Canadian federal election, 1965 - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The Canadian federal election of 1965 was held on November 8 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 27th Parliament

27th Canadian Parliament

The 27th Canadian Parliament was in session from January 18, 1966 until April 23, 1968. The membership was set by the 1965 federal election on November 8, 1965, and it changed only somewhat due to resignations and by-elections until it was dissolved prior to the 1968 election.It was controlled by a...

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...

. The 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...

of Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson

Lester B. Pearson

Lester Bowles "Mike" Pearson, PC, OM, CC, OBE was a Canadian professor, historian, civil servant, statesman, diplomat, and politician, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1957 for organizing the United Nations Emergency Force to resolve the Suez Canal Crisis...

was re-elected with a larger number of seats in the House. Although the Liberals lost a small share of the popular vote, they were able to win more seats, but fell just short of having a majority

Majority government

A majority government is when the governing party has an absolute majority of seats in the legislature or parliament in a parliamentary system. This is as opposed to a minority government, where even the largest party wins only a plurality of seats and thus must constantly bargain for support from...

Overview

The Liberals campaigned on their record of having kept the promises made in the 1963 campaign

Canadian federal election, 1963

The Canadian federal election of 1963 was held on April 8 to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons of the 26th Parliament of Canada. It resulted in the defeat of the minority Progressive Conservative government of Prime Minister John Diefenbaker.-Overview:During the Tories' last year in...

, job creation, lowering income taxes, higher wages, higher family allowances and student loans. They promised to implement a national medicare

Medicare (Canada)

Medicare is the unofficial name for Canada's publicly funded universal health insurance system. The formal terminology for the insurance system is provided by the Canada Health Act and the health insurance legislation of the individual provinces and territories.Under the terms of the Canada Health...

program by 1967, and the Canada Pension Plan

Canada Pension Plan

The Canada Pension Plan is a contributory, earnings-related social insurance program. It forms one of the two major components of Canada's public retirement income system, the other component being Old Age Security...

system of public pensions. They urged voters to give them a majority for "five more years of prosperity". The party campaigned under the slogans, "Good Things Happen When a Government Cares About People", and, "For Continued Prosperity".

The Progressive Conservative Party

Progressive Conservative Party of Canada

The Progressive Conservative Party of Canada was a Canadian political party with a centre-right stance on economic issues and, after the 1970s, a centrist stance on social issues....

of John Diefenbaker

John Diefenbaker

John George Diefenbaker, PC, CH, QC was the 13th Prime Minister of Canada, serving from June 21, 1957, to April 22, 1963...

, campaigning with the slogan, "Policies for People, Policies for Progress", lost a small number of seats. Despite losing a second time, Diefenbaker refused to resign as party leader, and was eventually forced from the position by a campaign by the party president Dalton Camp

Dalton Camp

Dalton Kingsley Camp, PC, OC was a Canadian journalist, politician, political strategist and commentator and supporter of the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada. Despite having never been elected to a seat in the House of Commons, he was a prominent and influential politician and a popular...

. Diefenbaker ran to succeed himself in the party's 1967 leadership convention

Progressive Conservative leadership convention, 1967

The 1967 Progressive Conservative leadership election was held to choose a leader for the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada. The convention was held at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto, Ontario, Canada between September 4th and 9th, 1967...

, but lost to Robert Stanfield

Robert Stanfield

Robert Lorne Stanfield, PC, QC was the 17th Premier of Nova Scotia and leader of the federal Progressive Conservative Party of Canada. He is sometimes referred to as "the greatest prime minister Canada never had", and earned the nickname "Honest Bob"...

.

Old age pensions were an important issue in this campaign. The Liberal Party pointed to having increased the pension to $75 per month for persons 70 years of age and older, put in place plans to reduce the eligibility age to 65 by 1970, and to add a "Canada Assistance Program" payment for seniors with lower incomes. The PCs promised to increase OAP to $100 per month for all those 70 years old and over.

