The Canadian federal election of 1925 was held on October 29 to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons

Canadian House of Commons

The House of Commons of Canada is a component of the Parliament of Canada, along with the Sovereign and the Senate. The House of Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 308 members known as Members of Parliament...

 of the 15th Parliament

15th Canadian Parliament

The 15th Canadian Parliament was in session from January 7, 1926 until July 2, 1926. The membership was set by the 1925 federal election on October 29, 1925, and it changed only somewhat due to resignations and by-elections until it was dissolved prior to the 1926 election.Initially, it was...

 of Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

. Prime Minister

Prime Minister of Canada

The Prime Minister of Canada is the primary minister of the Crown, chairman of the Cabinet, and thus head of government for Canada, charged with advising the Canadian monarch or viceroy on the exercise of the executive powers vested in them by the constitution...

 William Lyon Mackenzie King

William Lyon Mackenzie King

William Lyon Mackenzie King, PC, OM, CMG was the dominant Canadian political leader from the 1920s through the 1940s. He served as the tenth Prime Minister of Canada from December 29, 1921 to June 28, 1926; from September 25, 1926 to August 7, 1930; and from October 23, 1935 to November 15, 1948...

's Liberal Party

Liberal Party of Canada

The Liberal Party of Canada , colloquially known as the Grits, is the oldest federally registered party in Canada. In the conventional political spectrum, the party sits between the centre and the centre-left. Historically the Liberal Party has positioned itself to the left of the Conservative...

 formed a minority government

Minority government

A minority government or a minority cabinet is a cabinet of a parliamentary system formed when a political party or coalition of parties does not have a majority of overall seats in the parliament but is sworn into government to break a Hung Parliament election result. It is also known as a...

. This precipitated the "King-Byng Affair

King-Byng Affair

The King–Byng Affair was a Canadian constitutional crisis that occurred in 1926, when the Governor General of Canada, the Lord Byng of Vimy, refused a request by his prime minister, William Lyon Mackenzie King, to dissolve parliament and call a general election....

".

The Liberals under Mackenzie King won fewer seats than Arthur Meighen

Arthur Meighen

Arthur Meighen, PC, QC was a Canadian lawyer and politician. He served two terms as the ninth Prime Minister of Canada: from July 10, 1920 to December 29, 1921; and from June 29 to September 25, 1926. He was the first Prime Minister born after Confederation, and the only one to represent a riding...

's Conservatives

Conservative Party of Canada (historical)

The Conservative Party of Canada has gone by a variety of names over the years since Canadian Confederation. Initially known as the "Liberal-Conservative Party", it dropped "Liberal" from its name in 1873, although many of its candidates continued to use this name.As a result of World War I and the...

. A third party, the Progressives

Progressive Party of Canada

The Progressive Party of Canada was a political party in Canada in the 1920s and 1930s. It was linked with the provincial United Farmers parties in several provinces and, in Manitoba, ran candidates and formed governments as the Progressive Party of Manitoba...

, which had nominated candidates for the first time in the 1921 election

Canadian federal election, 1921

The Canadian federal election of 1921 was held on December 6, 1921 to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons of the 14th Parliament of Canada. The Union government that had governed Canada through the First World War was defeated, and replaced by a Liberal government under the young leader...

, held the balance of the seats. King decided to hold onto power with the help of the Progressives. The Progressives were closely aligned with the Liberals, and enabled King to form a minority government.

This plan was complicated by the fact that his party lost the election, and that King himself had lost his seat in the House of Commons. Meighen was outraged by King's move, and demanded that King resign from the Prime Minister

Prime Minister of Canada

The Prime Minister of Canada is the primary minister of the Crown, chairman of the Cabinet, and thus head of government for Canada, charged with advising the Canadian monarch or viceroy on the exercise of the executive powers vested in them by the constitution...

's office. King asked a Liberal Member of Parliament from Prince Albert, Saskatchewan

Prince Albert, Saskatchewan

Prince Albert is the third-largest city in Saskatchewan, Canada. It is situated in the centre of the province on the banks of the North Saskatchewan River. The city is known as the "Gateway to the North" because it is the last major centre along the route to the resources of northern Saskatchewan...

 to resign so that he could run in the resulting by-election

By-election

A by-election is an election held to fill a political office that has become vacant between regularly scheduled elections....

. Prince Albert was one of the safest seats in Canada for the Liberals, and King won easily.

With King back in Parliament, a huge scandal rocked the King cabinet when one of his appointees was discovered to be accepting bribes. Anticipating a vote of censure by the Commons, King asked the Governor General

Governor General of Canada

The Governor General of Canada is the federal viceregal representative of the Canadian monarch, Queen Elizabeth II...

, Baron Byng of Vimy

Julian Byng, 1st Viscount Byng of Vimy

Field Marshal Julian Hedworth George Byng, 1st Viscount Byng of Vimy was a British Army officer who served as Governor General of Canada, the 12th since Canadian Confederation....

, to call an election. The Governor General refused, and King resigned.

