The 1878 Canadian federal election was held on September 17, 1878, to elect members of the House of Commons of the 4th Parliament of Canada. It resulted in the end of Prime Minister Alexander Mackenzie's Liberal government after only one term in office. Canada suffered an economic depression during Mackenzie's term, and his party was punished by voters for it. The Liberals' policy of free trade also hurt their support with the business establishment in Toronto and Montreal.
Sir John A. Macdonald and his Conservative Party were returned to power after having been defeated four years before amidst scandals over the building of the Canadian Pacific Railway.
Electoral System
First past the post was used to elect in single-member ridings. The Halifax riding elected two MPs, using plurality block voting.
Secret voting, with the paper "Australian ballot", was used in this election for the first time.
National results
center|300px
{| class="wikitable"
!rowspan=2 colspan=2|Party
!rowspan=2|Party leader
!rowspan=2|# of candidates
!colspan=3|Seats
!colspan=3|Popular vote
|- bgcolor="CCCCCC"
|align="center"|1874
|align="center"|Elected
|align="center"|Change
|align="center"|#
|align="center"|%
|align="center"|Change
| Conservative
|rowspan=2 align="center"| John A. Macdonald
|align="right"| 101
|align="right"| 38
|align="right"| 85
|align="right"| +118.4%
|align="right"| 143,192
|align="right"| 26.28%
|align="right"| +7.80pp
| Liberal-Conservative
|align="right"| 60
|align="right"| 26
|align="right"| 49
|align="right"| +76.9%
|align="right"| 85,999
|align="right"| 15.78%
|align="right"| +3.50pp
| Liberal
|align="center"| Alexander Mackenzie
|align="right"| 121
|align="right"| 126
|align="right"| 63
|align="right"| -54.8%
|align="right"| 180,074
|align="right"| 33.05%
|align="right"| -7.74pp
| Independent
|align="center"|
|align="right"| 11
|align="right"| 4
|align="right"| 5
|align="right"| +25%
|align="right"| 14,783
|align="right"| 2.71%
|align="right"| -0.48pp
| Independent Conservative
|align="center"|
|align="right"| 2
|align="right"| 2
|align="right"| 2
|align="right"| -
|align="right"| 1,001
|align="right"| 0.18%
|align="right"| -0.76pp
| Unknown
|align="center"|
|align="right"| 117
|align="right"| -
|align="right"|
|align="right"|
|align="right"| 114,043
|align="right"| 20.93%
|align="right"| -1.93pp
| Independent Liberal
|align="center"|
|align="right"| 4
|align="right"| 1
|align="right"| 1
|align="right"| +100%
|align="right"| 5,388
|align="right"| 0.99%
|align="right"| -
| Nationalist Conservative
|align="center"|
|align="right"| 1
|align="right"| *
|align="right"| 1
|align="right"| *
|align="right"| 401
|align="right"| 0.07%
|align="right"| *
|-
! colspan=3|Total
! align="right"| 417
! align="right"| 197
! align="right"| 206
! align="right"| +3.6%
! align="right"| 544,881
! align="right"| 100.0%
! -
|-
| align="center" colspan=10|Sources: http://www.elections.ca -- History of Federal Ridings since 1867
|-
|}
Note:
<nowiki>*</nowiki> Party did not nominate candidates in the previous election.
Acclamations
The following Members of Parliament were elected by acclamation;
- British Columbia: 1 Conservative, 1 Liberal-Conservative
- Manitoba: 2 Conservatives, 1 Liberal-Conservative
- Quebec: 1 Conservative, 2 Liberal-Conservatives, 1 Liberal
- New Brunswick: 1 Liberal, 1 Independent
Results by province
{| class="wikitable"
! align="center" colspan=3|Party name
! align="center"|BC
! align="center"|MB
! align="center"|ON
! align="center"|QC
! align="center"|NB
! align="center"|NS
! align="center"|PE
! align="center"|Total
| rowspan=2|Conservative
| Seats:
| align="right"| 1 <!--BC-->
| align="right"| 2 <!--Man-->
| align="right"| 37 <!--Ont-->
| align="right"| 33 <!--Que-->
| align="right"| 1<!--NB-->
| align="right"| 8 <!--NS-->
| align="right"| 3 <!--PEI-->
| align="right"| 85<!--Canada/Total-->
| Popular vote (%):
| align="right"| - <!--BC-->
| align="right"| 49.6 <!--Man-->
| align="right"| 25.5 <!--Ont-->
| align="right"| 35.0 <!--Que-->
| align="right"| 5.9 <!--NB-->
| align="right"| 21.7 <!--NS-->
| align="right"| 31.6 <!--PEI-->
| align="right"| 26.3 <!--Canada/Total-->
| rowspan=2 |Liberal-Conservative