The New Democratic Party

New Democratic Party

The New Democratic Party , commonly referred to as the NDP, is a federal social-democratic political party in Canada. The interim leader of the NDP is Nycole Turmel who was appointed to the position due to the illness of Jack Layton, who died on August 22, 2011. The provincial wings of the NDP in...

of Tommy Douglas

Tommy Douglas

Thomas Clement "Tommy" Douglas, was a Scottish-born Baptist minister who became a prominent Canadian social democratic politician...

, campaigning under the slogan, "Fed up? Speak up! Vote for the New Democrats!", increased its share of the popular vote by more than four and a half percentage points, but in winning only four extra seats, it continued to fail to make the electoral break-through that was hoped for when the party was founded in 1960.

The Social Credit Party of Canada

Social Credit Party of Canada

The Social Credit Party of Canada was a conservative-populist political party in Canada that promoted social credit theories of monetary reform...

was split in two before this election: Réal Caouette

Réal Caouette

David Réal Caouette was a Canadian politician from Quebec. He was a Member of Parliament and leader of the Social Credit Party of Canada and founder of the Ralliement des créditistes...

led French-Canadian Socreds out of the party into the new Ralliement créditiste
Ralliement créditiste
Historically in Quebec, Canada, there was a number of political parties that were part of the Canadian social credit movement. There were various parties at different times with different names at the provincial level, all broadly following the social credit philosophy; at various times they had...

(Social Credit Rally), and won more seats than the old party. Robert N. Thompson

Robert N. Thompson

Robert Norman Thompson was a Canadian politician, chiropractor, and educator. He was born in Duluth, Minnesota, to Canadian parents and moved to Canada in 1918 with his family...

continued to lead the Social Credit Party in English-speaking Canada, but lost a significant share of the vote. This would be the last time that the Social Credit Party elected candidates outside Quebec.

This was the first election for the Rhinoceros Party of Canada, a satirical party led by Cornelius the First

Cornelius the First

Cornelius the First was a Canadian black rhinoceros from the Granby Zoo in Granby, Quebec, who was the nominal leader of the federal political party, the Rhinoceros Party of Canada from 1965 to 1993...

. The party fielded only one candidate. Cornelius, a resident of the Granby

Granby, Quebec

Granby is a city in southwestern Quebec, located east of Montreal. The population as of the Canada 2006 Census was 47,637. Granby is the seat of La Haute-Yamaska Regional County Municipality. It is the fifth most populated city in Montérégie after Longueuil, Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Brossard and...

zoo, did not seek election because Canadian election law does not permit rhinoceroses or other zoo animals to seek election.

In order to govern, the minority Liberals relied on the New Democratic Party

New Democratic Party

, and occasionally other smaller opposition parties in order to remain in power. Pearson announced his intention to resign as Liberal leader in December 1967, and was replaced the following April by Pierre Trudeau

Pierre Trudeau

Joseph Philippe Pierre Yves Elliott Trudeau, , usually known as Pierre Trudeau or Pierre Elliott Trudeau, was the 15th Prime Minister of Canada from April 20, 1968 to June 4, 1979, and again from March 3, 1980 to June 30, 1984.Trudeau began his political career campaigning for socialist ideals,...

.

Notably, this election marked the last time that a single conservative party did not win an absolute majority of the vote in Alberta (although the totals of the Progressive Conservatives and Social Credit combined did add up to over two thirds of the vote in that province).

Party platforms

Liberal Party:

implement a national medicare
Medicare (Canada)
Medicare is the unofficial name for Canada's publicly funded universal health insurance system. The formal terminology for the insurance system is provided by the Canada Health Act and the health insurance legislation of the individual provinces and territories.Under the terms of the Canada Health...

program by July 1, 1967;
$500 million for medical and dental research over 15 years;
$40 million university scholarship program over 2 years;
improve crop insurance for farmers;
create a national dairy marketing board;
allow full-time farm workers to participate in Unemployment Insurance;
increase old age security payments;
$100 million programs to build roads in northern Canada;
$25 million to support the coal industry in Nova Scotia
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...

.

Progressive Conservative Party:

increase grants to universities;
special tax deduction for gifts to universities;
grants to support medical and dental research;
establish a federal government grain agency;
provide grants to farmers;
increase old age security payments from $75 per month to $100 per month for senior citizens over the age of 70;
create a national water conservation program, and divert water from northern Canada to southern regions;
develop hydro-electric potential of Nelson River
Nelson River
The Nelson River is a river of north-central North America, in the Canadian province of Manitoba. Its full length is , it has mean discharge of , and has a drainage basin of , of which is in the United States...

