Canadian federal election, 1921
The 14th Canadian General Election (english 14th Canadian General Election, French 14e élection fédérale canadienne ) took place on December 6, 1921. Were elected 235 Members of the Canadian House of Commons (English House of Commons, French Chambre des Communes ). The Unionist coalition that had governed Canada at the end of the First World War, was broken. It was replaced by the Liberals, led by William Lyon Mackenzie King, the dominant politician of the next quarter century. The newly formed Progressive Party became the second strongest force, leaving the Conservative party behind him.
The choice
Since the general election in 1911 the country was ruled by the Conservatives, under the leadership of Robert Borden and Arthur Meighen. During the First World War, the Conservatives joined with liberals, who entered the military service, and together formed the Unionist Party. Many Liberal MPs, mostly from Quebec, remained loyal to Wilfrid Laurier. After Laurier death was William Lyon Mackenzie King new Chairman of the Liberal Party.
A number westkanadischer Unionists ( former Liberal ), left in protest against high tariffs on agricultural products, the Unionist coalition. This group led by Thomas Crerar thereupon formed the Progressive Party. Also in these elections, representatives of the workers' movement, led by James Shaver Woodsworth, who formed a political movement after the Winnipeg General Strike of 1919 involved. Arthur Meighen had played a key role in the violent suppression of strikes and incurred the wrath of the unions.
Meighen tried to make the Unionist party a lasting alliance of Tories and Liberals, by having them renamed National Liberal and Conservative Party. But the name change failed and most Unionist Liberals returned either to their old party back or joined the new Progressive Party. In addition to the labor unrest and the agricultural customs duties in the Prairie provinces also had the conscription crisis of 1917 a negative influence on the Conservative party, as they had become virtually unelectable in Québec.
The election results brought a threefold division. The Liberals won 118 seats, one seat more than the absolute majority. Successful they were, particularly in Quebec, in the Maritimes and in a part of Ontario. The Progressive Party dominated in the West and in about one third of Ontario, but won in the more eastern provinces only one seat Conservatives lost two thirds of their seats; successful they were almost exclusively in Ontario and British Columbia.
After had been eligible to vote in the general election in 1917 already the female relatives of soldiers stationed in Europe, the right to vote at the federal level was now extended to all women ( in the provinces were different rules ). Four women stood as candidates, Agnes Macphail of the Progressive Party was the first female member of Parliament in Canada. The turnout was 67.7 %.