1917 Canadian federal election explained

Election Name:	1917 Canadian federal election
Country:	Canada
Flag Year:	1868
Type:	parliamentary
Ongoing:	no
Party Name:	no
Previous Election:	1911 Canadian federal election
Previous Year:	1911
Next Election:	1921 Canadian federal election
Next Year:	1921
Seats For Election:	235 seats in the House of Commons
Majority Seats:	118
Turnout:	75.0%^[1] (4.8pp)
Election Date:	December 17, 1917
Elected Members:	13th Canadian Parliament
Outgoing Members:	12th Canadian Parliament
Leader1:	Robert Borden
Leader Since1:	1901
Leaders Seat1:	Kings
Last Election1:	132
Seats1:	153
Seat Change1:	21
Popular Vote1:	1,070,694
Percentage1:	56.93%
Swing1:	8.38pp
Leader2:	Wilfrid Laurier
Leader Since2:	1887
Leaders Seat2:	Quebec East
Last Election2:	85
Seats2:	82
Seat Change2:	3
Popular Vote2:	729,756
Percentage2:	38.80%
Swing2:	7.02pp
Prime Minister
Posttitle:	Prime Minister after election
Before Election:	Robert Borden
After Election:	Robert Borden
Map2 Image:	Chambre des Communes 1917.png
Map2 Size:	380px
Map2 Caption:	The Canadian parliament after the 1917 election

The 1917 Canadian federal election (sometimes referred to as the khaki election) was held on December 17, 1917, to elect members of the House of Commons of Canada of the 13th Parliament of Canada. Described by historian Michael Bliss as the "most bitter election in Canadian history", it was fought mainly over the issue of conscription (see Conscription Crisis of 1917). The election resulted in Prime Minister Sir Robert Borden's Unionist government elected with a strong majority and the largest percentage of the popular vote for any party in Canadian history.

The previous election had been held in 1911 and was won by Borden's Conservatives. Normally, there is a constitutional requirement that Parliament last no longer than five years, which would have resulted in an election in 1916. However, citing the emergency of the Great War, the Parliament of Canada approved a one-year extension, which was implemented by the British Parliament.^[2] The Borden government hoped that the delay would allow the formation of a "grand coalition" government, encompassing all the parties, such as existed in Britain.

Sir Wilfrid Laurier, head of the Liberal Party of Canada, refused to join the coalition over the issue of conscription, which was strongly opposed in the Liberal heartland of Quebec. Laurier worried that agreeing to Borden's coalition offer would cause that province to abandon the Liberals and perhaps even Canada. Borden proceeded to form a "Unionist" government, and the Liberal Party split over the issue. Many English Canadian Liberal MPs and provincial Liberal parties in English Canada supported the new Unionist government.

To ensure victory for conscription, Borden introduced two laws to skew the voting towards the government. The first, the Wartime Elections Act, disenfranchised conscientious objectors and Canadian citizens if they were born in enemy countries and had arrived after 1902. The law also gave female relatives of servicemen the vote. Thus, the 1917 election was the first federal election in which some women were allowed to vote. The other new law was the Military Voters Act, which allowed soldiers serving abroad to choose which riding their vote would be counted in or to allow the party for which they voted to select the riding in which the vote would be counted. That allowed government officials to guide the strongly pro-conscription soldiers into voting in those ridings where they would be more useful. Servicemen were given a ballot with the simple choice of "Government" or "Opposition". It is calculated that the Unionist government took 14 seats from the Opposition due to its use of Army votes.^[3]

Soon after these measures were passed, Borden convinced a faction of Liberals (using the name Liberal-Unionists) along with Gideon Decker Robertson, who was described as a "Labour" Senator (but was unaffiliated with any Labour Party) to join with them, forming the Unionist government in October 1917. He then dissolved parliament to seek a mandate in the election, which pitted "Government" candidates, running as the Unionist Party, against the anti-conscription faction of the Liberal Party, which ran under the name Laurier Liberals. As well, Independent, Labour and Socialist candidates ran in many ridings across the country.^[4]

The divisive debate ended with the country divided on linguistic lines. The Liberals won 82 seats, 62 in Quebec, with many other seats won in provinces such as Manitoba, New Brunswick, and Ontario in ridings with significant French Canadian populations. The Unionists won 153 seats. The three Unionist won seats in Quebec were all in mainly English-speaking ridings. That led to the Francœur Motion in January 1918.

Out of 235 seats, 33 were won by acclamation—17 to the Laurier Liberals (all in Quebec) and 16 to the Unionists (all outside Quebec). Two of the Unionist acclamations were for the riding of Halifax, where the only candidates were two Unionists, and where, eleven days earlier, the tragic Halifax Explosion had taken place.

The election was conducted mostly using First past the post in single-member ridings but Ottawa, Queens, and Halifax each had two members and each of the voters there cast up to two votes as per Plurality block voting.^[5]

National results

Party	Party leader	of candidates	Seats			Popular vote
1911			Elected	% Change		%	pp Change	Government (Unionist)^1	Robert Borden	211	132	153	+15.9%	1,070,694	56.93%	+8.38	Opposition (Laurier Liberals)^1		213	85	82	align=right	-3.5%	729,756	38.80%	align=right	-7.02		22	1	align=right	-	align=right	-100%	34,558	1.84%	+0.91	Opposition-Labour		8		align=right	-		22,251	1.03%		Independent		5	align=right	-	align=right	-	align=right	-	12,023	0.64%	align=right	-0.15	Independent Liberal		2		align=right	-		7,753	0.41%	align=right	-	Unknown		12	align=right	-	align=right	-	align=right	-	3,773	0.20%	align=right	-1.78		3		align=right	-		2,863	0.15%	align=right	-
Total		476	221	235	+5.9%	1,880,702	100%
align=center colspan=10	Sources: http://www.elections.ca -- History of Federal Ridings since 1867

Notes:

* Party did not nominate candidates in the previous election.

