Canadian federal election, 1979
Elections and parties in
Canada
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The 1979 Canadian election resulted in the defeat of Pierre Trudeau's Liberal Party of Canada after 11 years in power under Trudeau. Joe Clark lead the Progressive Conservatives to power, but with only a minority of seats in the Canadian House of Commons. Clark's minority government lasted less than nine months. Its defeat over a budget bill that proposed to increase the excise tax on gasoline by 18 cents per Imperial gallon resulted in the 1980 election, in which the PCs were defeated by the resurgent Trudeau Liberals.
Results
Clark won the popular vote in eight provinces, but because his tories could only muster 2 seats in Quebec, he only won a minority government. The Liberals could only win one seat west of Manitoba. This election was the last that the Social Credit Party would win seats. An unusual occurence in the Northwest Territories occured, the Liberals won the popular vote there, but won neither seat.
National
| Party
| Party Leader
| # of candidates
| Seats
| Popular Vote
|
| Before
| After
| % Change
| #
| %
| Change
|
| Progressive Conservative
| | 282
|
| 136
|
| 4,111,606
| 35.89%
| +4.65%
|
| Liberal
| <center> Pierre Trudeau
| 282
|
| 114
|
| 4,595,319
| 40.11%
| -7.29%
|
| New Democratic
| <center> Ed Broadbent
| 282
|
| 26
|
| 2,048,988
| 17.88%
| +2.45%
|
| Social Credit
| <center> Fabien Roy
| 103
|
| 6
|
| 527,604
| 4.61%
| -0.46%
|
| Rhinoceros
| <center> Cornelius the First
| 63
|
| 0
|
| 62,601
| 0.55%
| n.a.
|
| Independent
|
| 68
|
| 0
|
| 51,962
| 0.45%
| -0.14%
|
| Union Populaire
| <center>
| 69
|
| 0
|
| 19,514
| 0.17%
| n.a.
|
| Libertarian
| <center>
| 60
|
| 0
|
| 16,042
| 0.14%
| -0.14%
|
| Marxist-Leninist
| <center> Hardial Bains
| 144
|
| 0
|
| 14,231
| 0.12%
| -0.12%
|
| Communist
| <center> William Kashtan
| 71
|
| 0
|
| 9,141
| 0.08%
|
|
| Total
|
| 1,424
| 265
| 282
|
| 11,457,008
| 100.00%
|
|
| Sources: http://www.elections.ca
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n.a. = not applicable - the party was not recognized in the previous election.
Province by Province breakdown
| Party Name
| BC
| AB
| SK
| MB
| ON
| QC
| NB
| NS
| PE
| NL
| NT
| YK
| Total
|
| Progressive Conservative
| Seats:
| 19
| 21
| 10
| 7
| 57
| 2
| 4
| 8
| 4
| 2
| 1
| 1
| 136
|
| Popular Vote:
| 44.3
| 65.6
| 41.2
| 43.4
| 41.8
| 13.5
| 40.0
| 45.4
| 52.8
| 29.7
| 32.3
| 44.6
| 35.9
|
| Liberal
| Seats:
| 1
|
|
| 2
| 32
| 67
| 6
| 2
|
| 4
|
|
| 114
|
| Vote:
| 23.0
| 22.1
| 21.8
| 23.5
| 36.4
| 61.7
| 44.6
| 35.5
| 40.6
| 40.6
| 34.1
| 30.1
| 40.1
|
| New Democratic
| Seats:
| 8
|
| 4
| 5
| 6
|
|
| 1
|
| 1
| 1
|
| 26
|
| Vote:
| 31.9
| 9.9
| 35.8
| 32.7
| 21.1
| 5.1
| 15.3
| 18.7
| 6.5
| 29.7
| 31.9
| 25.3
| 17.9
|
| Social Credit
| Seats:
|
|
|
|
|
| 6
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 6
|
| Vote:
| 0.2
| 1.0
| 0.5
| 0.2
| 0.1
| 16.0
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 4.6
|
| Other
| Seats:
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Vote:
| 0.6
| 1.5
| 0.7
| 0.4
| 0.6
| 3.7
| 0.1
| 0.4
| 0.1
|
| 1.6
|
| 1.5
|
Source:
Notes
