Canadian Federal Election, 1921

In the 1921 Canadian federal election, the Union government that had governed Canada through the First World War was defeated and replaced by a Liberal government under the young leader William Lyon Mackenzie King. A new third party, the Progressive Party of Canada, won the second most seats in the election. Since the 1911 election, the country had been governed by the Conservatives, first under the leadership of Robert Borden, and then under Arthur Meighen. During the war, the Conservatives had united with the pro-conscription Liberal Unionists and formed a Union government. A number of MPs, mostly Quebecers, stayed loyal to Sir Wilfrid Laurier, however, and maintained their independence. When Laurier died, he was replaced as leader by the Ontarian Mackenzie King. After the 1919 federal budget, a number of western unionist MPs, who were former Liberals, left the Union government in protest against high tariffs imposed by the budget. Led by Thomas Alexander Crerar, this group became known as the Progressive Party. Also running were a number of Labour advocates, foremost amongst them J. S. Woodsworth of Winnipeg. Meighen attempted to make the "Unionist" party a permanent alliance of Tories and Liberals by renaming it the National Liberal and Conservatve Party but this name change failed and most Unionist Liberals either returned to the Liberal fold or joined the new Progressive Party. The Conscription Crisis of 1917 had a lasting effect on Tory fortunes by making the party virtually unelectable in Quebec. The election was the first one in which the majority of Canadian women were allowed to vote. Four women also ran for office. Agnes Macphail of the Progressive Party was elected as the first woman MP in Canada. Parliament was split three ways by this election. King's Liberals ended up one seat short of a majority government: they won almost all of Quebec, much of the Maritimes, and a good portion of Ontario. The Progressive Party won the second largest number of seats, dominating the West, and winning almost a third of the seats in Ontario. The party won only one seat east of Ontario, however. Despite winning the second most seats, they declined to form the official opposition. The Conservatives won only a few fewer seats than the Progressives and formed the official opposition. They also won a good section of Ontario and had some support in the Maritimes and British Columbia. Two Independent Labour MPs were elected: J. S. Woodsworth won his seat, largely due to his role in the 1919 Winnipeg General Strike, and William Irvine was elected in Calgary.

National results

owspan="2"|Party rowspan="2"|Party Leader rowspan="2"|# of candidates colspan="3"|Seats colspan="3"|Popular Vote
lign="center"|Previous align="center"|After align="center"|% Change align="center"|# align="center"|% align="center"|Change
Liberal
Mackenzie King
align="right"| 204 align="right"|82 align="right"| 117 align="right"|+43.9% align="right"| 1,285,998 align="right"| 41.15% align="right"|+2.34%
Progressive
T.A. Crerar
align="right"| 137 align="right"|n.a. align="right"| 58 align="right"|n.a. align="right"| 658,976 align="right"| 21.09% align="right"|n.a.
Conservative
Arthur Meighen
align="right"| 204 align="right"|152 align="right"| 49 align="right"|-67.8% align="right"| 935,651 align="right"| 29.95% align="right"|-26.98%
Labour
J. S. Woodsworth
align="right"| 28 align="right"|- align="right"| 3 align="right"| align="right"| 85,388 align="right"| 2.73% align="right"|+0.90%
Independent
align="right"| 45 align="right"|- align="right"| 2 align="right"| align="right"| 94,901 align="right"| 3.04% align="right"|+2.40%
United Farmers of Alberta
align="right"| 2 align="right"|n.a. align="right"| 2 align="right"|n.a. align="right"| 22,251 align="right"| 0.71% align="right"|n.a.
Independent Conservative
align="right"| 2 align="right"|n.a. align="right"| 1 align="right"|n.a. align="right"| 12,359 align="right"| 0.40% align="right"|n.a.
United Farmers of Ontario
align="right"| 1 align="right"|n.a. align="right"| 1 align="right"|n.a. align="right"| 3,919 align="right"| 0.13% align="right"|n.a.
Independent Progressive
align="right"| 1 align="right"|n.a. align="right"| 1 align="right"|n.a. align="right"| 3,309 align="right"| 0.11% align="right"|n.a.
Unknown
align="right"| 9 align="right"|- align="right"| - align="right"| align="right"| 15,293 align="right"| 0.49% align="right"|+0.29%
Socialist
align="right"| 1 align="right"|n.a. align="right"| - align="right"|n.a. align="right"| 3,094 align="right"| 0.10% align="right"|n.a.
Independent Liberal
align="right"| 1 align="right"|- align="right"| - align="right"| align="right"| 2,764 align="right"| 0.09% align="right"|-0.32%
Total
635
234
235
+0.4%
3,123,903
100.00%
align="center" colspan="9"|Sources: http://www.elections.ca -- History of Federal Ridings since 1867
Notes: "Previous" refers to the results from the previous election, and not to the standings in the House of Commons at dissolution. n.a. = not applicable - the party was not recognized in the previous election

