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
| Share of House | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Liberal | Wilfrid Laurier | 117 | +27 | 401,425 | 41.4% | -3.8 | |
| Conservative | Charles Tupper | 86 | -31 | 467,415 | 48.2% | -0.4 |
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 | 351.2% | 346.0% | 231.0% | 4340.5% | 4953.8% | 442.5% | 1031.9% | 251.0% | 11741.4% |
| Conservative | 248.8% | 143.9% | 345.1% | 3440.9% | 1645.2% | 431.5% | 965.4% | 240.5% | 7144.4% |
| Liberal-Conservative | 18.0% | 74.0% | 00.4% | 517.5% | 12.2% | 18.5% | 152.2% | ||
| Nationalist | 03.2% | 00.5% | 01.5% | ||||||
| Independent Conservative | 43.0% | 41.3% | |||||||
| Patrons of Industry | 07.6% | 28.3% | 00.7% | 23.9% | |||||
| McCarthyite | 18.3% | 12.4% | 21.3% | ||||||
| Independent | 010.0% | 01.4% | 18.6% | 00.5% | 11.4% | ||||
| Independent Liberal | 10.6% | 10.2% | |||||||
| Total seats | 6 | 4 | 7 | 92 | 65 | 14 | 20 | 5 | 213 |