1940 Canadian federal election

The 1940 Canadian federal election was held March 26, 1940, to elect members of the House of Commons of Canada of the 19th Parliament of Canada. Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King's Liberal Party was re-elected to their second consecutive majority government.

The election was overshadowed by the Second World War, which caused many Canadians to rally around the government. In response to this, the Conservative Party of Robert Manion ran on a platform advocating the creation of an all-party national unity government and ran under the name "National Government" in this election. Though Manion was personally opposed to conscription, the Liberals faced intense pressure in Quebec on the question and promised not to institute the measure. This promise was to haunt the Liberals as they faced increasing pressure from the military and especially from English Canada to bring in the measure. To release him from his September 1939 promise, King called a plebiscite in 1942 on the question. It was the most successful election for the Liberal Party in its history, in which it captured 73% of the seats in the House of Commons. By contrast, the Conservatives performed even worse than in the previous election, finishing with the same number of seats, a slightly lower share of the popular vote, and with Manion being defeated in his riding. This was the last election contested by the original incarnation of the Conservatives, who thereafter merged with remnants of the moribund Progressive Party to form the Progressive Conservatives.

Social Credit ran jointly with the New Democracy movement of William Duncan Herridge.

Some candidates of the Conservative and Social Credit parties insisted on running under the traditional names, however.

The Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF) gained its first seat east of Manitoba, with the election of Clarence Gillis from Cape Breton Island. This election was the last one for its ailing leader, J. S. Woodsworth.

National results

PartyParty leader# of candidatesSeatsPopular vote1935Elected% Change#%pp Change Liberal 242173179+2.3% 2,365,979 51.32%+6.64 National Government 1Robert Manion 199* 36- 1,348,260 29.24% +0.57 Conservative 1839 353,799 1.17% Co-operative CommonwealthJ. S. Woodsworth947 8+14.3%392, 6158.51%-0.09 2 J.H. Blackmore 917 7-41.17%46,271 1.00%-1.51 New Democracy2 3W.D. Herridge19*373,869 1.59% 443-25.0% 27,8150.60%-0.07Independent Liberal3212+100%147,216 3.19%+1.96Independent191 1- 57,247 1.24%+0.85Independent Conservative 511-10,431 0.23%+0.21 Unity 2*14*12,3370.27%* United Reform Movement 1* 1* 13,868 0.30%*Independent National 2* -* 12,7100.28%*Unknown1---110*- Tim Buck 8--- 8,6990.19%-0.27 Farmer-Labour 2* -*8,1260.18%* National Unity 1*-* 7,5340.16%* United Farmers of Ont.-Labour 1--- 4,761 0.10%-0.06 1- --3,916 0.08%-0.25 United Progressive 1*-*2,727 0.06%* National Liberal Progressive 1* -*2,4340.05%* 1* -* 2,3540.05%* Anti-Conscriptionist 1*-* 642 0.01%* 1* -*3980.01%* United Reform 1* -*2690.01%* Social Credit-National Unity 1*-*241 0.01%*Total 657245 245-0.8% 4,610,603 100% Sources: http://www.elections.ca -- History of Federal Ridings since 1867

Notes:

* The party did not nominate candidates in the previous election.

x - less than 0.005% of the popular vote

1 "Change" and "% Change% figures compare total of "National Government" and "Conservative" to 1935 Conservative vote.

2 New Democracy and Social Credit ran jointly under the New Democracy banner under the leadership of former Conservative William Duncan Herridge who had founded New Democracy in 1939 to promote his ideas monetary and economic reform, though several candidates continued to run under the old Social Credit name. The 3 New Democracy MPs elected were all Social Credit incumbents, including Social Credit parliamentary leader John Horne Blackmore while Herridge himself failed to win his seat. The party sat in the House of Commons under the New Democracy name until 1944 when its national convention voted to revert to the Social Credit name.

3One candidate appears to have run under the "New Democratic Party" banner. It is unlikely that this was related in any way to the Cooperative Commonwealth Federation's adoption of this name in 1960. This may be a mis-reporting of party label - this may have been a "New Democracy" candidate.

4MP elected was Dorise Nielsen who ran and was elected as a Progressive Unity candidate (or United Progressive Movement (UPM)"CPC centenary: Communists in the parliamentary arena, an indispensable element of class struggle" online https://pvonline.ca/2021/01/21/cpc-centenary-communists-in-the-parliamentary-arena-an-indispensable-element-of-class-struggle/ accessed 2025-10-23 in North Battleford but was a covert member of the Communist Party of Canada. When the Communist Party was refounded in 1943 as the Labor-Progressive Party, Nielsen openly joined the party and became an LPP MP.

Vote and seat summaries

Results by province

Party nameBCABSKMBONQCNBNSPEYKTotalLiberal Seats: 10 7 12 13 56 62 5 10 4 - 179 Popular Vote: 37.4 37.9 43.0 43.5 50.3 64.4 54.6 50.4 55.3 46.4 51.3

National Government Seats: 4 - 2 1 22 - 5 1 - 1 36 Vote: 28.8 13.0 14.1 26.2 40.2 18.0 43.4 40.1 44.753.6 30.0Conservative Seats: - - 3 - 3 Vote: 0.2 1.7 2.2 1.1 1.2Co-operative Commonwealth Seats:1 - 5 1 - - -1 8 Vote: 28.4 13.0 28.7 19.6 3.8 0.7 0.4 6.0 8.6 Social Credit Seats: 7 - 7 Vote: 16.5 0.6 1.0New Democracy Seats: - 3 - - - 3 Vote:0.1 18.0 3.3 0.4 0.9 1.6Liberal-Progressive Seats: 2 1 3 Vote: 4.7 0.8 0.6Independent Liberal Seats: - - 2 - - 2 Vote: xx 1.0 10.2 1.6 3.3 3.3Independent Seats:1 - - - - - - 1 Vote: 3.0 0.2 1.0 3.4 0.4 2.1 0.2 1.3United Reform Movement Seats: 1 1 Vote: 3.7 0.3Unity Seats: 1 1 Vote: 3.3 0.3Independent Conservative Seats: 1 1 Vote: 0.9 0.2 Total Seats16 17 21 17 8265 10 12 4 1 245Parties that won no seats: Independent Nat. Gov. Vote: 0.1 1.1 0.3 Vote: 0.4 0.3 0.6 xx 0.2 0.1 0.2 Farmer-Labour Vote: 0.5 0.2 National Unity Vote: 2.0 0.2 NDP (?) Vote: 1.6 xx 0.2 UFO-Labour Vote: 0.3 0.1 Unknown Vote: xx 0.1 Vote: 0.3 0.1 United Progressive Vote: 1.0 0.1 National Liberal Progressive Vote: 0.2 0.1 Vote: 0.2 0.1 Anti-Conscriptionist Vote: 0.1 xx Vote: xx xx United Reform Vote: 0.1 xx xx - less than 0.05% of the popular vote

1940 Canadian federal election

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