1958 Canadian federal election explained

Election Name:	1958 Canadian federal election
Country:	Canada
Flag Year:	1957
Type:	parliamentary
Ongoing:	no
Party Colour:	no
Party Name:	no
Turnout:	79.4% (5.3pp)
Previous Election:	1957 Canadian federal election
Previous Year:	1957
Next Election:	1962 Canadian federal election
Next Year:	1962
Majority Seats:	133
Election Date:	March 31, 1958
Elected Members:	24th Canadian Parliament
Outgoing Members:	23rd Canadian Parliament
Image1:	John G. Diefenbaker (cropped).jpg
Leader1:	John Diefenbaker
Leader Since1:	December 14, 1956
Leaders Seat1:	Prince Albert
Last Election1:	112
Seats1:	208
Seat Change1:	96
Popular Vote1:	3,910,852
Percentage1:	53.67%
Swing1:	14.64pp
Leader2:	Lester B. Pearson
Leader Since2:	January 16, 1958
Leaders Seat2:	Algoma East
Last Election2:	105
Seats2:	48
Seat Change2:	57
Popular Vote2:	2,459,700
Percentage2:	33.75%
Swing2:	8.58pp
Image4:	Major James Coldwell (cropped).jpg
Leader4:	Major James Coldwell
Leader Since4:	March 22, 1942
Leaders Seat4:	Rosetown—Biggar (lost re-election)
Last Election4:	25
Seats4:	8
Seat Change4:	17
Popular Vote4:	692,398
Percentage4:	9.50%
Swing4:	1.21pp
Image5:	Solon Earl Low (cropped2).jpg
Leader5:	Solon Earl Low
Leader Since5:	April 6, 1944
Leaders Seat5:	Peace River (lost re-election)
Last Election5:	19
Seats5:	0
Seat Change5:	19
Popular Vote5:	188,717
Percentage5:	2.59%
Swing5:	4.03pp
Prime Minister
Posttitle:	Prime Minister after election
Before Election:	John Diefenbaker
After Election:	John Diefenbaker
Map2 Image:	Chambre des Communes 1958.png
Map2 Caption:	The Canadian parliament after the 1958 election

The 1958 Canadian federal election was held to elect members of the House of Commons of Canada of the 24th Parliament of Canada on March 31, 1958, just nine months after the 23rd election. It transformed Prime Minister John Diefenbaker's minority into the largest majority government in Canadian history and the second-largest percentage of the popular vote. Although the Tories would surpass their 1958 seat total in the 1984 election, the 1958 result (achieved in a smaller House) remains unmatched both in terms of percentage of seats (78.5%) and the size of the government majority over all opposition parties (a 151-seat majority). Voter turnout was 79.4%.^[1]

Overview

Diefenbaker called a snap election and capitalized on three factors:

• Nationally, the Liberals had just chosen a new leader, Lester Pearson, who had given an ill-advised maiden speech in Commons that asked Diefenbaker to resign and recommend the Governor General allow the Liberals to form a government without an election due to the recent economic downturn. Diefenbaker seized on the remark by describing a series of classified Liberal Cabinet documents stating that the economy would face a downturn in that year. This contrasted heavily with the Liberals' 1957 campaign promises. As election day drew near, the Liberals realized they had no chance of returning to power and hoped only to hold onto at least 100 seats. They were cut down to only 48, at the time the smallest seat count in their history.
• A turnaround in Quebec: Quebec had been largely Liberal since the Conscription Crisis of 1917, but upon the resignation of former Prime Minister Louis St. Laurent, the province had no favourite son leader, as they had since 1948, and its voters were open to new options. Seeking a greater voice in Ottawa, Quebec Premier Maurice Duplessis' Union Nationale used their party machine to ally with the Tories, allowing Diefenbaker's Progressive Conservatives to win two thirds of the seats in what had been a Liberal stronghold for a generation. While the Liberals finished only four percentage points behind the Tories in Quebec, much of their vote was wasted racking up large majorities in their traditional safest seats. Nevertheless, the 25 seats the Liberals won in Quebec accounted for more than half of their decimated caucus and, on a proportional basis, was their best performance after Newfoundland.
• A collapse in support for the Social Credit Party, which lost all 19 of its seats. While it took half the votes it had taken in 1957, third parties historically do not do well in landslides, especially in first-past-the-post voting systems. Prior to the 1957 election, the Socreds were seen as a credible threat to replace the Tories as the main right-wing party in the country, as they had done in British Columbia and Alberta, but the popularity of the Diefenbaker government persuaded many Social Credit supporters to abandon the party. That not only allowed the Tories to pick up Social Credit seats, but also proved decisive in many seats that were four-way races between the PCs, Social Credit, Liberals, and CCF. Notably, the Tories swept all seventeen seats in Alberta, where they had previously held just three seats to Social Credit's thirteen (and Liberal one seat). The election proved to be the start of a long decline for the federal Social Credit Party. It would never seriously challenge the PCs dominance again in federal politics (even in the West) although the BC Social Credit Party would govern that province for all but three years until 1991.

