1940 Canadian federal election

The 1940 Canadian federal election was the 19th general election in Canadian history. It was held March 26, 1940, to elect members of the House of Commons of Canada of the 19th Parliament of Canada. Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King's Liberal Party was re-elected to their second consecutive majority government.

1940 Canadian federal election
March 26, 1940
245 seats in the House of Commons
123 seats needed for a majority
Turnout69.9%[1] (4.3pp)
  First party Second party
 
Leader W. L. Mackenzie King Robert Manion
Party Liberal National Government
Leader since 1919 1938
Leader's seat Prince Albert London
candidate in Fort William (lost)
Last election 173 39
Seats won 179 39
Seat change 6
Popular vote 2,365,979 1,348,260
Percentage 51.32% 29.24%
Swing 6.64pp 0.6pp
  Third party Fourth party
 
Leader William D. Herridge J. S. Woodsworth
Party New Democracy2 Co-operative Commonwealth
Leader since 1939 1932
Leader's seat Ran in Kindersley (lost) Winnipeg North Centre
Last election 17 7
Seats won 10 8
Seat change 7 1
Popular vote 119,354 388,103
Percentage 2.59% 8.42%
Swing 1.51pp 1.07pp
The Canadian parliament after the 1940 election
Prime Minister before election

William Lyon Mackenzie King
Liberal

 Prime Minister after election

William Lyon Mackenzie King
Liberal

The election was overshadowed by the Second World War, which caused many Canadians to rally around the government. In response to this, the Conservative Party of Robert Manion ran on a platform advocating the creation of an all-party national unity government and ran under the name "National Government" in this election. Though Manion was personally opposed to conscription, the Liberals faced intense pressure in Quebec on the question and promised not to institute the measure. This promise was to haunt the Liberals as they faced increasing pressure from the military and especially from English Canada to bring in the measure. To release him from his 1940 promise, King called a plebiscite in 1942 on the question. See also Conscription Crisis of 1944. It was the most successful election for the Liberal Party in its history, in which it captured 73% of the seats in the House of Commons.

Social Credit ran jointly with the New Democracy movement of William Duncan Herridge.

Some candidates of the Conservative and Social Credit parties insisted on running under the traditional names, however.

The Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF) gained its first seat east of Manitoba, with the election of Clarence Gillis from Cape Breton Island. This election was the last one for its ailing leader, J. S. Woodsworth.

National results
↓
179 39 8 7 3 9
Liberal NG/C CCF SC ND O
Party Party leader # of
candidates		 Seats Popular vote
1935 Elected % Change # % pp Change
  Liberal W. L. Mackenzie King 242 173 179 +2.3% 2,365,979 51.32% +6.64
  National Government 1 Robert Manion 199 * 36 - 1,348,260 29.24% +0.57
  Conservative 1 8 39 3 53,799 1.17%
     Co-operative Commonwealth J. S. Woodsworth 93 7 8 +14.3% 388,103 8.42% -1.07
Social Credit2 J.H. Blackmore 9 17 7 -41.17% 46,271 1.00% -1.51
  New Democracy2 W.D. Herridge 17 * 3 73,083 1.59%
Liberal–Progressive   4 4 3 -25.0% 27,815 0.60% -0.07
  Independent Liberal 32 1 2 +100% 147,216 3.19% +1.96
  Independent 19 1 1 - 57,247 1.24% +0.85
  Independent Conservative 5 1 1 - 10,431 0.23% +0.21
  Unity   2 * 1 * 12,337 0.27% *
  United Reform Movement   1 * 1 * 13,868 0.30% *
  Independent National 2 * - * 12,710 0.28% *
  Unknown 2 - - - 4,622 0.10% +0.02
Communist Tim Buck 8 - - - 8,699 0.19% -0.27
  Farmer-Labour   2 * - * 8,126 0.18% *
  National Unity   1 * - * 7,534 0.16% *
  NDP 3   2 * - * 6,761 0.15% *
  United Farmers of Ont.-Labour   1 - - - 4,761 0.10% -0.06
Labour   1 - - - 3,916 0.08% -0.25
  United Progressive   1 * - * 2,727 0.06% *
  National Liberal Progressive   1 * - * 2,434 0.05% *
National Labour   1 * - * 2,354 0.05% *
  Anti-Conscriptionist   1 * - * 642 0.01% *
Canadian Labour   1 * - * 398 0.01% *
  United Reform   1 * - * 269 0.01% *
  Social Credit-National Unity   1 * - * 241 0.01% *
Total 657 245 245 -0.8% 4,610,603 100%  
Sources: http://www.elections.ca -- History of Federal Ridings since 1867

Notes:

* The party did not nominate candidates in the previous election.

x - less than 0.005% of the popular vote

1 "Change" and "% Change% figures compare total of "National Government" and "Conservative" to 1935 Conservative vote.

