1908 Canadian federal election

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| <- 1904 | October 26, 1908 | 1911 ->

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<- outgoing members

elected members ->

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221 seats in the House of Commons
111 seats needed for a majority
Turnout| 70.3%[1] (1.3pp)
|  | First party  | Second party

|
|

|  |
Leader  | Wilfrid Laurier | Robert Borden
Party  | Liberal | Conservative
Leader since  | 1887  | 1901
Leader's seat  | Quebec East[a] | Halifax[b]
Last election  | 137 seats, 50.9%  | 75 seats, 45.9%
Seats won  | 133  | 85
Seat change  | 4  | 10
Popular vote  | 570,311  | 539,374
Percentage  | 48.9%  | 46.2%
Swing  | 2.0%  | 0.3%

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The Canadian parliament after the 1908 election

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| Prime Minister before election

Wilfrid Laurier
Liberal

| Prime Minister after election

Wilfrid Laurier
Liberal

|

The 1908 Canadian federal election was held on Monday October 26, 1908 to elect members of the House of Commons of Canada of the 11th Parliament of Canada. Prime Minister Sir Wilfrid Laurier's Liberal Party of Canada was re-elected for a fourth consecutive term in government with a majority government. The Liberals lost four seats and a small share of the popular vote.

Sir Robert Borden's Conservatives and Liberal-Conservatives won ten additional seats.

This was the first election in which Alberta and Saskatchewan voted as provinces. Following their creation in 1905, the two new provinces continued to be represented by MP's initially elected under the old Northwest Territories riding boundaries, some of which straddled the new provincial border. The remainder of the Northwest Territories that previously had Parliamentary representation lost it, although parts of the NWT would gain or re-gain representation after being added to Manitoba, Ontario and Quebec in 1912. A seat would not be created for the NWT itself again (which then contained the modern NWT and Nunavut) until 1949.

This is the most recent election in which a prime minister was able to lead their party to a fourth consecutive mandate.

## National results

[edit]

Party  | Party leader  | # of
candidates  | Seats  | Popular vote

|
|
|
|

1904 | Elected | Change  | #  | %  | Change
| Liberal | Wilfrid Laurier | 213  | 137  | 133  | -2.9%  | 570,311  | 48.87%  | -2.01pp
| Conservative | Robert Borden | 207  | 70  | 82  | +17.1%  | 524,641  | 44.95%  | +0.55pp
| Liberal-Conservative | 4  | 5  | 3 | -40.0%  | 14,733  | 1.26%  | -0.27pp
| Independent  | 15  | 1  | 1 | \-  | 16,903  | 1.45%  | +0.45pp
| Labour |  | 3  | \-  | 1 |  | 10,400  | 0.89%  | +0.68pp
| Unknown  | 7  | \-  | \-  | \-  | 13,478  | 1.15%  | +0.02pp
| Socialist |  | 5  | \-  | \-  | \-  | 6,071  | 0.52%  | +0.35pp
| Independent Conservative  | 2  | 1  | 1 | -100%  | 5,314  | 0.46%  | -0.04pp
| Independent Liberal  | 5  | \-  | \-  | \-  | 5,191  | 0.44%  | +0.41pp
Total | 461  | 214  | 221  | +2.8%  | 1,167,042  | 100%  |
Sources: http://www.elections.ca \-- History of Federal Ridings since 1867 Archived 2008-12-04 at the Wayback Machine

## Results by province

[edit]

Party  | BC | AB | SK | MB | ON | QC | NB | NS | PE | YK | Total

|
|
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|
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|
|
|
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| Liberal | Seats:  | 2  | 4  | 9  | 2  | 37  | 52  | 11  | 12  | 3  | 1  | 133
| Popular vote (%):  | 35.9  | 50.2  | 56.6  | 45.4  | 45.0  | 53.0  | 56.2  | 51.0  | 50.4  | 40.2  | 48.9
| Conservative | Seats:  | 5  | 2  | 1  | 8  | 46  | 12  | 2  | 5  | 1  | \-  | 82
| Vote (%):  | 46.8  | 38.1  | 36.8  | 51.5  | 49.2  | 39.5  | 43.8  | 44.5  | 49.6  | 10.8  | 45.0
| Liberal-Conservative | Seats:  |  | 1  |  |  | 1  |  |  | 1  |  |  | 3
| Vote (%):  |  | 6.4  |  |  | 1.5  |  |  | 4.5  |  |  | 1.3
| Independent  | Seats:  | \-  | \-  | \-  | \-  | 1  | \-  |  |  |  |  | 1
| Vote (%):  | 8.9  | 3.7  | 0.6  | 0.1  | 1.8  | 1.1  |  |  |  |  | 1.5
| Labour | Seats:  |  |  |  |  | \-  | 1  |  |  |  |  | 1
| Vote (%):  |  |  |  |  | 0.7  | 2.6  |  |  |  |  | 0.9
| Independent Conservative  | Seats:  |  |  | \-  |  | 1  |  |  |  |  |  | 1
| Vote (%):  |  |  | 5.9  |  | 0.4  |  |  |  |  |  | 0.5
Total seats | 7 | 7 | 10 | 10 | 86 | 65 | 13 | 18 | 4 | 1 | 221
Parties that won no seats:
| Unknown  | Vote (%):  | 1.3  |  |  |  | 1.4  | 1.9  |  |  |  | 49.0  | 1.2
| Socialist | Vote (%):  | 7.1  | 1.6  |  | 2.9  | 0.2  |  |  |  |  |  | 0.5
| Independent Liberal  | Vote (%):  |  |  | 0.1  |  |  | 1.8  |  |  |  |  | 0.4

## See also

[edit]

* Canada portal
* Politics portal

* List of Canadian federal general elections
* List of political parties in Canada
* 11th Canadian Parliament

## Notes

[edit]

1. ^ Laurier was also elected in Ottawa (City of); he chose to sit for Quebec East instead, and resigned as the Member of Parliament for Ottawa (City of).
2. ^ Borden was also elected in Carleton, which he represented during the previous Parliament; he chose to sit for Halifax instead, and resigned as the Member of Parliament for Carleton.

## References

[edit]

1. ^ "Voter Turnout at Federal Elections and Referendums". Retrieved March 10, 2019.

## Further reading

[edit]

* Hopkins, J. Castell (1909). The Canadian Annual Review of Public Affairs, 1908. Toronto: The Annual Review Publishing Company.

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