Canadian federal election, 1917 - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The 1917 Canadian federal election (sometimes referred to as the khaki election

Khaki Election

In British political history, a khaki election is any national election which is heavily influenced by wartime or postwar sentiment. In the British general election of 1900, the Conservative Party government of Lord Salisbury was returned to office with an increased majority over the Liberal Party...

) was held on December 17, 1917, 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 13th Parliament

13th Canadian Parliament

The 13th Canadian Parliament was in session from March 18, 1918 until October 4, 1921. The membership was set by the 1917 federal election on December 17, 1917, and it changed only somewhat due to resignations and by-elections until it was dissolved prior to the 1921 election.It was controlled by...

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...

. Described by historian Michael Bliss

Michael Bliss

John William Michael Bliss, CM, FRSC is a Canadian historian and award-winning author. Though his early works focused on business and political history, he has written several important medical biographies, including of Sir William Osler...

as the "most bitter election in Canadian history", it was fought mainly over the issue of conscription

Conscription

Conscription is the compulsory enlistment of people in some sort of national service, most often military service. Conscription dates back to antiquity and continues in some countries to the present day under various names...

(see Conscription Crisis of 1917

Conscription Crisis of 1917

The Conscription Crisis of 1917 was a political and military crisis in Canada during World War I.-Background:...

). The election resulted in 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...

Sir Robert Borden

Robert Borden

Sir Robert Laird Borden, PC, GCMG, KC was a Canadian lawyer and politician. He served as the eighth Prime Minister of Canada from October 10, 1911 to July 10, 1920, and was the third Nova Scotian to hold this office...

's Unionist

Unionist Party (Canada)

The Unionist Party was formed in 1917 by Members of Parliament in Canada who supported the "Union government" formed by Sir Robert Borden during the First World War....

government elected with a strong majority, and the largest percent share of the popular vote for a single party in Canadian history.

The previous election had been held in 1911, and was won by Borden's Conservatives

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...

. Under the elections law, Canada should have had an election in 1916. However citing the emergency of the First World War

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

, the government postponed the election, largely in hope that a coalition government could be formed, as was the case in Britain.

Sir 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....

, head of the Liberal Party of Canada

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...

, refused to join the coalition over the issue of conscription. Conscription was strongly opposed in the Liberal heartland of Quebec

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....

. Laurier worried that agreeing to Borden's coalition offer would cause that province to abandon the Liberals, and perhaps Canada as well. Borden proceeded to form a "Unionist" government, and the Liberal Party split over the issue. Many English Canadian Liberal MPs and provincial Liberal parties in English Canada supported the new Unionist government.

To ensure victory for conscription, Borden introduced two laws to skew the voting towards the government. The first of these, the Wartime Elections Act

Wartime Elections Act

The Wartime Elections Act was a bill passed on September 20, 1917 by the Conservative government of Robert Borden during the Conscription Crisis of 1917, and was instrumental in pushing Liberals to join the Conservatives in the formation of the Canadian Unionist government...

, disenfranchised conscientious objector

Conscientious objector

A conscientious objector is an "individual who has claimed the right to refuse to perform military service" on the grounds of freedom of thought, conscience, and/or religion....

s and Canadian citizens who were born in enemy countries who had arrived after 1902. The law also gave female relatives of servicemen the vote. Thus, the 1917 election was the first federal election in which some women were allowed to vote. The other new law was the Military Voters Act

Military Voters Act

The Military Voters Act was a World War I piece of Canadian legislation, giving the right to vote to all Canadian soldiers.With the Conscription Crisis of 1917 in full swing, Prime Minister Robert Borden was anxious to produce a solution to the manpower problem that Canada had been experiencing as...

that allowed soldiers serving abroad to choose which riding their vote would be counted in. This allowed government officials to guide the strongly pro-conscription soldiers into voting in those ridings where the government felt they would be most useful. Servicemen were given a ballot with the simple choice of "Government" or "Opposition."

Soon after these measures were passed, Borden convinced a faction of Liberals (using the name Liberal-Unionist

Liberal-Unionist

For the British party see Liberal Unionist PartyLiberal-Unionists were supporters of the Liberal Party of Canada who, as a result of the Conscription Crisis of 1917 rejected Sir Wilfrid Laurier's leadership and supported the coalition Unionist government of Sir Robert Borden.Much of the Ontario...

s) along with Gideon Decker Robertson who was described as a "Labour" Senator

Canadian Senate

The Senate of Canada is a component of the Parliament of Canada, along with the House of Commons, and the monarch . The Senate consists of 105 members appointed by the governor general on the advice of the prime minister...

