John Diefenbaker's Progressive Conservatives ended 22 consecutive years of Liberal government with a minority upset over St. Laurent, whose party had won the popular vote. Within a year Diefenbaker would convert it into the biggest landslide in Canadian history.
Prime Minister before
Louis St. Laurent
Liberal
Prime Minister after
John Diefenbaker
Progressive Conservative
Government formed
Progressive Conservative
minority government
Turnout
74.1%
The result
Progressive Conservative
John Diefenbaker · +61 seats · 38.5%
112
seats
Liberal
Louis St. Laurent · -64 seats · 40.5%
105
seats
CCF
Major James Coldwell · +2 seats · 10.6%
25
seats
Social Credit
Solon Earl Low · +4 seats · 6.5%
19
seats
Share of House
Progressive Conservative
John Diefenbaker
112
+61
2,572,926
38.5%
+7.5
Liberal
Louis St. Laurent
105
-64
2,702,573
40.5%
-8.0
CCF
Major James Coldwell
25
+2
707,659
10.6%
-0.7
Social Credit
Solon Earl Low
19
+4
437,049
6.5%
+1.1
4 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.