1917 Canadian Federal Election
Khaki electionDecember 17, 1917 · War & fragmentation · 235 seats, 118 for a majority
The khaki election, the bitterest in Canadian history: Borden's Union government of Conservatives and conscriptionist Liberals crushed Laurier's rump on the conscription question, winning three seats in Quebec against 62. The Wartime Elections Act gave votes to soldiers' female relatives while stripping them from 'enemy-alien' naturalized citizens.
Prime Minister before
Robert Borden
Unionist
Prime Minister (continued)
Robert Borden
Unionist
Government formed
Unionist
majority government
Turnout
75.0%
The result
| Share of House | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unionist | Robert Borden | 153 | +21 | 1,070,694 | 56.9% | +8.4 | |
| Laurier Liberal | Wilfrid Laurier | 82 | -3 | 729,756 | 38.8% | -7.0 |
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.
| Unionist | 1368.4% | 1161.0% | 1674.1% | 1479.7% | 7462.3% | 324.7% | 759.4% | 1248.4% | 249.8% | 154.3% | 15356.9% |
| Laurier Liberal | 025.6% | 130.6% | 023.4% | 120.3% | 832.1% | 6273.4% | 440.6% | 445.5% | 250.2% | 045.7% | 8238.8% |
| Total seats | 13 | 12 | 16 | 15 | 82 | 65 | 11 | 16 | 4 | 1 | 235 |