¹ % change for Government compared to Conservative Party (including Liberal-Conservatives) in 1911 election, and for Opposition to Liberal Party.

Results by province

Party name	BC	AB	SK	MB	ON	QC	NB	NS	PE	YK	Total	Government	Seats:	13 <	--BC-->	11<	--Alb-->	16 <	--saskk-->	14 <	--Man-->	74<	--Ont-->	3 <	--Que-->	7<	--NB-->	12 <	--NS-->	2 <	--PEI-->	1<	--YK-->	153<	--Canada/Total-->	Popular Vote (%):	68.4<	--BC-->	61.0<	--Alb-->	74.1<	--Sask-->	79.7<	--Man-->	62.3<	--Ont-->	24.7<	--Que-->	59.4<	--NB-->	48.4<	--NS-->	49.8<	--PEI-->	54.3<	--YK-->	56.9<	--Canada/Total-->	Opposition	Seats:	- <	--BC-->	1<	--Alb-->	- <	--Sask-->	1<	--Man-->	8<	--Ont-->	62<	--Que-->	4<	--NB-->	4<	--NS-->	2<	--PEI-->	- <	--YK-->	82 <	--Canada/Total-->	Vote (%):	25.6 <	--BC-->	30.6 <	--Alb-->	23.4 <	--Sask-->	20.3<	--Man-->	32.1<	--Ont-->	73.4<	--Que-->	40.6<	--NB-->	45.5<	--NS-->	50.2<	--PEI-->	45.7<	--YK-->	38.8<	--Canada/Total-->
Total seats			13 <	--BC-->	12 <	--Alb-->	16 <	--Sask-->	15 <	--Man-->	82<		--Ont-->	65 <	--Que-->	11 <	--NB-->	16 <	--NS-->	4<	--PEI-->	1<	--YK-->	235<	--Canada/Total-->
Parties that won no seats:														Vote (%):	5.6<	--BC-->	0.8<	--Alb-->	<	--Sask-->	<	--Man-->	2.3 <	--Ont-->	0.3 <	--Que-->	<	--NB-->	6.1<	--NS-->	<	--PEI-->	<	--YK-->	1.8 <	--Canada/Total-->	Opposition-Labour	Vote (%):	<	--BC-->	5.0<	--Alb-->	2.6 <	--Sask-->	<	--Man-->	1.2 <	--Ont-->	<	--Que-->	<	--NB-->	<	--NS-->	<	--PEI-->	<	--YK-->	1.0<	--Canada/Total-->	Independent	Vote (%):	<	--BC-->	0.5<	--Alb-->	<	--Sask-->	<	--Man-->	1.2<	--Ont-->	0.5<	--Que-->	<	--NB-->	<	--NS-->	<	--PEI-->	<	--YK-->	0.6 <	--Canada/Total-->	Independent Liberal	Vote (%):	<	--BC-->	<	--Alb-->	<	--Sask-->	<	--Man-->	0.8 <	--Ont-->	0.5 <	--Que-->	<	--NB-->	<	--NS-->	<	--PEI-->	<	--YK-->	0.4 <	--Canada/Total-->	Unknown	Vote (%):	0.4 <	--BC-->	<	--Alb-->	<	--Sask-->	<	--Man-->	0.1 <	--Ont-->	0.7 <	--Que-->	<	--NB-->	<	--NS-->	<	--PEI-->	<	--YK-->	0.2 <	--Canada/Total-->	Non-Partisan	Vote (%):	<	--BC-->	2.2 <	--Alb-->	<	--Sask-->	<	--Man-->	<	--Ont-->	<	--Que-->	<	--NB-->	<	--NS-->	<	--PEI-->	<	--YK-->	0.2 <	--Canada/Total-->

See also

• List of Canadian federal general elections
• List of political parties in Canada
• 11th Canadian Parliament
• 13th Canadian Parliament
• Conscription crisis of 1917
• Khaki election

References

Primary sources

• Canada. Chief Electoral Officer . Return of the Thirteenth General Election for the House of Commons of Canada, held on the 17th day of December 1917. . 1920 . Sessional Paper No. 13 . Ottawa.

Further reading

• Book: Argyle . Ray . Turning Points: The Campaigns that Changed Canada 2004 and Before . 2004 . White Knight Publications . Toronto . 978-0-9734186-6-8 . registration.
• Book: Dutil . Patrice A. . MacKenzie . David . Embattled nation: Canada's wartime election of 1917 . 2017 . Dundurn Press . Toronto . 978-1-4597-3726-6.
• Book: Hopkins, J. Castell . The Canadian Annual Review of Public Affairs, 1917 . 1918 . The Annual Review . Toronto .

Notes and References

1. Web site: Voter Turnout at Federal Elections and Referendums. 10 March 2019.
2. https://en.m.wikisource.org/wiki/British_North_America_Act,_1916 British North America Act, 1916.
3. A History of the Vote in Canada, p. 60
4. Parliamentary Guide
5. Parliamentary Guide 1969, p. 333-334