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1921 Canadian election

Elections and parties in Canada

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In the 1921 Canadian 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. It also saw the rise of a large third party in the Progressive Party of Canada, which won the second most seats in the election.

Since the 1911 Canadian election, the country had been governed by the Conservatives, first under Robert Borden, and then under Arthur Meighen. During the war, they had united with the pro-conscription Liberals 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 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.

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 Labour MPs were elected: J. S. Woodsworth won his seat, and William Irvine was elected in Calgary.

Results

National

Party	Party Leader	# of candidates	Seats			Popular Vote
			Before	After	% Change	#	%	Change
Liberal	Mackenzie King	204		118		1,285,998	41.15%
Progressive	<center> T.A. Crerar	137		58		658,976	21.09%
Conservative	<center> Arthur Meighen	204		49		935,651	29.95%
Labour	<center> J. S. Woodsworth	28		3		85,388	2.73%
Independent	<center>	45		2		94,901	3.04%
United Farmers of Alberta	<center>	2		2		22,251	0.71%
Independent Conservative	<center>	2		1		12,359	0.40%
United Farmers of Ontario	<center>	1		1		3,919	0.13%
Independent Progressive	<center>	1		1		3,309	0.11%
Unknown	<center>	9		0		15,293	0.49%
Socialist	<center>	1		0		3,094	0.10%
Independent Liberal	<center>	1		0		2,764	0.09%
Total	<center>	<center> 635	<center>	<center> 235	<center>	<center> 3,123,903	<center> 100.00%	<center>
Sources: http://www.elections.ca --

n.a. = not applicable - the party was not recognized in the previous election

x - less than 0.005% of the popular vote

Province by Province breakdown

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

xx - less than 0.05% of the popular vote

Note. The Progressive Party, despite winning more seats, did not chose to form an official opposition, an honour which the Conservative Party did take.

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Preceded by: 1917 Canadian election

Canadian federal elections

Followed by: 1925 Canadian election