Canadian federal election, 1940

Infobox Election
election_name = Canadian federal election, 1940
country = Canada
type = parliamentary
ongoing =no
party_colour =
previous_election = Canadian federal election, 1935
previous_year = 1935
next_election = Canadian federal election, 1945
next_year = 1945
seats_for_election = 245 seats in the 19th Canadian Parliament
election_date = March 26, 1940
next_mps = 20th Canadian Parliament
previous_mps = 18th Canadian Parliament

colour1 =
leader1 =William Lyon Mackenzie King
leader_since1 =1919
party1 =Liberal Party of Canada
leaders_seat1 =Prince Albert
last_election1 =173
seats1 =179
seat_change1 =+6
popular_vote1 =2,365,979
percentage1 =51.32%
swing1 =+6.64%

colour2 =
leader2 =Robert Manion
leader_since2 =1938
party2 =National Government (Canada)
leaders_seat2 =Fort William (lost)
last_election2 =39
seats2 =36
seat_change2 =-3
popular_vote2 =1,348,260
percentage2 =29.24%
swing2 =-0.6%

colour4 =
leader4 =J. S. Woodsworth
leader_since4 =1932
party4 =Co-operative Commonwealth Federation
leaders_seat4 =Winnipeg North Centre
last_election4 =7
seats4 =8
seat_change4 =+1
popular_vote4 =388,103
percentage4 =8.42%
swing4 =-1.07%

colour5 =
leader5 =John Horne Blackmore
leader_since5 =1935
party5 =Social Credit Party of Canada
leaders_seat5 =Lethbridge
last_election5 =17
seats5 =7
seat_change5 =-10
popular_vote5 =46,271
percentage5 =1.00%
swing5 =-1.51%

map_

map_size =
map_caption =

title = PM
before_election = William Lyon Mackenzie King
before_party = Liberal Party of Canada
after_election = William Lyon Mackenzie King
after_party = Liberal Party of Canada

The Canadian federal election of 1940 was the 19th general election in Canadian history. It was held March 26, 1940 to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons 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 1940 promise, King called a plebiscite in 1942 on the question. "See also Conscription Crisis of 1944."

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.

Voter turn-out: 69.9%

National results

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 Two candidates appear 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 - these candidates may have been "New Democracy" candidates.

Results by province

*xx - less than 0.05% of the popular vote

ee also

*19th Canadian Parliament