with big business....

. However, the Conservatives were so bitterly divided over the Manitoba Schools Question that wherever he spoke, he was faced with a barrage of criticism, most notably at a two-hour address he gave at Massey Hall

Massey Hall

Massey Hall is a venerable performing arts theatre in the Garden District of downtown Toronto. The theatre originally was designed to seat 3,500 patrons but, after extensive renovations in the 1940s, now seats up to 2,765....

 in Toronto

Toronto

Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...

, which was constantly interrupted by the crowd.

The election saw a great change in the Liberal Party. While the Liberals had traditionally been the party for radical change and free trade

Free trade

Under a free trade policy, prices emerge from supply and demand, and are the sole determinant of resource allocation. 'Free' trade differs from other forms of trade policy where the allocation of goods and services among trading countries are determined by price strategies that may differ from...

, in the 1896 election, they embraced a much more conservative platform. Because of this, many of the traditional supporters of the Conservative Party

Conservative Party of Canada (historical)

The Conservative Party of Canada has gone by a variety of names over the years since Canadian Confederation. Initially known as the "Liberal-Conservative Party", it dropped "Liberal" from its name in 1873, although many of its candidates continued to use this name.As a result of World War I and the...

 moved to the Liberals. The most important change was Laurier's support of the National Policy

National Policy

The National Policy was a Canadian economic program introduced by John A. Macdonald's Conservative Party in 1876 and put into action in 1879. It called for high tariffs on imported manufactured items to protect the manufacturing industry...

, an important cause to the powerful business interests of Montreal

Montreal

Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...

 and Toronto

Toronto

Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...

. The Liberal campaign was directed by an ex-Tory, J. Israel Tarte

Joseph Israël Tarte

Joseph-Israël Tarte, PC was a Canadian politician and journalist.Tarte came to prominence as editor of several newspapers, Le Canadien, L'Événement, La Patrie and the Quebec Daily Mercury...

. Laurier was also a strong supporter of provincial rights, and a number of powerful Liberal premiers supported the campaign such as Ontario

Ontario

Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....

's Oliver Mowat

Oliver Mowat

Sir Oliver Mowat, was a Canadian politician, and the third Premier of Ontario from 1872 to 1896, making him the longest serving premier of that province and the 3rd longest in all of Canadian history...

 and Nova Scotia

Nova Scotia

Nova Scotia is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the most populous province in Atlantic Canada. The name of the province is Latin for "New Scotland," but "Nova Scotia" is the recognized, English-language name of the province. The provincial capital is Halifax. Nova Scotia is the...

's W.S. Fielding, both of whom who won seats in the House and were appointed to cabinet after the election.

Ending up, the Conservatives won the most votes in the 1896 election (46.5% of the votes, in comparison to 45% for the Liberals). However, they captured only about half of the seats in English Canada, while Laurier's Liberals won a landslide victory in Quebec, where Tupper's reputation as an ardent imperialist was a major handicap. Tupper's inability to persuade Joseph-Adolphe Chapleau

Joseph-Adolphe Chapleau

Sir Joseph-Adolphe Chapleau, PC, KCMG , born in Sainte-Thérèse, Quebec, was a French-Canadian lawyer and politician....

 to return to active politics as his Quebec lieutenant

Quebec lieutenant

In Canadian politics, a Quebec lieutenant is a politician, from Quebec, usually a francophone and most often a Member of Parliament or at least a current or former candidate for Parliament, who is selected by a senior politician such as the Prime Minister or the leader of a national federal party,...

 ended any chances of the Conservatives' in that province.

Although Laurier had clearly won the election on June 24, Tupper initially refused to cede power, insisting that Laurier would be unable to form a government. However, when Tupper attempted to make appointments as prime minister, Governor General

Governor General of Canada

The Governor General of Canada is the federal viceregal representative of the Canadian monarch, Queen Elizabeth II...

 Lord Aberdeen

John Hamilton-Gordon, 1st Marquess of Aberdeen and Temair

John Campbell Hamilton-Gordon, 1st Marquess of Aberdeen and Temair, KT, GCMG, GCVO, PC , known as The Earl of Aberdeen from 1870 to 1916, was a Scottish politician...

 intervened, dismissing Tupper and inviting Laurier to form a government. Tupper maintained that Lord Aberdeen's actions were unconstitutional.

