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Canadian federal election, 1867

August 7–September 20, 1867 1872 →
181 seats in the 1st Canadian Parliament 91 seats needed for a majority
First party Second party Third party   Leader John A. Macdonald George Brown (unofficial) Joseph Howe Party Conservative Liberal Anti-Confederation Leader's seat Kingston Ontario South (lost) Hants Seats won 100[1] 62 18 Popular vote 92,722 60,818 21,239 Percentage 34.5% 22.7% 7.9%
Popular vote by electoral riding. As this was a FPTP election, seat totals are not determined by popular vote, but instead via results by each riding. Halifax was a two-member riding at the time of the election, while the City of Saint John was represented by its own district and the County of Saint John. The election in Kamouraska, Quebec was delayed due to rioting.
Prime Minister before election John A. Macdonald Conservative Prime Minister-designate John A. Macdonald Conservative

The Canadian federal election of 1867, held from August 7 to September 20, was the first election for the new nation of Canada. It was held to elect members to the House of Commons of Canada, representing electoral districts in the provinces of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Ontario and Quebec in the 1st Parliament of Canada. The provinces of Manitoba (1870) and British Columbia (1871) were created during the term of the 1st Parliament of Canada and were not part of the Canadian federal election of 1867.

Sir John A. Macdonald had been sworn in as prime minister by the Governor General, Lord Monck, when the new Canadian nation was founded on 1 July 1867. As leader of the Conservative Party of Canada (concurrently known as the Liberal-Conservative Party until 1873), he led his party in this election and continued as Prime Minister of Canada when the Conservatives won a majority of the seats in the election, including majorities of the seats (and votes) in the new provinces of Ontario and Quebec.

The Liberal Party of Canada won the second largest number of seats overall, including a majority of the seats (and votes) in the province of New Brunswick. The Liberals did not have a party leader in the election. George Brown, who was the leader of the Liberal Party of Ontario, was considered the "elder statesman" of the national party. Brown ran concurrently for seats in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario and the House of Commons of Canada, and might well have been Prime Minister in the unlikely event that the Liberals prevailed over the Conservatives in the national election. Brown failed to win a seat in either body, and the national Liberals remained officially leaderless until 1873.

The Anti-Confederation Party, led by Joseph Howe, won the third largest number of seats overall, based solely on a majority of seats (and votes) in the province of Nova Scotia. Their main desire was the reversal of the decision to join Confederation, which had become highly unpopular in that province. The goals of the Anti-Confederation Members of Parliament (MPs) were openly supported by five of the Liberal MPs of New Brunswick. The Anti-Confederation MPs sat with the Liberal caucus. When the government in Britain refused to allow Nova Scotia to secede, a majority of the Anti-Confederation MPs (11 of 18) moved to the Conservatives.
Voter turn-out: 73.1%

Election results

The initial seat distribution of the 1st Canadian Parliament

National

Acclamations

The following MPs were acclaimed:

• Ontario: 3 Conservative, 3 Liberal-Conservatives, 9 Liberals


• Quebec: 14 Conservatives, 5 Liberal-Conservatives, 4 Liberals


• New Brunswick: 1 Conservative, 3 Liberals


• Nova Scotia: 4 Anti-Confederates

Vacancy

The election in Kamouraska, Quebec, was cancelled due to rioting at the polling places. No member was elected for the riding until a by-election in 1869.^[3]

Results by province

Vote and seat summaries

See also

• List of elections in the Province of Canada


• 1st Canadian Parliament

Notes

External links

• 
  ^[permanent dead link] Map of electoral districts coloured for each party [dead link]


• Ridings and candidates