1896 Canadian Federal Election

June 23, 1896 · The Laurier era · 213 seats, 107 for a majority

Wilfrid Laurier became the first French-Canadian Prime Minister, winning on the Manitoba Schools Question despite taking fewer votes than Tupper's Conservatives, and settling it by compromise ('sunny ways'). The Liberals would govern for fifteen years.

Prime Minister before

Charles Tupper

Conservative

Prime Minister after

Wilfrid Laurier

Liberal

Government formed

Liberal

majority government

Turnout

62.9%

The result

Liberal
Wilfrid Laurier · +27 seats · 41.4%
117
seats
Conservative
Charles Tupper · -31 seats · 48.2%
86
seats

10 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.

Liberal
BC 3 (51.2%)NT 3 (46.0%)MB 2 (31.0%)ON 43 (40.5%)QC 49 (53.8%)NB 4 (42.5%)NS 10 (31.9%)PE 2 (51.0%)
117
seats
Conservative
BC 2 (48.8%)NT 1 (43.9%)MB 3 (45.1%)ON 34 (40.9%)QC 16 (45.2%)NB 4 (31.5%)NS 9 (65.4%)PE 2 (40.5%)
71
seats
Liberal-Conservative
MB 1 (8.0%)ON 7 (4.0%)QC 0 (0.4%)NB 5 (17.5%)NS 1 (2.2%)PE 1 (8.5%)
15
seats
Nationalist
ON 0 (3.2%)QC 0 (0.5%)
0
seats
Independent Conservative
ON 4 (3.0%)
4
seats
Patrons of Industry
MB 0 (7.6%)ON 2 (8.3%)QC 0 (0.7%)
2
seats
McCarthyite
MB 1 (8.3%)ON 1 (2.4%)
2
seats
Independent
NT 0 (10.0%)ON 0 (1.4%)NB 1 (8.6%)NS 0 (0.5%)
1
seats
Independent Liberal
ON 1 (0.6%)
1
seats
Total seats
213