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

Liberal
Pierre Trudeau · -38 seats · 38.4%
109
seats
Progressive Conservative
Robert Stanfield · +34 seats · 35.0%
107
seats
New Democratic
David Lewis · +6 seats · 17.8%
31
seats
Social Credit
Réal Caouette · 0 seats · 7.5%
15
seats

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
BC 4 (28.9%)AB 0 (25.0%)SK 1 (25.3%)MB 2 (30.9%)ON 36 (38.2%)QC 56 (48.9%)NB 5 (43.1%)NS 1 (33.9%)PE 1 (40.5%)NL 3 (44.8%)NT 0 (29.3%)YT 0 (32.2%)
109
seats
Progressive Conservative
BC 8 (33.0%)AB 19 (57.6%)SK 7 (36.9%)MB 8 (41.6%)ON 40 (39.1%)QC 2 (17.4%)NB 5 (46.8%)NS 10 (53.4%)PE 3 (51.9%)NL 4 (49.0%)NT 0 (30.9%)YT 1 (53.0%)
107
seats
New Democratic
BC 11 (35.0%)AB 0 (12.6%)SK 5 (35.9%)MB 3 (26.3%)ON 11 (21.5%)QC 0 (6.8%)NB 0 (6.3%)NS 0 (12.3%)PE 0 (7.5%)NL 0 (4.7%)NT 1 (39.8%)YT 0 (11.6%)
31
seats
Social Credit
BC 0 (2.6%)AB 0 (4.5%)SK 0 (1.8%)MB 0 (0.7%)ON 0 (0.4%)QC 15 (24.3%)NB 0 (3.2%)NS 0 (0.3%)PE 0 (0.1%)NL 0 (0.2%)
15
seats
Independent
BC 0 (0.2%)AB 0 (<0.1%)SK 0 (<0.1%)MB 0 (0.1%)ON 0 (0.2%)QC 1 (1.7%)NB 0 (0.3%)NL 0 (0.4%)YT 0 (3.1%)
1
seats
No affiliation
BC 0 (<0.1%)AB 0 (0.1%)SK 0 (<0.1%)MB 0 (<0.1%)ON 1 (0.5%)QC 0 (0.2%)NS 0 (<0.1%)
1
seats
Total seats
264