Canadian federal election, 1972 - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The Canadian federal election of 1972 was held on October 30, 1972 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 29th Parliament

29th Canadian Parliament

The 29th Canadian Parliament was in session from January 4, 1973 until May 9, 1974. The membership was set by the 1972 federal election on October 30, 1972, and it was dissolved prior to the 1974 election....

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...

. It resulted in a slim victory for the governing 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...

, which won 109 seats, compared to 107 seats for the opposition Progressive Conservatives

Progressive Conservative Party of Canada

The Progressive Conservative Party of Canada was a Canadian political party with a centre-right stance on economic issues and, after the 1970s, a centrist stance on social issues....

. A further 48 seats were won by other parties and independents. On election night, the results appeared to give 109 seats to the Tories, however once the counting had finished the next day, the final results gave the Liberals a minority government and left the New Democratic Party

New Democratic Party

The New Democratic Party , commonly referred to as the NDP, is a federal social-democratic political party in Canada. The interim leader of the NDP is Nycole Turmel who was appointed to the position due to the illness of Jack Layton, who died on August 22, 2011. The provincial wings of the NDP in...

led by David Lewis

David Lewis (politician)

David Lewis, CC was a Russian-born Canadian labour lawyer and social democratic politician. He was national secretary of the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation from 1936 to 1950, and one of the key architects of the New Democratic Party in 1961...

holding the balance of power

Balance of power (parliament)

In parliamentary politics, the term balance of power sometimes describes the pragmatic mechanism exercised by a minor political party or other grouping whose guaranteed support may enable an otherwise minority government to obtain and hold office...

. See 29th Canadian parliament

29th Canadian Parliament

for a full list of MPs elected.

Overview

The election was the second fought by Liberal leader, 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...

Pierre Trudeau

Joseph Philippe Pierre Yves Elliott Trudeau, , usually known as Pierre Trudeau or Pierre Elliott Trudeau, was the 15th Prime Minister of Canada from April 20, 1968 to June 4, 1979, and again from March 3, 1980 to June 30, 1984.Trudeau began his political career campaigning for socialist ideals,...

. The Liberals entered the election high in the polls, but the spirit of Trudeaumania

Trudeaumania

Trudeaumania was the nickname given in early 1968 to the excitement generated by Pierre Trudeau's entry into the leadership race of the Liberal Party of Canada...

had worn off, and a slumping economy hurt his party. The Tories were led by Robert Stanfield

Robert Stanfield

Robert Lorne Stanfield, PC, QC was the 17th Premier of Nova Scotia and leader of the federal Progressive Conservative Party of Canada. He is sometimes referred to as "the greatest prime minister Canada never had", and earned the nickname "Honest Bob"...

, the 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...

, who had an honest but bumbling image. The Tories tried to capitalize on the public's perception that the Liberals were mismanaging the economy with the slogan, "A Progressive Conservative government will do better."

The Liberals campaigned on the slogan, "The Land is Strong", and television ads illustrating Canada's scenery. The slogan quickly became much derided, and the entire campaign is viewed as being one of the worst managed in recent decades. The party had developed few real issues to campaign on. One program that hurt the Liberals in many parts of the country was official bilingualism, which many English-Canadians viewed as an expensive waste of money.

Party platforms

Liberal Party:

increase bilingualism in the civil service;
re-introduce a bill controlling foreign take-overs of Canadian businesses;
specialized programs to reduce unemployment;
a program to expand and create new parks across Canada, including 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...

's "Harbourfront" and Mount Ste.-Anne Park near Quebec City
Quebec City
Quebec , also Québec, Quebec City or Québec City is the capital of the Canadian province of Quebec and is located within the Capitale-Nationale region. It is the second most populous city in Quebec after Montreal, which is about to the southwest...

;
make-work programs to create jobs;
reduce abuse of Unemployment Insurance; and
incentives to reduce pollution.

Progressive Conservative Party:

increase the discipline in government spending, and increase the power of the Auditor General to fight waste and inefficiency in government;
ban strikes in essential services;
introduce price and wage controls if necessary to control inflation;
require foreign-owned companies operating in Canada to have a majority of Canadians on their boards of directors;
introduce an incentive to encourage Canadians to invest in small businesses;
develop a national economic strategy in co-operation with the provincial governments;
expand re-training opportunities for unemployed workers;
adjust tariffs to encourage secondary processing in Canada of Canada's natural resources;
eliminate the 11% sales tax on building materials;
eliminate 3% increase in personal income tax rates scheduled for January 1, 1973, and reduce rates by 4% on July 1, 1973;
adjust old age security payments regularly to reflect changes in the cost of living;
index tax brackets to inflation so that taxes do not rise as the cost of living rises;
provide assistance to set up residential land banks to reduce the cost of housing.