2 New Democracy and Social Credit ran jointly under the New Democracy banner under the leadership of former Conservative William Duncan Herridge who had founded New Democracy in 1939 to promote his ideas monetary and economic reform, though several candidates continued to run under the old Social Credit name. The 3 New Democracy MPs elected were all Social Credit incumbents, including Social Credit parliamentary leader John Horne Blackmore while Herridge himself failed to win his seat. The party sat in the House of Commons under the New Democracy name until 1944 when its national convention voted to revert to the Social Credit name.

3Two candidates appear to have run under the "New Democratic Party" banner. It is unlikely that this was related in any way to the Cooperative Commonwealth Federation's adoption of this name in 1960. This may be a mis-reporting of party label - these candidates may have been "New Democracy" candidates.

Vote and seat summaries
Popular vote
Liberal
 
 51.32%
National/Conservative
 
 30.41%
CCF
 
 8.42%
Social Credit
 
 1.00%
Others
 
 8.85%
Seat totals
Liberal
 
 73.06%
National/Conservative
 
 15.92%
CCF
 
 3.27%
Social Credit
 
 2.86%
Others
 
 4.90%

Results by province
Party name BC AB SK MB ON QC NB NS PE YK Total
  Liberal Seats: 10 7 12 13 56 62 5 10 4 - 179
  Popular Vote: 37.4 37.9 43.0 43.5 50.3 64.4 54.6 50.4 55.3 46.4 51.3
  National Government Seats: 4 - 2 1 22 - 5 1 - 1 36
  Vote: 28.8 13.0 14.1 26.2 40.2 18.0 43.4 40.1 44.7 53.6 30.0
  Conservative Seats:     - - 3 -         3
  Vote:     0.2 1.7 2.2 1.1         1.2
     Co-operative Commonwealth Seats: 1 - 5 1 - - - 1     8
     Vote: 28.4 13.0 27.5 19.6 3.8 0.7 0.4 6.0     8.6
  Social Credit Seats:   7   -             7
  Vote:   16.5   0.6             1.0
  New Democracy Seats: - 3 - -   -         3
  Vote: 0.1 18.0 3.3 0.4   0.9         1.6
  Liberal-Progressive Seats:       2 1           3
  Vote:       4.7 0.8           0.6
  Independent Liberal Seats: -       - 2 - -     2
  Vote: xx       1.0 10.2 1.6 3.3     3.3
  Independent Seats: 1 - - - - -   -     1
  Vote: 3.0 0.2 1.0 3.4 0.4 2.1   0.2     1.3
  United Reform Movement Seats:     1               1
  Vote:     3.7               0.3
  Unity Seats:     1               1
  Vote:     3.3               0.3
  Independent Conservative Seats:           1         1
  Vote:           0.9         0.2
Total Seats 16 17 21 17 82 65 10 12 4 1 245
Parties that won no seats:
  Independent Nat. Gov. Vote: 0.1         1.1         0.3
Communist Vote: 0.4 0.3 0.6 xx 0.2 0.1         0.2
  Farmer-Labour Vote:         0.5           0.2
  National Unity Vote:     2.0               0.2
  NDP (?) Vote: 1.6       xx           0.2
  UFO-Labour Vote:         0.3           0.1
  Unknown Vote:     1.2   xx           0.1
Labour Vote:           0.3       0.1
  United Progressive Vote:     1.0               0.1
  National Liberal Progressive Vote:         0.2           0.1
National Labour Vote:           0.2         0.1
  Anti-Conscriptionist Vote:           0.1         xx
Canadian Labour Vote:         xx           xx
  United Reform Vote:     0.1               xx
  • xx - less than 0.05% of the popular vote

See also

References
  1. "Voter Turnout at Federal Elections and Referendums". Elections Canada. Retrieved 10 March 2019.
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