The 1908 Canadian federal election was held on Monday October 26, 1908 to elect members of the House of Commons of Canada of the 11th Parliament of Canada. Prime Minister Sir Wilfrid Laurier's Liberal Party of Canada was re-elected for a fourth consecutive term in government with a majority government. The Liberals lost four seats and a small share of the popular vote.

Sir Robert Borden's Conservatives and Liberal-Conservatives won ten additional seats.

This was the first election following the creation of the provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan. Following their creation in 1905, the two new provinces continued to be represented by MPs initially elected under the old Northwest Territories riding boundaries, some of which straddled the new provincial border. The remainder of the Northwest Territories that previously had Parliamentary representation lost it, although parts of the NWT would gain or regain representation after being added to Manitoba, Ontario and Quebec in 1912. A seat would not be created for the NWT itself again (which then contained the modern NWT and Nunavut) until 1949.

This election was the last time a prime minister managed to retain power into a fourth consecutive term.

Electoral system Most of the ridings elected one member through first post the post voting. But Halifax and Queen's (PEI) each elected two MPs through plurality block voting.

National results

PartyParty leader# of candidatesSeatsPopular vote1904ElectedChange#%Change Liberal Wilfrid Laurier 213137 133 -2.9% 570,311 48.87%-2.01pp Conservative Robert Borden 20770 82 +17.1% 524,641 44.95%+0.55pp Liberal-Conservative 45 3-40.0% 14,733 1.26%-0.27pp Independent 151 1- 16,903 1.45%+0.45pp   3- 1  10,400 0.89%+0.68pp Unknown 7- -- 13,478 1.15%+0.02pp   5- -- 6,071 0.52%+0.35pp Independent Conservative 21 1-100% 5,314 0.46%-0.04ppIndependent Liberal 5- -- 5,191 0.44%+0.41ppTotal 461214 221+2.8% 1,167,042 100%  Sources: http://www.elections.ca -- History of Federal Ridings since 1867

Results by province

PartyBCABSKMBONQCNBNSPEYKTotalLiberal Seats: 2 4 9 2 37 52 11 12 3 1 133 Popular vote (%): 35.9 50.2 56.6 45.4 45.0 53.0 56.2 51.0 50.4 40.2 48.9Conservative Seats: 5 2 1 8 4612 2 5 1 - 82 Vote (%): 46.8 38.1 36.8 51.5 49.2 39.5 43.8 44.5 49.6 10.8 45.0Liberal-Conservative Seats:   1     1    1     3 Vote (%):   6.4     1.5     4.5     1.3Independent Seats: - - - - 1 -         1 Vote (%): 8.9 3.7 0.6 0.1 1.8 1.1         1.5 Labour Seats:         - 1         1 Vote (%):        0.7 2.6         0.9 Independent Conservative Seats:     -   1         1 Vote (%):     5.9   0.4          0.5 Total seats7 7 10 10 8665 13 18 4 1 221Parties that won no seats: Unknown Vote (%): 1.3       1.4 1.9       49.01.2 Vote (%):7.1 1.6   2.9 0.2         0.5Independent Liberal Vote (%):     0.1     1.8         0.4

See also

List of Canadian federal general elections List of political parties in Canada 11th Canadian Parliament

Notes

References

Further reading