New Democratic Party:

eliminate 3% increase in personal income tax rates scheduled for January 1, 1973, and reduce rates by 8% for ordinary Canadians;
introduce controls on prices and rents, but not on wages;
create a $4300 million program to fund public works during winter months to reduce unemployment;
increase old age security payments, but eliminate them for wealthy senior citizens;
legislate greater autonomy for Canadian trade unions that are branches of international unions;
tough tax laws for corporations;
eliminate "corporate welfare", i.e., grants and subsidies for corporations, and use this money to build housing and transportation infrastructure, and fund municipal services to create jobs.

Social Credit Party:

reform the monetary system in line with social credit
Social Credit
Social Credit is an economic philosophy developed by C. H. Douglas , a British engineer, who wrote a book by that name in 1924. Social Credit is described by Douglas as "the policy of a philosophy"; he called his philosophy "practical Christianity"...

theories;
increase old age security payments to $200 per month beginning at age 60, and to $150 per month for spouses of seniors regardless of age.

National results

The voter turn-out was 76.7%.

One independent candidate was elected: Roch LaSalle was re-elected in his 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....

riding. LaSalle had left the PC caucus to protest the party's failure to recognize Quebec's right to self-determination, and was the only candidate to win the support of the separatist

Quebec sovereignty movement

The Quebec sovereignty movement refers to both the political movement and the ideology of values, concepts and ideas that promote the secession of the province of Quebec from the rest of Canada...

Parti Québécois
Parti Québécois
The Parti Québécois is a centre-left political party that advocates national sovereignty for the province of Quebec and secession from Canada. The Party traditionally has support from the labour movement. Unlike many other social-democratic parties, its ties with the labour movement are informal...

.

One candidate with no affiliation was elected: Lucien Lamoureux

Lucien Lamoureux

Lucien Lamoureux, PC, OC was a Canadian politician and Speaker of the Canadian House of Commons from 1966 to 1974...

, in the 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....

riding of Stomont-Dundas-Glengarry. Lamoureux, originally elected as a Liberal, had been serving as Speaker

Speaker (politics)

The term speaker is a title often given to the presiding officer of a deliberative assembly, especially a legislative body. The speaker's official role is to moderate debate, make rulings on procedure, announce the results of votes, and the like. The speaker decides who may speak and has the...

of the House of Commons

Canadian House of Commons

. He ran without affiliation in order to preserve his impartiality as Speaker. He retired after this Parliament, and did not run in the 1974 election

Canadian federal election, 1974

The Canadian federal election of 1974 was held on July 8, 1974 to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons of the 30th Parliament of Canada. The governing Liberal Party won its first majority government since 1968, and gave Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau his third term...

109	107	31	15	2
				O

Party		Party leader	# of candidates	Seats				Popular vote
Party		Party leader	# of candidates	1968 Canadian federal election, 1968 The Canadian federal election of 1968 was held on June 25, 1968, to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons of the 28th Parliament of Canada...	font style="font-size: 75%;">Dissolution Dissolution of parliament In parliamentary systems, a dissolution of parliament is the dispersal of a legislature at the call of an election.Usually there is a maximum length of a legislature, and a dissolution must happen before the maximum time...	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...	Pierre Trudeau Pierre Trudeau Joseph Philippe Pierre Yves Elliott Trudeau, , usually known as Pierre Trudeau or Pierre Elliott Trudeau, was the 15th Prime Minister of Canada from April 20, 1968 to June 4, 1979, and again from March 3, 1980 to June 30, 1984.Trudeau began his political career campaigning for socialist ideals,...	263	155	147	109	-29.7%	3,717,804	38.42%	-6.95%	Progressive Conservative Progressive Conservative Party of Canada The Progressive Conservative Party of Canada was a Canadian political party with a centre-right stance on economic issues and, after the 1970s, a centrist stance on social issues....	Robert Stanfield Robert Stanfield Robert Lorne Stanfield, PC, QC was the 17th Premier of Nova Scotia and leader of the federal Progressive Conservative Party of Canada. He is sometimes referred to as "the greatest prime minister Canada never had", and earned the nickname "Honest Bob"...	265	72	73	107	+48.6%	3,388,980	35.02%	+3.65%	New Democratic Party New Democratic Party The New Democratic Party , commonly referred to as the NDP, is a federal social-democratic political party in Canada. The interim leader of the NDP is Nycole Turmel who was appointed to the position due to the illness of Jack Layton, who died on August 22, 2011. The provincial wings of the NDP in...	David Lewis David Lewis (politician) David Lewis, CC was a Russian-born Canadian labour lawyer and social democratic politician. He was national secretary of the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation from 1936 to 1950, and one of the key architects of the New Democratic Party in 1961...	252	22	25	31	+40.9%	1,725,719	17.83%	+0.87%	Social Credit Social Credit Party of Canada The Social Credit Party of Canada was a conservative-populist political party in Canada that promoted social credit theories of monetary reform... ¹	Real Caouette Réal Caouette David Réal Caouette was a Canadian politician from Quebec. He was a Member of Parliament and leader of the Social Credit Party of Canada and founder of the Ralliement des créditistes...	164	14	15	15	+7.1%	730,759	7.55%	+2.27%	Independent²	53	1	2	1	-	56,685	0.59%	+0.14%	No affiliation³	26	1	23,938	0.25%	Unknown	93	-	32,013	0.33%	Rhinoceros⁴	Cornelius I Cornelius the First Cornelius the First was a Canadian black rhinoceros from the Granby Zoo in Granby, Quebec, who was the nominal leader of the federal political party, the Rhinoceros Party of Canada from 1965 to 1993...	1	-	-	-	-	1,565	0.02%	-0.06%
	Vacant				4
	Total		1,117	265	264	264	-0.4%	9,677,463	100%
Sources: Elections Canada;History of Federal Ridings since 1867; Toronto Star Toronto Star The Toronto Star is Canada's highest-circulation newspaper, based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Its print edition is distributed almost entirely within the province of Ontario... , October 30, 1972