, Peace River
Peace River (Canada)
The Peace River is a river in Canada that originates in the Rocky Mountains of northern British Columbia and flows to the northeast through northern Alberta. The Peace River flows into the Slave River, a tributary of the Mackenzie River. The Mackenzie is the 12th longest river in the world,...

and the Bay of Fundy
Bay of Fundy
The Bay of Fundy is a bay on the Atlantic coast of North America, on the northeast end of the Gulf of Maine between the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, with a small portion touching the U.S. state of Maine...

;
reduce corporate and personal income taxes;
provide tax deductions for home-owners.

New Democratic Party:

eliminate university tuition fees;
provide grants for universities' capital costs;
increased funding for technical training;
increase the minimum price for wheat;
increase the old age security payment from $75 per month to $100 per month at age 65;
implement economic planning program that lays down guidelines for wages and prices;
halt unjustified price increases.

Social Credit Party:

increased federal aid for education;
introduce a non-compulsory medicare program;
require the Bank of Canada
Bank of Canada
The Bank of Canada is Canada's central bank and "lender of last resort". The Bank was created by an Act of Parliament on July 3, 1934 as a privately owned corporation. In 1938, the Bank became a Crown corporation belonging to the Government of Canada...

to provide loans for government capital projects.

Ralliement des creditistes/Social Credit Rally:

in lieu of a medicare program, provide government allowance to individuals to buy private medical insurance;
subsidize farmers' crop losses;
increase old age security payments to $100 per month immediately, and to $125 per month over time;
require the Bank of Canada
Bank of Canada
The Bank of Canada is Canada's central bank and "lender of last resort". The Bank was created by an Act of Parliament on July 3, 1934 as a privately owned corporation. In 1938, the Bank became a Crown corporation belonging to the Government of Canada...

to pay $15 million of dividends to Canadians.

Source: Globe and Mail newspaper, October 1965.