King claimed this was interference in Canadian politics by an official appointed by a foreign power. King showed rare fire, and rallied the Progressives back into his camp. He defeated Meighen on a vote of confidence after only three days, making the Meighen government of 1926 the shortest lived government in Canadian history. This time, Byng called an election.

National results

Party		Party leader	# of candidates	Seats			Popular vote
				1921 Canadian federal election, 1921 The Canadian federal election of 1921 was held on December 6, 1921 to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons of the 14th Parliament of Canada. The Union government that had governed Canada through the First World War was defeated, and replaced by a Liberal government under the young leader...	Elected	% Change	#	%	% Change	Conservative Conservative Party of Canada (historical) The Conservative Party of Canada has gone by a variety of names over the years since Canadian Confederation. Initially known as the "Liberal-Conservative Party", it dropped "Liberal" from its name in 1873, although many of its candidates continued to use this name.As a result of World War I and the...	Arthur Meighen Arthur Meighen Arthur Meighen, PC, QC was a Canadian lawyer and politician. He served two terms as the ninth Prime Minister of Canada: from July 10, 1920 to December 29, 1921; and from June 29 to September 25, 1926. He was the first Prime Minister born after Confederation, and the only one to represent a riding...	232	49	115	+132.7%	1,454,253	46.13%	+16.18%	Liberal Liberal Party of Canada The Liberal Party of Canada , colloquially known as the Grits, is the oldest federally registered party in Canada. In the conventional political spectrum, the party sits between the centre and the centre-left. Historically the Liberal Party has positioned itself to the left of the Conservative...	Mackenzie King William Lyon Mackenzie King William Lyon Mackenzie King, PC, OM, CMG was the dominant Canadian political leader from the 1920s through the 1940s. He served as the tenth Prime Minister of Canada from December 29, 1921 to June 28, 1926; from September 25, 1926 to August 7, 1930; and from October 23, 1935 to November 15, 1948...	216	118	100	-15.3%	1,252,684	39.74%	-1.41%	Progressive Progressive Party of Canada The Progressive Party of Canada was a political party in Canada in the 1920s and 1930s. It was linked with the provincial United Farmers parties in several provinces and, in Manitoba, ran candidates and formed governments as the Progressive Party of Manitoba...	Robert Forke Robert Forke Robert Forke, PC was a Canadian politician. He was elected as Member of Parliament for Brandon in 1921. In 1922, he replaced Thomas Crerar as leader of the Progressive Party of Canada...	68	58	22	-62.1%	266,319	8.45%	-12.65%	Labour	J.S. Woodsworth	20	3	2	-33.3%	56,987	1.81%	-0.93%	Independent		8	2	2	-	16,212	0.51%	-2.52%	United Farmers of Alberta United Farmers of Alberta The United Farmers of Alberta is an association of Alberta farmers that has served many different roles throughout its history as a lobby group, a political party, and as a farm-supply retail chain. Since 1934 it has primarily been an agricultural supply cooperative headquartered in Calgary...		2	2	2	-	8,053	0.26%	-0.46%	Independent Liberal		10	-	1		31,140	0.99%	+0.90%	Independent Conservative		6	1	1	-	16,759	0.53%	+0.14%	Unknown		5	-	-	-	20,583	0.65%	+0.16%	Liberal-Protectionist		2	*	-	*	6,915	0.22%	*	Independent Liberal-Progressive Liberal-Progressive Liberal-Progressive was a label used by a number of candidates in Canadian elections between 1926 and 1953. In federal and Ontario politics, there was no formal Liberal-Progressive party, but it was an alliance between two separate parties...		1	*	-	*	4,958	0.16%	*	Labour-Farmer		2	*	-	*	4,774	0.15%	*	Liberal-Progressive Liberal-Progressive Liberal-Progressive was a label used by a number of candidates in Canadian elections between 1926 and 1953. In federal and Ontario politics, there was no formal Liberal-Progressive party, but it was an alliance between two separate parties...		1	*	-	*	3,319	0.11%	*	Independent Labour		1	*	-	*	2,901	0.09%	*	Socialist Socialist Party of Canada There have been two different but related political parties in Canada that called themselves the Socialist Party of Canada . The current Socialist Party is an electorally inactive and unregistered federal political party in Canada...		1	-	-	-	1,888	0.06%	-0.04%	Independent Progressive		1	1	-	-100%	1,768	0.06%	-0.05%	Farmer		1	*	-	*	1,130	0.04%	*	Progressive-Conservative Progressive-Conservative (candidate) The label Progressive-Conservative was used by some candidates for the Canadian House of Commons in the 1925, 1926, 1930 and 1935 federal elections...		1	*	-	*	1,120	0.04%	*	Farmer-Labour		1	*	-	*	762	0.02%	*
Total			579	235	245	+3.8%	3,152,525	100%
Sources: http://www.elections.ca -- History of Federal Ridings since 1867

Notes:

* not applicable - the party was not recognized in the previous election

Results by province

Party name			BC British Columbia British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...	AB Alberta Alberta is a province of Canada. It had an estimated population of 3.7 million in 2010 making it the most populous of Canada's three prairie provinces...	SK Saskatchewan Saskatchewan is a prairie province in Canada, which has an area of . Saskatchewan is bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, and on the south by the U.S. states of Montana and North Dakota....	MB Manitoba Manitoba is a Canadian prairie province with an area of . The province has over 110,000 lakes and has a largely continental climate because of its flat topography. Agriculture, mostly concentrated in the fertile southern and western parts of the province, is vital to the province's economy; other...	ON Ontario Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....	QC Quebec Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....	NB New Brunswick New Brunswick is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the only province in the federation that is constitutionally bilingual . The provincial capital is Fredericton and Saint John is the most populous city. Greater Moncton is the largest Census Metropolitan Area...	NS Nova Scotia Nova Scotia is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the most populous province in Atlantic Canada. The name of the province is Latin for "New Scotland," but "Nova Scotia" is the recognized, English-language name of the province. The provincial capital is Halifax. Nova Scotia is the...	PE Prince Edward Island Prince Edward Island is a Canadian province consisting of an island of the same name, as well as other islands. The maritime province is the smallest in the nation in both land area and population...	YK Yukon Yukon is the westernmost and smallest of Canada's three federal territories. It was named after the Yukon River. The word Yukon means "Great River" in Gwich’in....	Total	Conservative Conservative Party of Canada The Conservative Party of Canada , is a political party in Canada which was formed by the merger of the Canadian Alliance and the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada in 2003. It is positioned on the right of the Canadian political spectrum...	Seats:	10	3	-	7	67	4	10	11	2	1	115	Popular Vote (%):	49.3	31.8	25.4	41.3	56.3	34.2	59.7	56.4	33.1	59.4	46.1	Liberal Liberal Party of Canada The Liberal Party of Canada , colloquially known as the Grits, is the oldest federally registered party in Canada. In the conventional political spectrum, the party sits between the centre and the centre-left. Historically the Liberal Party has positioned itself to the left of the Conservative...	Seats:	3	4	15	1	12	59	1	3	2	-	100	Vote (%):	34.7	27.6	41.9	20.3	30.9	59.6	37.0	41.9	52.0	40.6	39.7	Progressive Progressive Party of Canada The Progressive Party of Canada was a political party in Canada in the 1920s and 1930s. It was linked with the provincial United Farmers parties in several provinces and, in Manitoba, ran candidates and formed governments as the Progressive Party of Manitoba...	Seats:	-	7	6	7	2						22	Vote (%):	6.1	26.5	31.8	25.1	8.8						8.5	Labour	Seats:	-	-		2	-	-		-			2	Vote:	6.3	6.1		9.6	1.2	0.2		1.6			1.8	Independent	Seats:	1				-	1	-				2	Vote (%):	2.6				0.6	1.4	0.8				0.5	United Farmers of Alberta United Farmers of Alberta The United Farmers of Alberta is an association of Alberta farmers that has served many different roles throughout its history as a lobby group, a political party, and as a farm-supply retail chain. Since 1934 it has primarily been an agricultural supply cooperative headquartered in Calgary...	Seats:		2									2	Vote (%):		5.0									0.3	Independent Liberal	Seats:						1					1	Vote (%):						3.8					1.0	Independent Conservative	Seats:					1						1	Vote (%):					1.4						0.5
Total seats			14	16	21	17	82	65	11	14	4	1	245
Parties that won no seats:														Unknown	Vote (%):			0.1		0.9	0.2			15.0		0.7	Liberal-Protectionist	Vote (%):						0.9					0.2	Independent Liberal-Progressive Liberal-Progressive Liberal-Progressive was a label used by a number of candidates in Canadian elections between 1926 and 1953. In federal and Ontario politics, there was no formal Liberal-Progressive party, but it was an alliance between two separate parties...	Vote (%):							3.3				0.2	Labour-Farmer	Vote (%):		3.0									0.2	Liberal-Progressive Liberal-Progressive Liberal-Progressive was a label used by a number of candidates in Canadian elections between 1926 and 1953. In federal and Ontario politics, there was no formal Liberal-Progressive party, but it was an alliance between two separate parties...	Vote (%):				1.9							0.1	Independent Labour	Vote (%):				1.7							0.1	Socialist Socialist Party of Canada There have been two different but related political parties in Canada that called themselves the Socialist Party of Canada . The current Socialist Party is an electorally inactive and unregistered federal political party in Canada...	Vote (%):	1.0										0.1	Independent Progressive	Vote (%):			0.9								0.1	Farmer	Vote (%):						0.1					xx	Progressive-Conservative Progressive-Conservative (candidate) The label Progressive-Conservative was used by some candidates for the Canadian House of Commons in the 1925, 1926, 1930 and 1935 federal elections...	Vote (%):						0.1					xx	Farmer-Labour	Vote (%):					0.1						xx

See also

• List of Canadian federal general elections
• List of political parties in Canada
• 15th Canadian Parliament
  15th Canadian Parliament
  The 15th Canadian Parliament was in session from January 7, 1926 until July 2, 1926. The membership was set by the 1925 federal election on October 29, 1925, and it changed only somewhat due to resignations and by-elections until it was dissolved prior to the 1926 election.Initially, it was...
  
  

External links

• Principles vs Puffiness, by J.L. Granatstein