1878 Canadian Federal Election

September 17, 1878 · Macdonald's Canada · 206 seats, 104 for a majority

Macdonald completed his comeback from the Pacific Scandal, sweeping back to power on the National Policy of protective tariffs against Mackenzie's depression-worn free-trade government.

Prime Minister before

Alexander Mackenzie

Liberal

Prime Minister after

John A. Macdonald

Conservative

Government formed

Conservative

majority government

Turnout

69.1%

The result

Conservative
John A. Macdonald · +69 seats · 42.1%
134
seats
Liberal
Alexander Mackenzie · -66 seats · 33.0%
63
seats

9 further seats went to parties and independents outside the main contenders listed above.

The result by province & territory

Seats won and vote share in each province and territory. Blank cells mean the party did not contest the province; the results table splits allied labels (Liberal-Conservatives, farmers' candidates, independents) that the headline figures group together.

Conservative
BC 1MB 2 (49.6%)ON 37 (25.5%)QC 33 (35.0%)NB 1 (5.9%)NS 8 (21.7%)PE 3 (31.6%)
85
seats
Liberal-Conservative
BC 2 (39.6%)MB 1ON 23 (15.8%)QC 12 (13.2%)NB 3 (14.3%)NS 6 (22.7%)PE 2 (12.0%)
49
seats
Liberal
BC 2ON 27 (36.3%)QC 17 (21.7%)NB 9 (48.2%)NS 7 (34.9%)PE 1 (37.2%)
63
seats
Independent
BC 1 (12.2%)ON 1 (1.5%)QC 1 (1.6%)NB 2 (13.1%)NS 0 (4.3%)
5
seats
Independent Conservative
MB 1 (50.4%)QC 1 (0.7%)
2
seats
Unknown
BC 0 (48.2%)ON 0 (19.9%)QC 0 (27.4%)NB 0 (14.8%)NS 0 (14.7%)PE 0 (19.3%)
20.9%
Independent Liberal
ON 0 (1.0%)NB 1 (3.7%)NS 0 (1.7%)
1
seats
Nationalist Conservative
QC 1 (0.3%)NS 0
1
seats
Total seats
206