National results

Party	Party leader	# of candidates	Seats				Popular vote
Party	Party leader	# of candidates	1963 Canadian federal election, 1963 The Canadian federal election of 1963 was held on April 8 to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons of the 26th Parliament of Canada. It resulted in the defeat of the minority Progressive Conservative government of Prime Minister John Diefenbaker.-Overview:During the Tories' last year in...	font style="font-size: 75%;">Dissolution Dissolution of parliament In parliamentary systems, a dissolution of parliament is the dispersal of a legislature at the call of an election.Usually there is a maximum length of a legislature, and a dissolution must happen before the maximum time...	Elected	% Change	#	%	Change	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...	Lester Pearson Lester B. Pearson Lester Bowles "Mike" Pearson, PC, OM, CC, OBE was a Canadian professor, historian, civil servant, statesman, diplomat, and politician, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1957 for organizing the United Nations Emergency Force to resolve the Suez Canal Crisis...	265	128	128	131	+2.3%	3,099,521	40.18%	-1.34%	Progressive Conservative Progressive Conservative Party of Canada The Progressive Conservative Party of Canada was a Canadian political party with a centre-right stance on economic issues and, after the 1970s, a centrist stance on social issues....	John Diefenbaker John Diefenbaker John George Diefenbaker, PC, CH, QC was the 13th Prime Minister of Canada, serving from June 21, 1957, to April 22, 1963...	265	93	95	97	+4.3%	2,500,113	32.41%	-0.31%	New Democrats New Democratic Party The New Democratic Party , commonly referred to as the NDP, is a federal social-democratic political party in Canada. The interim leader of the NDP is Nycole Turmel who was appointed to the position due to the illness of Jack Layton, who died on August 22, 2011. The provincial wings of the NDP in...	Tommy Douglas Tommy Douglas Thomas Clement "Tommy" Douglas, was a Scottish-born Baptist minister who became a prominent Canadian social democratic politician...	255	17	17	21	+23.5%	1,381,658	17.91%	+4.67%	Ralliement créditiste Ralliement créditiste Historically in Quebec, Canada, there was a number of political parties that were part of the Canadian social credit movement. There were various parties at different times with different names at the provincial level, all broadly following the social credit philosophy; at various times they had...	Real Caouette Réal Caouette David Réal Caouette was a Canadian politician from Quebec. He was a Member of Parliament and leader of the Social Credit Party of Canada and founder of the Ralliement des créditistes...	77	9	359,258	4.66%	Social Credit Social Credit Party of Canada The Social Credit Party of Canada was a conservative-populist political party in Canada that promoted social credit theories of monetary reform...	R.N. Thompson Robert N. Thompson Robert Norman Thompson was a Canadian politician, chiropractor, and educator. He was born in Duluth, Minnesota, to Canadian parents and moved to Canada in 1918 with his family...	86	24	24	5	-79.2%	282,454	3.66%	-8.26%	Independent	24	-	1	52,155	0.68%	+0.61%	Independent PC	4	-	-	1	13,198	0.17%	+0.15%	Independent Liberal	10	-	-	-	-	16,738	0.22%	+0.03%	Communist Communist Party of Canada The Communist Party of Canada is a communist political party in Canada. Although is it currently a minor or small political party without representation in the Federal Parliament or in provincial legislatures, historically the Party has elected representatives in Federal Parliament, Ontario...	William Kashtan William Kashtan William Kashtan became general secretary of the Communist Party of Canada in January 1965, several months following the death of Leslie Morris. The delay in his assuming the position was due to the opposition of Tim Buck to his appointment....	12	-	-	-	-	4,285	0.06%	x	New Capitalist New Capitalist Party The New Capitalist Party was a short-lived political party in Canada that nominated three candidates in Toronto-area ridings in the 1965 election....	Frank O'Hearn	3	-	1,009	0.01%	Ouvrier Indépendant Ouvrier Indépendant Ouvrier Indépendant was the label under which three candidates ran in Canadian federal elections between 1962 and 1965. They never won a seat in the Canadian House of Commons. Adélard Patry ran in the 1962 federal election....	2	-	-	-	-	650	0.01%	-0.01%	Droit vital personnel Henri-Georges Grenier Henri-Georges Grenier was a perennial candidate who ran unsuccessfully in thirteen federal elections and by-elections between 1945 and 1980 in Quebec, Canada, and in at least one provincial by-election...	H-G Grenier Henri-Georges Grenier Henri-Georges Grenier was a perennial candidate who ran unsuccessfully in thirteen federal elections and by-elections between 1945 and 1980 in Quebec, Canada, and in at least one provincial by-election...	1	-	465	0.01%	Independent Social Credit	2	-	-	-	-	422	0.01%	x	Independent Conservative	1	-	-	-	-	373	x	x	Rhinoceros	Cornelius I Cornelius the First Cornelius the First was a Canadian black rhinoceros from the Granby Zoo in Granby, Quebec, who was the nominal leader of the federal political party, the Rhinoceros Party of Canada from 1965 to 1993...	1	-	321	x	Republican	1	-	297	x	Progressive Workers Progressive Workers Movement The Progressive Workers Movement was a short-lived political party in Canada.In the 1965 federal election, Jerry Le Bourdais, who listed his profession as "oilworker", unsuccessfully sought election in Vancouver East riding in British Columbia as a candidate of the Progressive Workers Movement...	1	-	274	x	Socialist Labour Socialist Labour Party (Canada) The Socialist Labour Party was a political party in Canada that was formed by Canadian supporters of the ideas of American socialist Daniel De Leon and the Socialist Labor Party of America. The party never won any seats...	1	-	-	-	-	147	x	x
Total		1,011	265	265	265	-	7,713,338	100%
Sources: http://www.elections.ca History of Federal Ridings since 1867

Notes:

"% change" refers to change from previous election

x - less than 0.005% of the popular vote

¹ "Previous" refers to the results of the previous election, not the party standings in the House of Commons prior to dissolution.

