Canadian federal election, 1935

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‹ 1930 •  members  members • 1940 ›
Canadian federal election, 1935 245 seats in the 18th Canadian Parliament
October 14, 1935
		First Party	Second Party
Leader		William Lyon Mackenzie King	Richard Bennett
Party		Liberal	Conservative
Leader since		1919	1927
Leader's seat		Prince Albert	Calgary West
Last election		90	134
Seats won		173	39
Seat change		+83	-95
Popular vote		1,967,839	1,290,671
Percentage		44.68%	29.84%
Swing		+0.65%	-18.48%
		Third Party	Fourth Party
Leader		John Horne Blackmore	J. S. Woodsworth
Party		Social Credit	CCF
Leader since		1935	1932
Leader's seat		Lethbridge	Winnipeg North Centre
Last election		-	-
Seats won		17	7
Seat change		-	-
Popular vote		180,679	410,125
Percentage		4.10%	9.31%
Swing		-	-
Incumbent PM Richard Bennett Conservative PM-Elect William Lyon Mackenzie King Liberal

The Canadian federal election of 1935 was held on October 14, 1935 to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons of the 18th Parliament of Canada. The Liberal Party of William Lyon Mackenzie King won a majority government, defeating Prime Minister R.B. Bennett's Conservative Party.

The central issue was the economy, which was still in the depths of the Great Depression. Bennett, in office since the 1930 election, had done little to stimulate the economy during his first few years, believing that a policy of high tariffs and trade within the British Empire would correct the depression. In the last months of his time in office, he reversed his position, however, copying the popular New Deal of Franklin Roosevelt in the United States. Upset about high unemployment and inaction by the federal government, voters were unwilling to allow the Conservatives to continue to govern, despite their change of policy.

The Conservatives were also suffering severe internal divisions. During his first years in office, Bennett had alienated those in his party who supported intervention in the economy. His last minute conversion to interventionism alienated the rest of the party. Former cabinet minister H.H. Stevens left to form the Reconstruction Party. Senior minister Sir Joseph Flavelle announced he would be supporting the Liberals.

Voters opted for Mackenzie King's promise of mild reforms to restore economic health. The Liberals crushed the Tories, winning 171 seats to the Conservatives' 39, the worst ever performance by the Tories until their collapse in 1993. The Liberal Party would continue to hold power until 1957.

The 1935 election was also important in it saw the final demise of the Progressive Party and the United Farmers of Alberta. Two new movements rose out of the west, however. The new Co-operative Commonwealth Federation, a social democratic party, first competed in this election and won seven seats, promising social reform. The Social Credit Party of Canada was even more successful, capturing seventeen seats on its platform of monetary reform.

[edit] National results

Party		Party leader	# of candidates	Seats			Popular vote
				1930	Elected	% Change	#	%	% Change
	Liberal	Mackenzie King	245	90	173	+92.2%	1,967,839	44.68%	+0.65%
	Conservative	R.B. Bennett	228	134	39	-70.9%	1,290,671	29.84%	-18.48%
	Social Credit	J.H. Blackmore	46	*	17	*	180,679	4.10%	*
	Co-operative Commonwealth	J.S. Woodsworth	121	*	7	*	410,125	9.31%	*
	Liberal-Progressive		5	3	4	+33.3%	29,569	0.67%	-0.48%
	Reconstruction	H.H. Stevens	172	*	1	*	384,462	8.73%	*
	Independent Liberal		24	-	1		54,239	1.23%	+0.86%
	Independent		13	2	1	-50.0%	17,207	0.39%	-0.16%
	United Farmers of Ontario-Labour		1	-	1		7,210	0.39%	+0.16%
	Independent Conservative		4	-	1		1,078	0.02%	-0.24%
	Communist	Tim Buck	12	-	-	-	20,140	0.46%	+0.34%
	Labour		5	2	-	-100%	14,423	0.33%	-0.35%
	Progressive-Conservative		2	1	-	-100%	12,220	0.28%	-0.13%
	Verdun		1	*	-	*	4,214	0.10%	*
	Anti-Communist		1	*	-	*	3,961	0.09%	*
	Unknown		3	-	-	-	3,407	0.08%	-0.11%
	Independent Reconstructionist		1	*	0	*	865	0.02%	*
	Technocrat		1	*	0	*	733	0.02%	*
	Liberal-Labour		3	-	-	-	708	0.02%	-0.17%
	Socialist		1	*	-	*	251	0.01%	*
	Independent Labour		1	-	-	-	221	0.01%	-0.41%
	Veteran		1	*	-	*	79	x	*
Total			891	245	245	-	4,404,301	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

[edit] Results by province

Party name			BC	AB	SK	MB	ON	QC	NB	NS	PE	YK	Total
	Liberal	Seats won by party:	6	1	16	10	56	59	9	12	4	-	173
		Popular Vote (%):	31.8	21.6	40.8	31.7	42.2	56.0	57.2	52.7	58.3	44.4	44.7
	Conservative	Seats:	5	1	1	1	25	5	1	-	-		39
		Vote:	24.9	17.6	18.0	27.9	35.8	27.5	31.9	34.5	38.4		29.8
	Co-operative Commonwealth	Seats:	3	-	2	2	-	-					7
		Vote:	32.7	12.0	21.3	19.4	8.0	0.6					8.8
	Social Credit	Seats:	-	15	2	-							17
		Vote:	0.6	46.6	17.8	2.0							4.1
	Liberal-Progressive	Seats:				4							3
		Vote:				10.5							0.7
	Reconstruction	Seats:	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-		2
		Vote:	7.3	0.7	1.3	5.9	11.4	9.3	9.7	12.7	3.4		8.7
	Independent Liberal	Seats:				-	-	1	-	-			1
		Vote:				0.2	0.6	3.8	0.4	3			1.2
	Independent	Seats:	1			-	-	-	-				1
		Vote:	1.8			0.1	0.2	0.7	0.8				0.4
	UFO-Labour	Seats:					1						1
		Vote:					0.5						0.2
	Independent Conservative	Seats:						-				1	1
		Vote:						xx				55.6	xx
Total Seats			16	17	21	17	82	65	10	12	4	1	245
Parties that won no seats:
	Communist	Vote:	0.5	1.1	0.8	0.7	0.5	0.3					0.5
	Farmer-Labour	Vote:	0.3				0.5	0.5					0.3
	Progressive-Conservative	Vote:				0.5		0.7					0.1
	Verdun	Vote:						0.4					0.1
	Anti-Communist	Vote:					0.2						0.1
	Unknown	Vote:					0.x	0.x					0.1
	Independent Reconstruction	Vote:						0.1					xx
	Technocrat	Vote:		0.3									xx
	Liberal-Labour	Vote:						0.1					xx
	Socialist	Vote:	0.1										xx
	Independent Labour	Vote:						0.x					xx
	Veteran	Vote:						0.x					xx

• xx - less than 0.05% of the popular vote

[edit] See also

• 18th Canadian Parliament

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