| Seats:
| align="right"| 2 <!--BC-->
| align="right"| 1 <!--Man-->
| align="right"| 23 <!--Ont-->
| align="right"| 12 <!--Que-->
| align="right"| 3 <!--NB-->
| align="right"| 6 <!--NS-->
| align="right"| 2 <!--PEI-->
| align="right"| 49 <!--Canada/Total-->
| Vote (%):
| align="right"| 39.6 <!--BC-->
| align="right"| - <!--Man-->
| align="right"| 15.8 <!--Ont-->
| align="right"| 13.2 <!--Que-->
| align="right"| 14.3 <!--NB-->
| align="right"| 22.7 <!--NS-->
| align="right"| 12.0 <!--PEI-->
| align="right"| 15.8 <!--Canada/Total-->
| rowspan=2|Liberal
| Seats:
| align="right"| 2 <!--BC-->
| align="right"| <!--Man-->
| align="right"| 27 <!--Ont-->
| align="right"| 17 <!--Que-->
| align="right"| 9 <!--NB-->
| align="right"| 7 <!--NS-->
| align="right"| 1 <!--PEI-->
| align="right"| 63 <!--Canada/Total-->
| Vote (%):
| align="right"| - <!--BC-->
| align="right"| <!--Man-->
| align="right"| 36.3 <!--Ont-->
| align="right"| 21.7 <!--Que-->
| align="right"| 48.2 <!--NB-->
| align="right"| 34.9 <!--NS-->
| align="right"| 37.2 <!--PEI-->
| align="right"| 33.1 <!--Canada/Total-->
| rowspan=2| Independent
| Seats:
| align="right"| 1 <!--BC-->
| align="right"| <!--Man-->
| align="right"| 1 <!--Ont-->
| align="right"| 1 <!--Que-->
| align="right"| 2 <!--NB-->
| align="right"| - <!--NS-->
| align="right"| <!--PEI-->
| align="right"| 5 <!--Canada/Total-->
| Vote (%):
| align="right"| 12.2 <!--BC-->
| align="right"| <!--Man-->
| align="right"| 1.5 <!--Ont-->
| align="right"| 1.6 <!--Que-->
| align="right"| 13.1 <!--NB-->
| align="right"| 4.3 <!--NS-->
| align="right"| <!--PEI-->
| align="right"| 2.7 <!--Canada/Total-->
| rowspan=2 |Independent Conservative
| Seats:
| align="right"| <!--BC-->
| align="right"| 1 <!--Man-->
| align="right"| <!--Ont-->
| align="right"| 1 <!--Que-->
| align="right"| <!--NB-->
| align="right"| <!--NS-->
| align="right"| <!--PEI-->
| align="right"| 2 <!--Canada/Total-->
| Vote (%):
| align="right"| <!--BC-->
| align="right"| 50.4 <!--Man-->
| align="right"| <!--Ont-->
| align="right"| 0.7 <!--Que-->
| align="right"| <!--NB-->
| align="right"| <!--NS-->
| align="right"| <!--PEI-->
| align="right"| 0.2 <!--Canada/Total-->
| rowspan=2| Unknown
| Seats:
| align="right"| <!--BC-->
| align="right"| <!--Man-->
| align="right"| <!--Ont-->
| align="right"| <!--Que-->
| align="right"| <!--NB-->
| align="right"| <!--NS-->
| align="right"| <!--PEI-->
| align="right"| <!--Canada/Total-->
| Vote (%):
| align="right"| 48.2 <!--BC-->
| align="right"| <!--Man-->
| align="right"| 19.9 <!--Ont-->
| align="right"| 27.4 <!--Que-->
| align="right"| 14.8 <!--NB-->
| align="right"| 14.7 <!--NS-->
| align="right"| 19.3 <!--PEI-->
| align="right"| 20.9 <!--Canada/Total-->
| rowspan=2| Independent Liberal
| Seats:
| align="right"| <!--BC-->
| align="right"| <!--Man-->
| align="right"| <!--Ont-->
| align="right"| <!--Que-->
| align="right"| 1 <!--NB-->
| align="right"| - <!--NS-->
| align="right"| <!--PEI-->
| align="right"| 1 <!--Canada/Total-->
| Vote (%):
| align="right"| <!--BC-->
| align="right"| <!--Man-->
| align="right"| 1.0 <!--Ont-->
| align="right"| <!--Que-->
| align="right"| 3.7 <!--NB-->
| align="right"| 1.7 <!--NS-->
| align="right"| <!--PEI-->
| align="right"| 1.0 <!--Canada/Total-->
| rowspan=2| Nationalist Conservative
| Seats:
| align="right"| <!--BC-->
| align="right"| <!--Man-->
| align="right"| <!--Ont-->
| align="right"| 1 <!--Que-->
| align="right"| <!--NB-->
| align="right"| - <!--NS-->
| align="right"| <!--PEI-->
| align="right"| 1 <!--Canada/Total-->
| Vote (%):
| align="right"| <!--BC-->
| align="right"| <!--Man-->
| align="right"| <!--Ont-->
| align="right"| 0.3 <!--Que-->
| align="right"| <!--NB-->
| align="right"| <!--NS-->
| align="right"| <!--PEI-->
| align="right"| 0.1 <!--Canada/Total-->
|-
| colspan=3|Total seats
| align="right"| 6 <!--BC-->
| align="right"| 4 <!--Man-->
| align="right"| 88 <!--Ont-->
| align="right"| 65 <!--Que-->
| align="right"| 16 <!--NB-->
| align="right"| 21 <!--NS-->
| align="right"| 6 <!--PEI-->
| align="right"| 206 <!--Canada/Total-->
|}
See also
- List of Canadian federal general elections
- 4th Canadian Parliament
References
Notes
Further reading
- pp. 69-90.