Voter turn-out: 62.9%

National results

Party		Party leader	# of candidates	Seats			Popular vote
				1891 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....	Elected	Change	#	%	Change	Liberal Liberal Party of Canada The Liberal Party of Canada , colloquially known as the Grits, is the oldest federally registered party in Canada. In the conventional political spectrum, the party sits between the centre and the centre-left. Historically the Liberal Party has positioned itself to the left of the Conservative...	Wilfrid Laurier Wilfrid Laurier Sir Wilfrid Laurier, GCMG, PC, KC, baptized Henri-Charles-Wilfrid Laurier was the seventh Prime Minister of Canada from 11 July 1896 to 6 October 1911....	190	90	117	+30.0%	401,425	41.37%	-3.85%	Conservative Conservative Party of Canada (historical) The Conservative Party of Canada has gone by a variety of names over the years since Canadian Confederation. Initially known as the "Liberal-Conservative Party", it dropped "Liberal" from its name in 1873, although many of its candidates continued to use this name.As a result of World War I and the...	Charles Tupper Charles Tupper Sir Charles Tupper, 1st Baronet, GCMG, CB, PC was a Canadian father of Confederation: as the Premier of Nova Scotia from 1864 to 1867, he led Nova Scotia into Confederation. He later went on to serve as the sixth Prime Minister of Canada, sworn in to office on May 1, 1896, seven days after...	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 Patrons of Industry The Grand Association of the Patrons of Industry in Ontario was a Canadian farmers' organization formed in 1890 that cooperated with the urban labour movement to address the political frustrations of both groups with big business....		31	*	2	*	38,275	3.94%	*	McCarthyite McCarthyite candidates 1896 The McCarthyites were a short-lived anti-Catholic and anti-French-Canadian political movement which contested the 23 June 1896 federal election in Canada.Dalton McCarthy was the only "McCarthyite" to win election, and the movement disbanded in 1898....	Dalton McCarthy Dalton McCarthy Dalton McCarthy , or D'Alton McCarthy, was a Canadian lawyer and parliamentarian. It was his firm, Boulton & McCarthy in Barrie, that was the first incarnation of what is now Canada's largest law firm, McCarthy Tétrault.McCarthy was first elected to the Canadian House of Commons in the 1878...	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 Protestant Protective Association The Protestant Protective Association was an anti-Catholic group in the 1890s based in Ontario, Canada, associated with the Orange Order. Originally a spinoff of the American group the American Protective Association, it became independent in 1892...		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 British Columbia British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...	NW Northwest Territories The Northwest Territories is a federal territory of Canada.Located in northern Canada, the territory borders Canada's two other territories, Yukon to the west and Nunavut to the east, and three provinces: British Columbia to the southwest, and Alberta and Saskatchewan to the south...	MB Manitoba Manitoba is a Canadian prairie province with an area of . The province has over 110,000 lakes and has a largely continental climate because of its flat topography. Agriculture, mostly concentrated in the fertile southern and western parts of the province, is vital to the province's economy; other...	ON Ontario Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....	QC Quebec Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....	NB New Brunswick New Brunswick is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the only province in the federation that is constitutionally bilingual . The provincial capital is Fredericton and Saint John is the most populous city. Greater Moncton is the largest Census Metropolitan Area...	NS Nova Scotia Nova Scotia is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the most populous province in Atlantic Canada. The name of the province is Latin for "New Scotland," but "Nova Scotia" is the recognized, English-language name of the province. The provincial capital is Halifax. Nova Scotia is the...	PE Prince Edward Island Prince Edward Island is a Canadian province consisting of an island of the same name, as well as other islands. The maritime province is the smallest in the nation in both land area and population...	Total	Liberal Liberal Party of Canada The Liberal Party of Canada , colloquially known as the Grits, is the oldest federally registered party in Canada. In the conventional political spectrum, the party sits between the centre and the centre-left. Historically the Liberal Party has positioned itself to the left of the Conservative...	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 | rowspan="2"|Conservative Conservative Party of Canada (historical) The Conservative Party of Canada has gone by a variety of names over the years since Canadian Confederation. Initially known as the "Liberal-Conservative Party", it dropped "Liberal" from its name in 1873, although many of its candidates continued to use this name.As a result of World War I and the...	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 Patrons of Industry The Grand Association of the Patrons of Industry in Ontario was a Canadian farmers' organization formed in 1890 that cooperated with the urban labour movement to address the political frustrations of both groups with big business....	Seats:				2					2	Vote (%):			7.6	8.3	0.7				3.9	McCarthyite McCarthyite candidates 1896 The McCarthyites were a short-lived anti-Catholic and anti-French-Canadian political movement which contested the 23 June 1896 federal election in Canada.Dalton McCarthy was the only "McCarthyite" to win election, and the movement disbanded in 1898....	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

Further reading

• Blake, Donald E. "1896 and All That: Critical Elections in Canada," Canadian Journal of Political Science, June 1979, Vol. 12 Issue 2, pp 259-80
• Crunican, Paul. Priests and Politicians: Manitoba Schools and the Election of 1896 (1975)

See also

• List of Canadian federal general elections
• List of political parties in Canada
• 8th Canadian Parliament
  8th Canadian Parliament
  The 8th Canadian Parliament was in session from August 19, 1896 until October 9, 1900. The membership was set by the 1896 federal election on June 23, 1896, and it changed only somewhat due to resignations and by-elections until it was dissolved prior to the 1900 election.It was controlled by a...
  
  

External links

• 1896 Election: Tupper vs. Laurier, by Stephen Azzi