Results by province

| rowspan="2"|Conservative>
align="center" colspan="2"|Party Name align="center"|BC align="center"|AB align="center"|SK align="center"|MB align="center"|ON align="center"|QC align="center"|NB align="center"|NS align="center"|PE align="center"|YK align="center"|Total
rowspan="2"|Liberal Seats: align="right"| 3 align="right"| 0 align="right"| 1 align="right"| 3 align="right"| 21 align="right"| 65 align="right"| 5 align="right"| 16 align="right"| 4 align="right"| - align="right"| 118
Popular Vote (%): align="right"| 29.8 align="right"| 15.8 align="right"| 18.7 align="right"| 18.9 align="right"| 30.1 align="right"| 70.2 align="right"| 50.2 align="right"| 52.4 align="right"| 45.7 align="right"| 47.6 align="right"| 41.2
rowspan="2"|Progressive Seats: align="right"| 3 align="right"| 8 align="right"| 15 align="right"| 11 align="right"| 20 align="right"| - align="right"| 1 align="right"| - align="right"| - align="right"|   align="right"|58
Vote (%): align="right"| 11.7 align="right"| 39.6 align="right"| 61.7 align="right"| 41.9 align="right"| 25.6 align="right"| 3.1 align="right"| 8.7 align="right"| 10.2 align="right"| 12.3 align="right"|  align="right"| 21.1
Seats: align="right"| 7 align="right"| - align="right"| - align="right"| - align="right"| 36 align="right"| - align="right"| 5 align="right"| - align="right"| - align="right"| 1 align="right"|49
Vote (%): align="right"| 47.9 align="right"| 20.3 align="right"| 16.3 align="right"| 24.4 align="right"| 38.8 align="right"| 18.5 align="right"| 39.4 align="right"| 32.3 align="right"| 37.2 align="right"| 51.1 align="right"| 30.0
rowspan="2"|Labour Seats: align="right"| - align="right"| 2 align="right"| - align="right"| 1 align="right"| - align="right"| - align="right"|  align="right"| - align="right"| - align="right"|  align="right"| 3
Vote (%): align="right"|6.8 align="right"| 11.1 align="right"| 0.8 align="right"| 5.7 align="right"| 2.3 align="right"| 0.7 align="right"|   align="right"| 3.5 align="right"| 4.8 align="right"|  align="right"| 2.7
rowspan="2"|Independent Seats: align="right"| - align="right"|  align="right"|  align="right"| - align="right"| 2 align="right"| - align="right"| - align="right"|  align="right"|   align="right"| - align="right"| 2
Vote (%): align="right"| 3.5 align="right"|   align="right"|   align="right"| 7.4 align="right"| 1.9 align="right"| 6.6 align="right"| 1.7 align="right"|   align="right"|   align="right"| 1.3 align="right"| 3.0
rowspan="2"|United Farmers of Alberta Seats: align="right"|  align="right"|2 align="right"|  align="right"|  align="right"|   align="right"|  align="right"|  align="right"|  align="right"|   align="right"|   align="right"|2
Vote (%): align="right"|   align="right"| 12.9 align="right"|  align="right"|   align="right"|   align="right"|   align="right"|  align="right"|   align="right"|   align="right"|  align="right"| 0.7
rowspan="2"|Independent Conservative Seats: align="right"|  align="right"|  align="right"|  align="right"|  align="right"| 1 align="right"| - align="right"|  align="right"|  align="right"|   align="right"|   align="right"| 1
Vote (%): align="right"|   align="right"|   align="right"|   align="right"|   align="right"| 0.9 align="right"| 0.3 align="right"|   align="right"|   align="right"|   align="right"|  align="right"| 0.4
rowspan="2"|United Farmers of Ontario Seats: align="right"|  align="right"|  align="right"|  align="right"|  align="right"| 1 align="right"|  align="right"|  align="right"|  align="right"|   align="right"|   align="right"|1
Vote (%): align="right"|   align="right"|   align="right"|  align="right"|   align="right"| 0.3 align="right"|   align="right"|  align="right"|   align="right"|   align="right"|  align="right"| 0.1
rowspan="2"|Independent Progressive Seats: align="right"|  align="right"|  align="right"|  align="right"|  align="right"| 1 align="right"|  align="right"|  align="right"|  align="right"|   align="right"|   align="right"|1
Vote (%): align="right"|   align="right"|   align="right"|   align="right"|  align="right"| 0.3 align="right"|   align="right"|  align="right"|   align="right"|   align="right"|  align="right"| 0.1
Total Seats   align="right"|13 align="right"|12 align="right"|16 align="right"|15 align="right"| 82 align="right"|65 align="right"|11 align="right"|16 align="right"| 4 align="right"| 1 align="right"| 235
olspan="13"|Parties that won no seats:
Unknown Vote (%): align="right"| 0.4 align="right"| 0.2 align="right"| 2.4 align="right"|   align="right"|   align="right"|0.6 align="right"|   align="right"| 1.6 align="right"|   align="right"|  align="right"|0.5
|Socialist Vote (%): align="right"|   align="right"|   align="right"|   align="right"| 1.8 align="right"|   align="right"|   align="right"|   align="right"|   align="right"|   align="right"|  align="right"| 0.1
ndependent Liberal Vote (%): align="right"|   align="right"|   align="right"|   align="right"|   align="right"| 0.2 align="right"|   align="right"|   align="right"|   align="right"|   align="right"|  align="right"| 0.1

 

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