Notes:

"% change" refers to change from previous election

¹ Indicates increase from total Social Credit + Ralliement creditiste seats/vote in 1968.

² Roch LaSalle, who was elected in 1968 as a Progressive Conservative, won re-election as an independent.

³ Lucien Lamoureux

Lucien Lamoureux

Lucien Lamoureux, PC, OC was a Canadian politician and Speaker of the Canadian House of Commons from 1966 to 1974...

who was elected as a Liberal but served as Speaker of the House, won re-election with no party affiliation.

⁴ The Rhinoceros Party ran a total of 12 candidates, but because it was not recognized by Elections Canada as a registered party, its candidates were listed as independents.

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...	NL Newfoundland and Labrador Newfoundland and Labrador is the easternmost province of Canada. Situated in the country's Atlantic region, it incorporates the island of Newfoundland and mainland Labrador with a combined area of . As of April 2011, the province's estimated population is 508,400...	NT 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...	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	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	-	1	2	36	56	5	1	1	3	-	-	109	Popular Vote:	28.9	25.0	25.3	30.9	38.2	48.9	43.1	33.9	40.5	44.8	29.3	32.2	38.4	Progressive Conservative Progressive Conservative Party of Canada The Progressive Conservative Party of Canada was a Canadian political party with a centre-right stance on economic issues and, after the 1970s, a centrist stance on social issues....	Seats:	8	19	7	8	40	2	5	10	3	4	-	1	107	Vote:	33.0	57.6	36.9	41.6	39.1	17.4	46.8	53.4	51.9	49.0	30.9	53.0	35.0	New Democratic Party New Democratic Party The New Democratic Party , commonly referred to as the NDP, is a federal social-democratic political party in Canada. The interim leader of the NDP is Nycole Turmel who was appointed to the position due to the illness of Jack Layton, who died on August 22, 2011. The provincial wings of the NDP in...	Seats:	11	-	5	3	11	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	31	Vote:	35.0	12.6	35.9	26.3	21.5	6.8	6.3	12.3	7.5	4.7	39.8	11.6	17.8	Social Credit Social Credit Party of Canada The Social Credit Party of Canada was a conservative-populist political party in Canada that promoted social credit theories of monetary reform...	Seats:	-	-	-	-	-	15	-	-	-	-	15	Vote:	2.6	4.5	1.8	0.7	0.4	24.3	3.2	0.3	0.1	0.2	7.6	Independent	Seats:	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	-	-	1	Vote:	0.2	xx	xx	0.1	0.2	1.7	0.3	0.4	3.1	0.6	No affiliation	Seats:	-	-	-	-	1	-	-	1	Vote:	xx	0.1	xx	xx	0.5	0.2	xx	0.2
Total seats:	23	19	13	13	88	74	10	11	4	7	1	1	264																																																																																																																	Independent																							No affiliation
Parties that won no seats:														Unknown	Vote:	0.1	0.2	0.1	0.3	0.1	0.7	0.4	0.1		0.9			0.3	Rhinoceros	Vote:						0.1							xx

xx - less than 0.05% of the popular vote

Overview

Party platforms

National results

Results by province

See also