Opinion polling

During the 23rd Parliament of Canada

Evolution of voting intentions at national level

Polling firm	Last day of survey	Source	PC	LPC	CCF	SC	Other	Undecided		Sample
Election 1958	March 31, 1958		53.67	33.75	9.50	2.59	0.49			7,284,467
Gallup	March 1958	^[2]	style='background:#9999FF'	56	32	7	4	1	13
Gallup	January 1958		style='background:#9999FF'	50	35	9	6			4.0
Gallup	November 1957		style='background:#9999FF'	50	33	9	7	1
Gallup	October 1957	^[3]	style='background:#9999FF'	48	34	10	7	1
Gallup	July 1957	^[4]	style='background:#9999FF'	47	35	10	8
Election 1957	June 10, 1957		38.50	40.45	10.59	6.54	3.92			6,680,690

Regional polling

Quebec

Evolution of voting intentions at provincial level

Polling firm	Last day of survey	Source	PC	LPC	CCF	Other		Sample
Election 1958	March 31, 1958		49.6	45.6	2.3	2.5
Gallup	March 1958	^[5]	style='background:#9999FF'	49	45
Gallup	January 1958		42	style='background:#F8C1BE'	51	3	4
Gallup	November 1957		43	style='background:#F8C1BE'	50	1	6
Gallup	July 1957		40	style='background:#F8C1BE'	54
Election 1957	June 10, 1957		30.7	56.8	1.8	10.7

Ontario

Evolution of voting intentions at provincial level

Polling firm	Last day of survey	Source	PC	LPC	CCF	Other		Sample
Election 1958	March 31, 1958		56.4	32.1	10.5	1.1
Gallup	January 1958		style='background:#9999FF'	58	31	9	1
Gallup	November 1957		style='background:#9999FF'	57	31	10	2
Election 1957	June 10, 1957		48.1	36.6	11.9	2.1

Maritime

Evolution of voting intentions at regional level

Polling firm	Last day of survey	Source	PC	LPC	CCF	Other		Sample
Election 1958	March 31, 1958
Gallup	January 1958		style='background:#9999FF'	57	40	2	1
Gallup	November 1957		style='background:#9999FF'	61	37	1	1
Election 1957	June 10, 1957

Western Canada

Evolution of voting intentions at regional level

Polling firm	Last day of survey	Source	PC	LPC	CCF	Other		Sample
Election 1958	March 31, 1958
Gallup	January 1958		style='background:#9999FF'	44	20	19	17
Gallup	November 1957		style='background:#9999FF'	45	17	17	21
Election 1957	June 10, 1957

National results

Party	Party leader	of candidates	Seats			Popular vote
1957			Elected	% Change		%	pp Change	Progressive Conservative	John Diefenbaker	265	111	208	+87.4%	3,908,633	53.66%	+14.85	Liberal	Lester B. Pearson	264	104	48	align="right"	-53.8%	2,432,953	33.40%	align="right"	-7.35	Co-operative Commonwealth	M.J. Coldwell	169	25	8	align="right"	-68.0%	692,668	9.51%	align="right"	-1.20			1	1	1	0%	11,956	0.16%	align="right"	-	Solon Low	82	19	align="right"	-	align="right"	-100%	188,356	2.59%	align="right"	-3.99	Independent		9	2	align="right"	-	align="right"	-100%	14,211	0.20%	align="right"	-0.87	Independent Liberal		10	2	align="right"	-	align="right"	-100%	12,054	0.17%	align="right"	-1.25	Tim Buck	18	align="right"	-	align="right"	-	align="right"	-	9,769	0.13%	+0.02	Candidats des électeurs	Réal Caouette	1	align="right"	-	align="right"	-	align="right"	-	8,276	0.11%	align="right"	-0.01	Independent PC		5	1	align="right"	-	align="right"	-100%	2,097	0.03%	align="right"	-0.19	Socialist		2		align="right"	-		1,113	0.02%		Capital familial	H-G Grenier	1		align="right"	-		968	0.01%		Radical chrétien		1		align="right"	-		687	0.01%		Independent SC		1	align="right"	-	align="right"	-	align="right"	-	361	x	align="right"	-0.04	Ouvrier canadien		1		align="right"	-		243	x		Independent Conservative		1		align="right"	-		122	x
Total	831	265	265	align=right	-	7,284,467	100.00%
Sources: http://www.elections.ca History of Federal Ridings since 1867

Notes:

"Previous" refers to standings at previous election, not to standings in the House of Commons at dissolution.

