Canadian federal election, 1958

The 24th Canadian General Election (English 24th Canadian General Election, French 24e élection fédérale canadienne ) took place on 31 May 1958. Were elected 265 Members of the Canadian House of Commons (English House of Commons, French Chambre des Communes ). They showed a clear victory of the listed by John Diefenbaker Progressive Conservative Party, which achieved the highest share of the vote in its history and has won more than three-quarters of the seats.

The choice

Prime Minister Diefenbaker, Canadian Prime Minister since June 1957, could only govern with a minority. To clarify the situation, he called a general election. He benefited from two factors:

The Liberals had chosen the former Foreign Minister Lester Pearson as the new Chairman in January 1958. This celebrated at the beginning of his work as leader of the opposition a tactical error. In the House, he called for the progressive- conservative minority government to cede power without elections to the Liberals, as the economy would be in a recession. Then Diefenbaker made ​​a secret paper of the Liberal Republic, in the actual recession was predicted. However, this was so obvious in contrast to the liberal campaign promises from 1957 that the opposition lost its credibility.

Since the conscription crisis of 1917, the French-speaking province of Quebec had chosen predominantly liberal. However, after the resignation of Louis Saint -Laurent in 1957, she was no longer represented with a strong personality in the federal government. The powerful, conservative - nationalist provincial party National Union of Maurice Duplessis supported now at the federal level, the Progressive Conservatives, who were able to take in the liberal stronghold foot.

The Progressive Conservatives achieved the best result in its history. Your vote share of 53.66 % is the highest, the one party at the federal level ever achieved. With 208 seats, they now had a comfortable majority. The Liberals, however, achieved the worst result ever. Also sensitive seat losses had the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation to accept, while the Social Credit Party was no longer represented.

The turnout was 79.4 %.

Results

Overall result

Result by provinces and territories

Note

462327
de