(but was unaffiliated with any Labour Party) to join with them, forming the Unionist government in October 1917. He then dissolved parliament to seek a mandate in the election which pitted "Government" candidates, running as the Unionist Party, against the anti-Conscription faction of the Liberal Party which ran under the name Laurier Liberals

Laurier Liberals

Prior to the 1917 federal election in Canada, the Liberal Party of Canada split into two factions:* the Laurier Liberals, who opposed conscription of soldiers to support Canada's involvement in World War I and who were led by former Prime Minister Sir Wilfrid Laurier; and* the Liberal Unionists who...

.

The divisive debate ended with the country divided on linguistic lines. The Liberals won 82 seats, 62 of which were in Quebec. The Unionists won 153 seats. The three Unionist seats in Quebec were all in mainly anglophone

English language

English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

ridings.

National results

Party	Party leader	# of candidates	Seats			Popular vote
Party	Party leader	# of candidates	1911 Canadian federal election, 1911 The Canadian federal election of 1911 was held on September 21 to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons of the 12th Parliament of Canada.-Summary:...	Elected	% Change	#	%	% Change	Government (Unionist Unionist Party (Canada) The Unionist Party was formed in 1917 by Members of Parliament in Canada who supported the "Union government" formed by Sir Robert Borden during the First World War.... )¹	Robert Borden Robert Borden Sir Robert Laird Borden, PC, GCMG, KC was a Canadian lawyer and politician. He served as the eighth Prime Minister of Canada from October 10, 1911 to July 10, 1920, and was the third Nova Scotian to hold this office...	211	132	153	+15.9%	1,070,694	56.93%	+8.38%	Opposition (Laurier Liberals Laurier Liberals Prior to the 1917 federal election in Canada, the Liberal Party of Canada split into two factions:* the Laurier Liberals, who opposed conscription of soldiers to support Canada's involvement in World War I and who were led by former Prime Minister Sir Wilfrid Laurier; and* the Liberal Unionists who... )¹	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....	213	85	82	-3.5%	729,756	38.80%	-7.02%	Labour	22	1	-	-100%	34,558	1.84%	+0.91%	Opposition-Labour	8	*	-	*	22,251	1.03%	*	Independent	5	-	-	-	12,023	0.64%	-0.15%	Independent Liberal	2	*	-	*	7,753	0.41%	-	Unknown	12	-	-	-	3,773	0.20%	-1.78%	Non-Partisan League	3	*	-	*	2,863	0.15%	-
Total		476	221	235	+5.9%	1,880,702	100%
Sources: http://www.elections.ca -- History of Federal Ridings since 1867

Notes:

* Party did not nominate candidates in the previous election.

¹ % change for Government compared to Conservative Party (including Liberal-Conservatives

Liberal-Conservative Party

The Liberal-Conservative Party was the formal name of the Conservative Party of Canada until 1873, although some Conservative candidates continued to run under the label as late as the 1911 election and others ran as simple Conservatives prior to 1873...

) in 1911 election, and for Opposition to Liberal Party.

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...	AB Alberta Alberta is a province of Canada. It had an estimated population of 3.7 million in 2010 making it the most populous of Canada's three prairie provinces...	SK Saskatchewan Saskatchewan is a prairie province in Canada, which has an area of . Saskatchewan is bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, and on the south by the U.S. states of Montana and North Dakota....	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...	YK Yukon Yukon is the westernmost and smallest of Canada's three federal territories. It was named after the Yukon River. The word Yukon means "Great River" in Gwich’in....	Total	Government Conservative Party of Canada The Conservative Party of Canada , is a political party in Canada which was formed by the merger of the Canadian Alliance and the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada in 2003. It is positioned on the right of the Canadian political spectrum...	Seats:	13	11	16	14	74	3	7	12	2	1	153	Popular Vote (%):	68.4	61.0	74.1	79.7	62.3	24.7	59.4	48.4	49.8	54.3	56.9	Opposition 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:	-	1	-	1	8	62	4	4	2	-	82	Vote (%):	25.6	30.6	23.4	20.3	32.1	73.4	40.6	45.5	50.2	45.7	38.8
Total seats	13	12	16	15	82	65	11	16	4	1	235
Parties that won no seats:												Labour	Vote (%):	5.6	0.8			2.3	0.3		6.1			1.8	Opposition-Labour	Vote (%):		5.0	2.6		1.2						1.0	Independent	Vote (%):		0.5			1.2	0.5					0.6	Independent Liberal	Vote (%):					0.8	0.5				0.4	Unknown	Vote (%):	0.4	0.1	0.7	0.2	Non-Partisan	Vote (%):	2.2	0.2

National results

Results by province

See also

See also