Canadian federal election, 1980
Elections and parties in
Canada
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The 1980 Canadian federal election was called when the minority Progressive Conservative government led by Joe Clark was defeated on a motion of no confidence in the Canadian House of Commons. The motion related to the government's budget, and particularly its proposal to increase the federal excise tax on gasoline by 18 cents per Imperial gallon. Clark and his government had also been under attack for its perceived inexperience, for example, in its handling of its 1979 election campaign copmmitment to move Canada's embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
Former Liberal prime minister Pierre Trudeau had resigned from the leadership of the Liberal Party following its defeat in 1979. Trudeau quickly came out of retirement to lead the party to victory, winning 34 more seats than in the 1979 Canadian election. This enabled the Liberals to form a majority government that would last until its defeat in the 1984 election.
The Social Credit Party lost its last five seats in the Canadian House of Commons, and rapidly declined into obscurity after this election.
Results
Despite winning at least one seat in every province and territory, the Progressive Conservatives lost to the Liberals, who won a majority government. This was mainly because the Liberals won all but one seat in Quebec, and won a majority of the seats in Ontario, Canada's two most populous provinces. The Liberals were shutout of Western Canada.
National
| Party
| Party Leader
| # of cands
| Seats
| Popular Vote
|
| Before
| After
| % Change
| #
| %
| % Change
|
| Liberal
| Pierre Trudeau
| 282
|
| 147
|
| 4,855,425
| 44.40
| +8.52
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| Progressive Conservative
| Joe Clark
| 282
|
| 103
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| 3,552,994
| 32.49
| -7.62
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| New Democratic
| Ed Broadbent
| 280
|
| 32
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| 2,150,368
| 19.67
| +1.78
|
| Social Credit
| Fabien Roy
| 81
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| 0
|
| 185,486
| 1.70
| -2.91
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| Rhinoceros
| Cornelius the First
| 121
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| 0
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| 110,286
| 1.01
| n/a
|
| Marxist-Leninist
| Hardial Bains
| 177
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| 0
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| 14,697
| 0.13
| n/a
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| Libertarian
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| 58
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| 0
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| 14,656
| 0.13
| n/a
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| Union Populaire
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| 54
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| 0
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| 14,474
| 0.13
| -0.04
|
| Communist
| William Kashtan
| 52
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| 0
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| 6,022
| 0.06
| -0.02
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| Independent
| 110
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| 0
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| 30,067
| 0.27
| -0.18
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| Vacant
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| 282
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| 1,497
| 264
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| 10,934,475
| 100.0
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Sources: http://www.elections.ca,
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Province by Province breakdown
| Party Name
| BC
| AB
| SK
| MB
| ON
| QC
| NB
| NS
| PE
| NL
| NT
| YK
| Total
|
| Liberal
| Seats:
|
|
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| 2
| 52
| 74
| 7
| 5
| 2
| 5
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| 147
|
| Popular Vote:
| 22.2
| 22.2
| 24.2
| 28.0
| 41.9
| 68.2
| 50.1
| 39.9
| 46.8
| 47.0
| 35.8
| 39.6
| 44.3
|
| Progressive Conservative
| Seats:
| 16
| 21
| 7
| 5
| 38
| 1
| 3
| 6
| 2
| 2
| 1
| 1
| 103
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| Vote:
| 41.5
| 64.9
| 38.9
| 35.7
| 35.5
| 12.6
| 32.5
| 38.7
| 46.3
| 36.0
| 24.7
| 40.6
| 32.5
|
| New Democratic
| Seats:
| 12
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| 7
| 7
| 5
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| 1
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| 32
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| Vote:
| 35.3
| 10.3
| 36.3
| 33.5
| 21.9
| 9.1
| 16.2
| 20.9
| 6.5
| 16.7
| 38.4
| 19.8
| 19.8
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| Social Credit
| Seats:
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| Vote:
| 0.1
| 1.0
|
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| 0.1
| 5.9
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| 1.7
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| Other
| Seats:
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| Vote:
| 0.9
| 1.6
| 0.5
| 0.8
| 0.7
| 4.2
| 1.1
| 0.6
| 0.3
| 0.2
| 1.1
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| 1.7
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Source:
Notes=