* The party did not nominate candidates in the previous election.

x - less than 0.005% of the popular vote

Results by province

Party name	BC	AB	SK	MB	ON	QC	NB	NS	PE	NL	YK	NW	Total	Progressive Conservative	Seats:	18 <	--BC-->	17 <	--Alb-->	16 <	--Sask-->	14 <	--Man-->	67 <	--Ont-->	50 <	--Que-->	7 <	--NB-->	12 <	--NS-->	4 <	--PEI-->	2 <	--NL-->	1 <	--YK-->	align="right"	-	208 <	--Canada/Total-->	Vote (%):	49.4 <	--BC-->	59.9 <	--Alb-->	51.4 <	--Sask-->	56.7 <	--Man-->	56.4 <	--Ont-->	49.6 <	--Que-->	54.1 <	--NB-->	57.0 <	--NS-->	62.2 <	--PEI-->	45.2 <	--NL-->	54.5 <	--YK-->	42.8 <	--NW-->	53.7 <	--Canada/Total-->	Liberal	Seats:	align="right"	-	align="right"	-	align="right"	-	align="right"	-	14 <	--Ont-->	25 <	--Que-->	3 <	--NB-->	align="right"	-	align="right"	-	5 <	--NL-->	align="right"	-	1 <	--NW-->	48 <	--Canada/Total-->	Vote (%):	16.1 <	--BC-->	13.7 <	--Alb-->	19.6 <	--Sask-->	21.6 <	--Man-->	32.1 <	--Ont-->	45.6 <	--Que-->	43.4 <	--NB-->	38.4 <	--NS-->	37.5 <	--PEI-->	54.4 <	--NL-->	43.3 <	--YK-->	57.2 <	--NW-->	33.4 <	--Canada/Total-->	Co-operative Commonwealth	Seats:	4 <	--BC-->	align="right"	-	1 <	--Sask-->	align="right"	-	3 <	--Ont-->	align="right"	-	align="right"	-	align="right"	-	align="right"	-	align="right"	-	<	--YK-->	<	--NW-->	8 <	--Canada/Total-->	Vote (%):	24.5 <	--BC-->	4.4 <	--Alb-->	28.4 <	--Sask-->	19.6 <	--Man-->	10.5 <	--Ont-->	2.3 <	--Que-->	1.8 <	--NB-->	4.5 <	--NS-->	0.3 <	--PEI-->	0.2 <	--NL-->	<	--YK-->	<	--NW-->	9.5 <	--Canada/Total-->	Liberal-Labour	Seats:	<	--BC-->	<	--Alb-->	<	--Sask-->	<	--Man-->	1 <	--Ont-->	<	--Que-->	<	--NB-->	<	--NS-->	<	--PEI-->	<	--NL-->	<	--YK-->	<	--NW-->	1<	--Canada/Total-->	Vote (%):	<	--BC-->	<	--Alb-->	<	--Sask-->	<	--Man-->	0.5 <	--Ont-->	<	--Que-->	<	--NB-->	<	--NS-->	<	--PEI-->	<	--NL-->	<	--YK-->	<	--NW-->	0.2 <	--Canada/Total-->
Total Seats		22 <	--BC-->	17 <	--Alb-->	17 <	--Sask-->	14 <	--Man-->	85 <	--Ont-->	75 <	--Que-->		10 <	--NB-->	12 <	--NS-->	4 <	--PEI-->	7 <	--NL-->	1 <	--YK-->	1 <	--NW-->	265 <	--Canada/Total-->
Parties that won no seats:																Vote (%):	9.6 <	--BC-->	21.6 <	--Alb-->	0.4 <	--Sask-->	1.8 <	--Man-->	0.3 <	--Ont-->	0.6 <	--Que-->	0.7 <	--NB-->	<	--NS-->	<	--PEI-->	<	--NL-->	<	--YK-->	<	--NW-->	2.6 <	--Canada/Total-->	Independent	Vote (%):	<	--BC-->	<	--Alb-->	xx <	--Sask-->	xx <	--Man-->	0.1 <	--Ont-->	0.6 <	--Que-->	<	--NB-->	<	--NS-->	<	--PEI-->	<	--NL-->	<	--YK-->	<	--NW-->	0.2 <	--Canada/Total-->	Independent Liberal	Vote (%):	<	--BC-->	<	--Alb-->	<	--Sask-->	<	--Man-->	<	--Ont-->	0.6 <	--Que-->	<	--NB-->	<	--NS-->	<	--PEI-->	0.2 <	--NL-->	<	--YK-->	<	--NW-->	0.2 <	--Canada/Total-->	Vote (%):	0.4 <	--BC-->	0.3 <	--Alb-->	0.1 <	--Sask-->	0.4 <	--Man-->	0.1 <	--Ont-->	0.1 <	--Que-->	<	--NB-->	<	--NS-->	<	--PEI-->	<	--NL-->	<	--YK-->	<	--NW-->	0.1 <	--Canada/Total-->	C. des électeurs	Vote (%):	<	--BC-->	<	--Alb-->	<	--Sask-->	<	--Man-->	<	--Ont-->	0.4 <	--Que-->	<	--NB-->	<	--NS-->	<	--PEI-->	<	--NL-->	<	--YK-->	<	--NW-->	0.1 <	--Canada/Total-->	Independent PC	Vote (%):	<	--BC-->	0.1 <	--Alb-->	<	--Sask-->	<	--Man-->	0.1 <	--Ont-->	<	--Que-->	<	--NB-->	<	--NS-->	<	--PEI-->	<	--NL-->	<	--YK-->	<	--NW-->	xx <	--Canada/Total-->	Vote (%):	<	--BC-->	<	--Alb-->	<	--Sask-->	<	--Man-->	xx <	--Ont-->	xx <	--Que-->	<	--NB-->	<	--NS-->	<	--PEI-->	<	--NL-->	<	--YK-->	<	--NW-->	xx <	--Canada/Total-->	Capitale familiale	Vote (%):	<	--BC-->	<	--Alb-->	<	--Sask-->	<	--Man-->	<	--Ont-->	xx <	--Que-->	<	--NB-->	<	--NS-->	<	--PEI-->	<	--NL-->	<	--YK-->	<	--NW-->	xx <	--Canada/Total-->	Radical chrétien	Vote (%):	<	--BC-->	<	--Alb-->	<	--Sask-->	<	--Man-->	<	--Ont-->	xx <	--Que-->	<	--NB-->	<	--NS-->	<	--PEI-->	<	--NL-->	<	--YK-->	<	--NW-->	xx <	--Canada/Total-->	Independent SC	Vote (%):	<	--BC-->	0.1 <	--Alb-->	<	--Sask-->	<	--Man-->	<	--Ont-->	<	--Que-->	<	--NB-->	<	--NS-->	<	--PEI-->	<	--NL-->	<	--YK-->	<	--NW-->	xx <	--Canada/Total-->	Ouvrier canadien	Vote (%):	<	--BC-->	<	--Alb-->	<	--Sask-->	<	--Man-->	<	--Ont-->	xx <	--Que-->	<	--NB-->	<	--NS-->	<	--PEI-->	<	--NL-->	<	--YK-->	<	--NW-->	xx <	--Canada/Total-->	Ind. Conservative	Vote (%):	<	--BC-->	<	--Alb-->	<	--Sask-->	<	--Man-->	<	--Ont-->	<	--Que-->	<	--NB-->	<	--NS-->	<	--PEI-->	<	--NL-->	2.3 <	--YK-->	<	--NW-->	xx <	--Canada/Total-->

