Canadian federal election, 1874

The Canadian federal election of 1874 was held on January 22, 1874, to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons of the 3rd Parliament of Canada. Sir John A. Macdonald, who had recently been forced out of office as prime minister, and his Conservatives were defeated by the Liberal Party under their new leader Prime Minister Alexander Mackenzie.

Macdonald's government had been forced to resign on November 5, 1873 because of allegations of corruption relating to the construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway (see the Pacific Scandal). The Liberals under Mackenzie formed a government two days later with an election called for January. The Tories were unable to recover from the scandal and lost the election as a result.

The election was the first to use secret ballots in Canada.

Voter turn-out: 69.6%

National results

Notes:

¹ Liberal-Conservatives sat with the Conservative caucus in the House of Commons.

Acclamations

The following Members of Parliament were elected by acclamation;
* Ontario: 1 Liberal-Conservative, 13 Liberals
* Quebec: 10 Conservatives, 4 Liberal-Conservatives, 15 Liberals
* New Brunswick: 1 Conservative, 3 Liberals, 1 Independent Liberal
* Nova Scotia: 5 Liberals
* Prince Edward Island: 2 Liberals

Results by province

ee also

For a list of candidates elected in the 1874 election, see 3rd Canadian Parliament.

For changes between the 1874 and 1878 elections, see By-elections of the 3rd Canadian Parliament.