1949 Canadian Federal Election

June 27, 1949 · The King–St. Laurent ascendancy · 262 seats, 132 for a majority

St. Laurent's first election as leader delivered 191 seats, then the largest caucus in Canadian history, with Newfoundland voting federally for the first time after joining Confederation that spring.

Prime Minister before

Louis St. Laurent

Liberal

Prime Minister (continued)

Louis St. Laurent

Liberal

Government formed

Liberal

majority government

Turnout

73.8%

The result

Liberal
Louis St. Laurent · +73 seats · 49.1%
191
seats
Progressive Conservative
George A. Drew · -25 seats · 29.6%
41
seats
CCF
Major James Coldwell · -15 seats · 13.4%
13
seats
Social Credit
Solon Earl Low · -3 seats · 2.3%
10
seats

7 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 11 (36.7%)AB 5 (33.8%)SK 14 (43.4%)MB 11 (45.1%)ON 55 (45.1%)QC 68 (60.4%)NB 8 (53.8%)NS 10 (52.7%)PE 3 (49.2%)NL 5 (71.9%)TERR 1 (49.0%)
191
seats
Progressive Conservative
BC 3 (27.9%)AB 2 (16.8%)SK 1 (14.4%)MB 1 (22.0%)ON 25 (37.4%)QC 2 (24.5%)NB 2 (39.4%)NS 2 (37.5%)PE 1 (48.4%)NL 2 (27.9%)TERR 0
41
seats
Co-operative Commonwealth
BC 3 (31.5%)AB 0 (10.0%)SK 5 (40.9%)MB 3 (25.9%)ON 1 (15.2%)QC 0 (1.1%)NB 0 (4.2%)NS 1 (9.9%)PE 0 (2.4%)NL 0 (0.2%)TERR 0 (17.0%)
13
seats
Social Credit
BC 0 (0.5%)AB 10 (37.4%)SK 0 (0.9%)ON 0 (0.2%)
10
seats
Independent
BC 1 (2.6%)MB 0 (2.1%)ON 0 (0.1%)QC 3 (6.1%)NB 0 (0.2%)TERR 0 (34.0%)
4
seats
Independent Liberal
ON 1 (0.3%)QC 0 (1.3%)NB 0 (1.4%)
1
seats
Liberal-Labour
ON 1 (0.6%)QC 0 (<0.1%)
1
seats
Liberal-Progressive
MB 1 (2.9%)
1
seats
Total seats
262