Canadian federal election, 1949
The 21st Canadian general election ( engl. 21st Canadian General Election, French 21e élection fédérale canadienne ) took place on 27 June 1949. Were elected 262 Members of the Canadian House of Commons (English House of Commons, French Chambre des Communes ).
The choice
These were the first elections in Canada for nearly thirty years, in which the Liberal Party was not led by William Lyon Mackenzie King. King was previously withdrawn in the year and was replaced by Louis Saint -Laurent as prime minister and party leader. Saint -Laurent led his party for the fourth election in a row; the Liberals achieved almost 50 % of the votes and secured an overwhelming majority of seats.
The Progressive Conservative Party joined with George Alexander Drew, the former Prime Minister of the Province of Ontario, as the new chairman. But she did not succeed to achieve significant success outside their stronghold Ontario and even suffered losses. The other parties, including the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation and the Social Credit Party, also achieved a worse outcome.
For the first time the people of Newfoundland and Labrador participated in nationwide elections. This province was almost four months earlier joined the Canadian Confederation.
The turnout was 73.8 %.