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...	NL Newfoundland and Labrador Newfoundland and Labrador is the easternmost province of Canada. Situated in the country's Atlantic region, it incorporates the island of Newfoundland and mainland Labrador with a combined area of . As of April 2011, the province's estimated population is 508,400...	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....	NW Northwest Territories The Northwest Territories is a federal territory of Canada.Located in northern Canada, the territory borders Canada's two other territories, Yukon to the west and Nunavut to the east, and three provinces: British Columbia to the southwest, and Alberta and Saskatchewan to the south...	Total	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:	7	-	-	1	51	56	6	2	-	7	-	1	131	Popular Vote:	30.0	22.4	24.0	31.0	43.6	45.6	47.5	42.0	44.1	64.1	44.8	56.2	40.2	Progressive Conservative Progressive Conservative Party of Canada The Progressive Conservative Party of Canada was a Canadian political party with a centre-right stance on economic issues and, after the 1970s, a centrist stance on social issues....	Seats:	3	15	17	10	25	8	4	10	4	-	1	-	97	Vote:	19.2	46.6	48.0	40.7	34.0	21.3	42.5	48.6	53.9	32.4	55.2	39.1	32.4	New Democrats New Democratic Party The New Democratic Party , commonly referred to as the NDP, is a federal social-democratic political party in Canada. The interim leader of the NDP is Nycole Turmel who was appointed to the position due to the illness of Jack Layton, who died on August 22, 2011. The provincial wings of the NDP in...	Seats:	9	-	-	3	9	-	-	-	-	-	-	21	Vote:	32.9	8.2	26.0	24.0	21.7	12.0	9.4	9.1	2.0	1.2	4.7	17.9	Ralliement créditiste Ralliement créditiste Historically in Quebec, Canada, there was a number of political parties that were part of the Canadian social credit movement. There were various parties at different times with different names at the provincial level, all broadly following the social credit philosophy; at various times they had...	Seats:			-	9	-		9	Vote:				xx	17.5	0.4		4.7	Social Credit Social Credit Party of Canada The Social Credit Party of Canada was a conservative-populist political party in Canada that promoted social credit theories of monetary reform...	Seats:	3	2	-	-	-	5	Vote:	17.4	22.5	1.9	4.3	0.4		3.7	Independent	Seats:		1	1	Vote:	0.2	0.1	0.1	0.2	2.1	0.3	0.7	Independent PC	Seats:	-	1	1	Vote:	xx	0.6	0.2
Total seats:		22	17	17	14	85	75	10	12	4	7	1	1	265																																																																																																																								Independent													Independent PC
Parties that won no seats:
Independent Liberal	Vote:					0.8							0.2	Communist Communist Party of Canada The Communist Party of Canada is a communist political party in Canada. Although is it currently a minor or small political party without representation in the Federal Parliament or in provincial legislatures, historically the Party has elected representatives in Federal Parliament, Ontario...	Vote:	0.2	0.1	xx		xx	xx							0.1	New Capitalist New Capitalist Party The New Capitalist Party was a short-lived political party in Canada that nominated three candidates in Toronto-area ridings in the 1965 election....	Vote:					xx								xx	Ouvrier Indépendant Ouvrier Indépendant Ouvrier Indépendant was the label under which three candidates ran in Canadian federal elections between 1962 and 1965. They never won a seat in the Canadian House of Commons. Adélard Patry ran in the 1962 federal election....	Vote:						xx							xx	Droit vital personnel Henri-Georges Grenier Henri-Georges Grenier was a perennial candidate who ran unsuccessfully in thirteen federal elections and by-elections between 1945 and 1980 in Quebec, Canada, and in at least one provincial by-election...	Vote:						xx							xx	Independent Social Credit	Vote:	xx					xx						xx	Independent Conservative	Vote:					xx							xx	Rhinoceros	Vote:				xx			xx	Republican	Vote:				xx				xx	Progressive Workers Progressive Workers Movement The Progressive Workers Movement was a short-lived political party in Canada.In the 1965 federal election, Jerry Le Bourdais, who listed his profession as "oilworker", unsuccessfully sought election in Vancouver East riding in British Columbia as a candidate of the Progressive Workers Movement...	Vote:	xx					xx	Socialist Labour 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:		xx				xx

xx - less than 0.05% of the popular vote

Overview

Party platforms

National results

Results by province

See also