Canadian Elections (1953-1965)

[DistingFlyer]

Here are (partial) maps for the six General Elections held in Canada from 1953 to 1965 (the most ever conducted under the same set of boundaries).

Why are the maps incomplete? They originate from AlternateHistory, where a bright spark named Heisenberg came up with regional maps for 1953, doing Atlantic, Quebec & Ontario, but never got around to doing the West or North.

Even with only Eastern & Central Canada being present, one can still see some political changes going on here, most notably the Tory decline in urban Ontario (though the parallel rise in the Prairies is obviously missing), the rise of the Socreds in Quebec and a certain Tory recovery in the Maritimes.


1953 (% Margin):


1953 (% of Vote):



1957 (% Margin):


1957 (% of Vote):



1958 (% Margin):


1958 (% of Vote):



1962 (% Margin):


1962 (% of Vote):



1963 (% Margin):


1963 (% of Vote):



1965 (% Margin):


1965 (% of Vote):

[Estrella]

Amazing maps!

 I was always curious about where the non-Liberal places in Quebec were. Seems like PCs got their support in right-wing federalist places like today's Tories do, plus Anglo parts of Montréal, and créditistes were strong in rural and presumably poor areas, right?

Do you happen to know about maps of Québec provincial elections from this era?

[DC Al Fine]

Amazing maps!

 I was always curious about where the non-Liberal places in Quebec were. Seems like PCs got their support in right-wing federalist places like today's Tories do, plus Anglo parts of Montréal, and créditistes were strong in rural and presumably poor areas, right?

Do you happen to know about maps of Québec provincial elections from this era?

http://election-atlas.ca/qc/

Guy who runs this site posts here occasionally. He has maps going back to WWI for most provinces.

[DistingFlyer]

I'd written on the 2019 thread about the realignment that took place during this time (Tories going from a party strong in urban Ontario to strong on the Prairies, and the Liberals going the other way), and certainly you can see the reversal here - the modern-day GTA went 40% for the Tories in 1953 (about equal to their vote share provincewide, and much better than their national figure) to 59% in 1958 to just 29% in 1963.

Certain ridings had long Tory histories and went down in 1962-3, in some cases not to return to the Conservative column for many years (or not ever). To wit:

1962
Danforth gained by NDP - had been Tory since 1917 (not Liberal since 1892)
Greenwood gained by NDP - had been Tory since 1917 (not Liberal since 1892)
Peel gained by Liberals - had been Tory since 1900
York East gained by Liberals - had been Tory since 1917 (not Liberal since 1892)
York West gained by Liberals - had been Tory since 1940

1963
Broadview gained by Liberals - had been Tory since 1911 (never Liberal)
Eglinton gained by Liberals - had been Tory since 1945


Eglinton & York Centre (a more marginal riding won in 1957) would not be regained by the Conservatives until 2011 - even the big win of 1984 saw them remain Liberal. York South (picked up in 1957) hasn't been regained, nor has Broadview (in its various forms), while Danforth & Greenwood (mostly amalgamated into Beaches) would only be regained briefly in 1979, and then once again move out of reach.

Although it's not in the Toronto area, the riding of Carleton also fell to the Liberals in 1963, breaking a 96-year streak of Tory wins in that constituency (twenty-five general elections). Lloyd Francis, the victorious Liberal, would earn the distinction of never winning consecutive terms: he lost in 1965, then won the reconstituted Ottawa West riding in 1968, then lost it in 1972, then won it back in 1974, then lost it in 1979, then won it in 1980 and finally lost it again in 1984!

[Hatman 🍁]

Carleton really doesn't belong in that discussion, because it has been a safe Tory seat right up to this day. As it continuously suburbanizes though, I could see it flipping in the next decade or two. It almost flipped in 2015.

[DistingFlyer]

Carleton really doesn't belong in that discussion, because it has been a safe Tory seat right up to this day. As it continuously suburbanizes though, I could see it flipping in the next decade or two. It almost flipped in 2015.

The (sub)urbanization has seen the area it covers slowly shrink - the seat as it was covered what's now a good chunk of Ottawa, and on its 1950s-1960s borders it would be pretty solidly Liberal today.

[DistingFlyer]

Looking at the Prairies, there were a large number of ridings held by the Diefenbaker Tories in 1963 that had only been gained in 1957 or 1958 and that they hadn't won in many years (I only list below constituencies not won since 1940 or earlier):

Manitoba
Churchill (gained in 1957, last won in 1930)
Dauphin (gained in 1958, last won in 1930)
Lisgar (gained in 1957, last won in 1917)
Marquette (gained in 1957, last won in 1930)
Portage – Neepawa (gained in 1957, last won in 1930)
Provencher (gained in 1957, last won in 1900)
Selkirk (gained in 1958, last won in 1930)
Springfield (gained in 1958, last won in 1930)

Saskatchewan
Assiniboia (gained in 1963, last won in 1917)
Humboldt – Melfort – Tisdale (gained in 1958, last won in 1917)
Kindersley (gained in 1958, last won in 1917)
Mackenzie (gained in 1958, last won in 1917)
Meadow Lake (gained in 1958, last won in 1917)
Melville (gained in 1958, last won in 1917)
Moose Jaw – Lake Centre (gained in 1958, last won in 1930)
Moose Mountain (gained in 1958, last won in 1917)
Qu'Appelle (gained in 1958, last won in 1940)
Regina City (gained in 1958, last won in 1930)
Rosetown – Biggar (gained in 1958, last won in 1930)
Rosthern (gained in 1958, last won in 1917)
Saskatoon (gained in 1957, last won in 1930)
Swift Current – Maple Creek (gained in 1958, last won in 1917)
The Battlefords (gained in 1958, last won in 1917)
Yorkton (gained in 1958, last won in 1917)

Alberta
Acadia (gained in 1958, last won in 1917)
Athabaska (gained in 1958, last won in 1917)
Battle River – Camrose (gained in 1958, last won in 1917)
Bow River (gained in 1958, last won in 1917)
Edmonton East (gained in 1958, last won in 1930)
Edmonton West (gained in 1957, last won in 1917)
Edmonton – Strathcona (gained in 1958, last won in 1917)
Jasper – Edson (gained in 1958, last won in 1917)
Lethbridge (gained in 1958, last won in 1930)
Macleod (gained in 1958, last won in 1917)
Peace River (gained in 1958, last won in 1917)
Vegreville (gained in 1958, never won before)
Wetaskiwin (gained in 1958, last won in 1917)

Obviously, with boundaries changing over the years, some of these are estimates, but they still illustrate the point.