Electoral history of John A. Macdonald

This article is the Electoral history of Sir John A. Macdonald, the first prime minister of Canada (1867 to 1873; 1878 to 1891).

He died in office in 1891, three months after his sixth general election victory, and was succeeded by Sir John Abbott.

He is in a three-way tie with Sir Wilfrid Laurier and Mackenzie King for the number of general elections he contested as leader of a party.

[1] Macdonald was the first of four prime ministers to serve non-consecutive terms, the others being Arthur Meighen, King, and Pierre Trudeau.

He won eleven of the elections and was defeated once in his home constituency of Kingston, Ontario.

Two of his elections were set aside for electoral irregularities, in one case requiring him to stand in a by-election, which he won.

He served in the Commons for a total of 23 years, 7 months, and 10 days, continuously from the first Parliament, elected in 1867, to his death in 1891.

He was also elected alderman of his home town of Kingston, Ontario, the beginning of his electoral career.

Canada came into existence on July 1, 1867, when the British North America Act, 1867 was proclaimed in force.

The first general election to Parliament was held in the summer of 1867 and resulted in a majority government for Macdonald and his coalition of Conservatives and Liberal-Conservatives.

The main opposition was from the Liberals, but there was also a substantial group of Anti-Confederation Members of Parliament from the province of Nova Scotia who were opposed to Confederation and sought to dissolve the new union.

An election financing scandal arose shortly after the election, with allegations that Macdonald and the Conservatives had accepted bribes in return for granting the contract for the trans-Canadian railroad to the first Canadian Pacific Railway company of Hugh Allan.

The Governor-General, Lord Dufferin, appointed Alexander Mackenzie, the leader of the Liberals, as prime minister.

In the 1878 election, Macdonald and the Conservatives were returned to government, defeating Alexander Mackenzie and the Liberals.

Macdonald won his fourth majority government, defeating the Liberals, now led by Edward Blake.

Macdonald won his fifth majority government, defeating the Liberals, again led by Edward Blake.

One notable feature of the election was the drop in Quebec seats held by the Conservatives, following the execution of Louis Riel two years earlier.

Macdonald, aged 76, again led the Conservatives to victory, his sixth, albeit with a reduced majority.

Macdonald stood for election to the House of Commons twelve times, in three different provinces (British Columbia, Manitoba and Ontario), in five different ridings.

He was elected in Victoria and Marquette but was defeated in Kingston, his only loss at the constituency level.

Throughout this period, he represented the riding of Kingston, Canada West, initially as a Conservative (1844–1858), and then as a Liberal-Conservative (1858–1867).