1963 Canadian Federal Election

April 8, 1963 · Diefenbaker & Pearson · 265 seats, 133 for a majority

The collapse of Diefenbaker's government over nuclear warheads for Bomarc missiles let Lester Pearson form a minority government, beginning the five-year Parliament that produced medicare, the pension plan and the flag.

Prime Minister before

John Diefenbaker

Progressive Conservative

Prime Minister after

Lester B. Pearson

Liberal

Government formed

Liberal

minority government

Turnout

79.2%

The result

Liberal
Lester B. Pearson · +29 seats · 41.5%
128
seats
Progressive Conservative
John Diefenbaker · -21 seats · 32.8%
95
seats
Social Credit
Robert N. Thompson · -6 seats · 11.9%
24
seats
New Democratic
Tommy Douglas · -2 seats · 13.2%
17
seats

1 further seat 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 7 (32.3%)AB 1 (22.1%)SK 0 (24.1%)MB 2 (33.8%)ON 51 (45.8%)QC 47 (45.6%)NB 6 (47.3%)NS 5 (46.7%)PE 2 (46.4%)NL 7 (64.5%)YT 0 (41.0%)NT 0 (43.2%)
128
seats
Progressive Conservative
BC 4 (23.4%)AB 14 (45.3%)SK 17 (53.7%)MB 10 (42.3%)ON 27 (35.0%)QC 8 (19.5%)NB 4 (40.4%)NS 7 (46.9%)PE 2 (52.0%)NL 0 (30.1%)YT 1 (49.6%)NT 1 (56.8%)
95
seats
Social Credit
BC 2 (13.3%)AB 2 (25.8%)SK 0 (3.9%)MB 0 (7.0%)ON 0 (2.0%)QC 20 (27.3%)NB 0 (8.6%)NS 0 (0.1%)YT 0 (9.4%)
24
seats
New Democratic
BC 9 (30.3%)AB 0 (6.5%)SK 0 (18.2%)MB 2 (16.7%)ON 6 (16.2%)QC 0 (7.1%)NB 0 (3.7%)NS 0 (6.4%)PE 0 (1.6%)NL 0 (4.2%)
17
seats
Liberal-Labour
ON 1 (0.6%)
1
seats
Total seats
265