1972 Canadian Federal Election
October 30, 1972 · The Trudeau years · 264 seats, 133 for a majority
Trudeau clung to power by two seats, 109 to Stanfield's 107, the closest result in federal history, governing for two years with NDP support under David Lewis's 'corporate welfare bums' Parliament.
Prime Minister before
Pierre Trudeau
Liberal
Prime Minister (continued)
Pierre Trudeau
Liberal
Government formed
Liberal
minority government
Turnout
76.7%
The result
| Share of House | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Liberal | Pierre Trudeau | 109 | -38 | 3,717,804 | 38.4% | -7.1 | |
| Progressive Conservative | Robert Stanfield | 107 | +34 | 3,388,980 | 35.0% | +3.6 | |
| New Democratic | David Lewis | 31 | +6 | 1,725,719 | 17.8% | +0.9 | |
| Social Credit | Réal Caouette | 15 | 0 | 730,759 | 7.5% | +2.3 |
2 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 | 428.9% | 025.0% | 125.3% | 230.9% | 3638.2% | 5648.9% | 543.1% | 133.9% | 140.5% | 344.8% | 029.3% | 032.2% | 10938.4% |
| Progressive Conservative | 833.0% | 1957.6% | 736.9% | 841.6% | 4039.1% | 217.4% | 546.8% | 1053.4% | 351.9% | 449.0% | 030.9% | 153.0% | 10735.0% |
| New Democratic | 1135.0% | 012.6% | 535.9% | 326.3% | 1121.5% | 06.8% | 06.3% | 012.3% | 07.5% | 04.7% | 139.8% | 011.6% | 3117.8% |
| Social Credit | 02.6% | 04.5% | 01.8% | 00.7% | 00.4% | 1524.3% | 03.2% | 00.3% | 00.1% | 00.2% | 157.6% | ||
| Independent | 00.2% | 0<0.1% | 0<0.1% | 00.1% | 00.2% | 11.7% | 00.3% | 00.4% | 03.1% | 10.6% | |||
| No affiliation | 0<0.1% | 00.1% | 0<0.1% | 0<0.1% | 10.5% | 00.2% | 0<0.1% | 10.2% | |||||
| Total seats | 23 | 19 | 13 | 13 | 88 | 74 | 10 | 11 | 4 | 7 | 1 | 1 | 264 |