The Progressives won 63 seats in a 235-member parliament, and held the potential balance of power in an evenly divided house.

Soon after the election, Forke was part of delegation to Ottawa led by party leader Thomas Crerar, seeking policy concessions from the governing Liberals in return for parliamentary support.

The Conservative Party emerged as the largest parliamentary group in the election but did not win a majority of seats, leaving the Progressives in a kingmaker position.

After a series of negotiations, and with Forke's personal encouragement, the Progressive caucus agreed to support the Liberals under Mackenzie King.

Forke was retained as Progressive house leader at a meeting in early 1926, although Alberta representative Henry Elvins Spencer was chosen as the new party secretary.

[7] Morton speculates that Forke and the Manitoba Progressive MPs were reconciled to a Liberal-Progressive fusion by this time, and argues that it was only the Customs Scandal which prevented this from happening in the 1925-26 parliament.

The Progressive Party did not fight the 1926 election as a united force, and instead fragmented into a series of provincial organizations which followed different strategies.

The Manitoba Progressives forged an electoral alliance with the Liberals, elected seven members on a "Liberal-Progressive" ticket, and made arrangements in other ridings to avoid vote-splitting against the Conservatives.

The alliance of the two parties was confirmed on September 25, 1926, when Forke was appointed Minister of Immigration and Colonization with the consent of the Liberal-Progressive caucus.