xx - less than 0.05% of the popular vote

See also

• List of Canadian federal general elections
• List of political parties in Canada
• 24th Canadian Parliament

Further reading

• Book: LeDuc . Lawrence . Pammett . Jon H. . McKenzie . Judith L. . Turcotte . André . Dynasties and Interludes: Past and Present in Canadian Electoral Politics . 2010 . Dundurn Press . Toronto . 978-1-55488-886-3 . registration.
• Book: Beck . James Murray . Pendulum of Power; Canada's Federal Elections . 1968 . Prentice-Hall of Canada . Scarborough . 978-0-13-655670-1 . registration.

External links

• The Elections of 1957 and 1958, by P.E. Bryden
• Electoral Results by Party, on Parliament of Canada site

Notes and References

1. Web site: Pomfret. R.. Voter Turnout at Federal Elections and Referendums. Elections Canada. Elections Canada. 23 February 2014.
2. News: Polls indicate PCs due for big win . August 20, 1957 . The Montreal Gazette . 1 . Arthur. Blakely.
3. News: Léger regain libéral depuis novembre; peu de changement . February 1, 1958 . La Presse . 6.
4. News: The most popular party . August 20, 1957 . The Ottawa Citizen . 1 . Frank . Swanson.
5. News: Diefenbaker à Timmins . Le Nouvelliste . March 21, 1958 . 1.