1953 Canadian federal election

1953 Canadian federal election

August 10, 1953
265 seats in the House of Commons 133 seats needed for a majority
Turnout	67.5% (6.3pp)
First party Second party   Leader Louis St. Laurent George A. Drew Party Liberal Progressive Conservative Leader since August 7, 1948 October 2, 1948 Leader's seat Quebec East Carleton Last election 191 41 Seats won 169 51 Seat change 22 10 Popular vote 2,731,633 1,749,579 Percentage 48.43% 31.02% Swing 0.72pp 1.37pp   Third party Fourth party   Leader Major James Coldwell Solon Earl Low Party Co-operative Commonwealth Social Credit Leader since March 22, 1942 April 6, 1944 Leader's seat Rosetown—Biggar Peace River Last election 13 10 Seats won 23 15 Seat change 10 5 Popular vote 636,310 304,553 Percentage 11.28% 5.40% Swing 2.14pp 3.09pp
The Canadian parliament after the 1953 election
Prime Minister before election Louis St. Laurent Liberal Prime Minister after election Louis St. Laurent Liberal

The 1953 Canadian federal election was held on August 10, 1953, to elect members of the House of Commons of Canada of the 22nd Parliament of Canada. Prime Minister Louis St. Laurent led his Liberal Party of Canada to its second consecutive majority government, although the party lost seats to the other parties.

The Progressive Conservative Party, led by former Premier of Ontario, George Drew, formed the official opposition, but for the last time until 1993, the party was unable to win the popular vote in any of Canada's provinces or territories.

This was the last election until 1988 in which any party won back-to-back majorities, and the last until 1997 in which the Liberals would accomplish this feat. This election is the last time that the Liberals would win more seats in Alberta than the largest right-of-centre party in Canada, and the last time they would win more seats than the Tories in Alberta until 1993.

National results

See also Results of the 1953 Canadian federal election

Party		Party leader	# of candidates	Seats			Popular vote
				1949	Elected	% Change	#	%	pp Change
	Liberal	Louis St. Laurent	262	191	169	-11.5%	2,731,633	48.43%	-0.72
	Progressive Conservative	George Drew	248	41	51	+24.4%	1,749,579	31.02%	+1.37
	Co-operative Commonwealth	M.J. Coldwell	170	13	23	+76.9%	636,310	11.28%	-2.14
	Social Credit	Solon Low	71	10	15	+50%	304,553	5.40%	+3.09
	Independent		14	4	3	-25.0%	58,458	1.04%	-1.01
	Independent Liberal		19	1	2	+100%	68,506	1.21%	+0.69
	Liberal-Labour1		1	1	1	-	11,380	0.20%	-
	Liberal–Progressive		1	1	1	-	8,958	0.16%	-
	Labor–Progressive	Tim Buck	100	-	-	-	59,622	1.06%	+0.50
	Nationalist	Adrien Arcand	1	*	-	*	7,496	0.13%	*
	Independent Progressive Conservative		3	-	-	-	1,636	0.03%	-0.11
	Christian Liberal		1	*	-	*	1,505	0.03%	*
	Independent Social Credit		1	-	-	-	422	0.01%	-0.07
	Locataire (candidat)		1	*	-	*	417	0.01%	*
	Anti-Communist		1	*	-	*	333	0.01%	*
	Socialist Labour		1	-	-	-	130	x	x
Total			897	262	265	+1.1%	5,640,938	100%
Sources: http://www.elections.ca History of Federal Ridings since 1867 Archived 2008-12-04 at the Wayback Machine

Notes:

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

x - less than 0.005% of the popular vote

¹ The Liberal-Labour MP sat with the Liberal caucus.

Vote and seat summaries

Popular vote Liberal   48.43% PC   31.02% CCF   11.28% Social Credit   5.40% Others   3.87%

Seat totals Liberal   64.15% PC   19.24% CCF   8.67% Social Credit   5.66% Others   2.26%

Results by province

Party name			BC	AB	SK	MB	ON	QC	NB	NS	PE	NL	NW	YK	Total
	Liberal	Seats:	8	4	5	7	50	66	7	10	3	7	1	1	169
		Vote (%):	30.9	35.1	37.3	37.0	46.0	61.0	52.7	53.0	51.1	67.2	49.4	78.7	48.4
	Progressive Conservative	Seats:	3	2	1	3	33	4	3	1	1	0	-	-	51
		Vote (%):	14.1	14.5	11.7	27.0	40.3	29.4	41.9	40.1	48.0	28.1	38.5	21.3	31.0
	Co-operative Commonwealth	Seats:	7	-	11	3	1	-	-	1	-	-			23
		Vote (%):	26.6	6.9	44.2	23.6	11.1	1.5	3.0	6.7	0.8	0.6			11.3
	Social Credit	Seats:	4	11	-	-	-		-						15
		Vote (%):	26.1	40.7	5.3	6.3	0.3		0.4						5.4
	Independent	Seats:		-		-	-	3				-	-		3
		Vote (%):		0.1		0.2	0.3	3.0				4.0	12.4		1.0
	Independent Liberal	Seats:				-	-	2	-						2
		Vote (%):				4.0	0.3	3.7	1.9						1.2
	Liberal–Labour	Seats:					1								1
		Vote (%):					0.6								0.2
	Liberal-Progressive	Seats:				1									1
		Vote (%):				3.3									0.2
Total Seats			22	17	17	14	85	75	10	12	4	7	1	1	265
Parties that won no seats:
	Labor–Progressive	Vote (%):	2.2	2.7	1.1	2.3	1.0	0.7		0.2					1.1
	Nationalist	Vote (%):						0.5							0.1
	Independent PC	Vote (%):						0.1							xx
	Christian Liberal	Vote (%):					0.1								xx
	Independent Social Credit	Vote (%):		0.1											xx
	Locataire (candidat)	Vote (%):						xx							xx
	Anti-Communist	Vote (%):						xx							xx
	Socialist Labour	Vote (%):					xx								xx

• xx - less than 0.05% of the popular vote

See also

• List of Canadian federal general elections
• List of political parties in Canada
• 22nd Canadian Parliament

Further reading

• LeDuc, Lawrence; Pammett, Jon H.; McKenzie, Judith L.; Turcotte, André (2010). Dynasties and Interludes: Past and Present in Canadian Electoral Politics. Toronto: Dundurn Press. ISBN 978-1-55488-886-3.
• Beck, James Murray (1968). Pendulum of Power; Canada's Federal Elections. Scarborough: Prentice-Hall of Canada. ISBN 978-0-13-655670-1.
• Argyle, Ray (2004). Turning Points: The Campaigns that Changed Canada 2004 and Before. Toronto: White Knight Publications. ISBN 978-0-9734186-6-8.