1953 Manitoba general election

Template:Short description Template:Use mdy dates The 1953 Manitoba general election was held on June 8, 1953 to elect Members of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Manitoba, Canada. The election produced a majority government for the Liberal-Progressive party led by Douglas Campbell. His party won thirty-two of fifty-seven seats although with but 39 percent of the vote overall. To date this is the last election in which the Liberal Party won a majority of seats in Manitoba.

This was the first election held in Manitoba after the breakup of a ten-year coalition government led by the Liberal-Progressives and Progressive Conservatives. The coalition, which began in 1940, was ended in 1950 when the Progressive Conservatives crossed to the opposition side.

Prior to the 1949 election, Winnipeg's single at-large 10-member district was broken up into three four-member districts. The new districts, named Winnipeg Centre, Winnipeg North and Winnipeg South, elected four members each, through STV.

St. Boniface elected two members through STV.

(The 1953 election was to be the last provincial election in Manitoba to have multi-member districts and election by STV. After that election all Manitoba MLAs were elected through First-past-the-post voting in single-member districts.)

Each of the other districts elected one MLA using Instant-Runoff Voting. This was to be the last provincial election in Manitoba to use Instant-Runoff Voting in these districts.

The result of the election was a convincing victory for the Liberal-Progressive government of Premier Douglas Campbell, which won thirty-two of fifty-seven seats although with but 39 percent of the vote overall.

Three Independent Liberal-Progressives were also elected.

The Progressive Conservatives, led by Errick Willis, saw their representation in the legislature increase from nine to twelve members. This was a disappointing result for many in the party. Willis had been a prominent cabinet minister in the coalition government, and many questioned the sincerity of his new-found opposition to Campbell's ministry. The following year, he lost the leadership of the party to Dufferin Roblin.

The social democratic Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF) suffered a disappointment under new leader Lloyd Stinson, falling from seven seats to five. Its 17 percent of the vote made it due about eight seats proportionally.

During the campaign, the Winnipeg Free Press newspaper devoted considerable attention to the return of the Social Credit Party in Manitoba. The party had not contested the previous provincial election, but was buoyed by the recent Social Credit victory in British Columbia and ran several candidates. The Free Press, which supported the Liberal-Progressives, and played up the threat of a Social Credit victory to rally popular support for the government. The actual threat posed by Social Credit was minimal: only two of its candidates were elected, although it did receive 13 percent of the vote.

The Communist Labor-Progressive Party also won representation in the legislature, with party incumbent Bill Kardash taking one of the four constituency seats in Winnipeg North. This was the last time that a Communist candidate won election to the Manitoba legislature, or indeed to any provincial legislature in Canada.

Two independent candidates were elected. Stephen Juba, the mayor of Winnipeg, was one of them.

Results

Party		Party leader	# of candidates	Seats			Popular vote
				1949	Elected	% Change	#	%	% Change	Douglas Campbell	50	25	32		104,976	39.22		Independent Liberal-Progressive		7		3		12,911	4.82		Total Government		57		35		117,887	44.05		Progressive Conservative	Errick Willis	38	9	12		56,278	21.03		Co-operative Commonwealth	Lloyd Stinson	25	7	5		44,332	16.56		Social Credit	none	43	2	2		35,750	13.36		William Cecil Ross	1	1	1		3,812	1.42		Independent		11	5	2		9,577	3.58
Total			175	57	57		267,636	100

Popular vote Liberal-Progressive   44.05% PC   21.03% CCF   16.56% Social Credit   13.36% Labor-Progressive   1.42% Others   3.58%

Seats summary Liberal-Progressive   61.40% PC   21.05% CCF   8.77% Social Credit   3.51% Labor-Progressive   1.75% Others   3.51%

See also

• List of Manitoba political parties

Constituency results

Single-member constituencies

Arthur:

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Progressive Conservative	J. Arthur Ross	1,920	57.14
Total valid votes			3,360	100.00
Rejected votes			65
Turnout			3,425	78.88

Assiniboia:

First Count

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Co-operative Commonwealth Federation	Alvin H. Mackling	3,078	35.62		Progressive Conservative	George E. Fournier	1,528	17.68		Social Credit	Florence M. Bloomfield	677	7.83
Total valid votes			8,642	100.00
Rejected votes			56
Turnout			8,698	57.50

Fournier and Bloomfield were eliminated, and their votes were distributed as follows: Wightman 837, Mackling 768. 600 votes were non-transferable.

Final Count

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	Co-operative Commonwealth Federation	Alvin H. Mackling	3,846	44.50	Exhausted votes		600	6.94

Birtle:

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%		Progressive Conservative	Francis Macdonald Manwaring	957	30.82
Total valid votes			3,105	100.00
Rejected votes			15
Turnout			3,120	66.97

Brandon City:

First Count

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Progressive Conservative	(incumbent)Reginald Lissaman	3,514	46.04		Social Credit	W.A. Wyborn	1,056	13.83
Total valid votes			7,633	100.00
Rejected votes			143
Turnout			7,776	61.82

Wyborn was eliminated, and his votes were distributed as follows: Lissaman 272, Creighton 138. 646 votes were non-transferable.

Second Count

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	Progressive Conservative	(incumbent)Reginald Lissaman	3,786	49.60	Votes Not Transferred		646	8.46

Carillon:

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Social Credit	K.T. Kroeker	1,065	24.52
Total valid votes			4,343	100.00
Rejected votes			111
Turnout			4,454	69.44

Cypress:

First Count

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Progressive Conservative	Dr. Roderick George Hurton	1,198	30.46		Social Credit	Marcel Philippe	950	24.15
Total valid votes			3,933	100.00
Rejected votes			50
Turnout			3,983	70.78

Ferg was subsequently declared elected on transfers from Philippe.

Dauphin:

First Count

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Social Credit	William Bullmore	1,668	32.19		Progressive Conservative	(incumbent)Ernest N. McGirr	1,235	23.83		Co-operative Commonwealth Federation	Frank Fulbrook	785	15.15
Total valid votes			5,182	100.00
Rejected votes			205
Turnout			5,387	77.48

Bullmore was subsequently elected on transfers.

Deloraine-Glenwood:

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Progressive Conservative	(incumbent)James O. Argue	1,862	53.88
Total valid votes			3,456	100.00
Rejected votes			16
Turnout			3,472	72.76

Dufferin:

First Count

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Social Credit	George Loeppky	1,329	32.63		Progressive Conservative	Earl Collins	911	22.37
Total valid votes			4,073	100.00
Rejected votes			163
Turnout			4,236	72.96

McDonald was subsequently elected on transfers from Collins.

Emerson:

First Count

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Social Credit	George J. Friesen	220	4.68
Total valid votes			4,704	100.00
Rejected votes			93
Turnout			4,797	83.40

Solomon was subsequently declared elected on transfers from Friesen.

Ethelbert:

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Co-operative Commonwealth Federation	Harry Basaraba	1,368	35.84		Progressive Conservative	John L. Solomon	276	7.23		Social Credit	Harry Dyck	225	5.89
Total valid votes			3,817	100.00
Rejected votes			102
Turnout			3,919	75.99

Fairford:

First Count

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Social Credit	Fred G. Cook	659	29.06		Progressive Conservative	Daniel McFadyen	288	12.70		Co-operative Commonwealth Federation	John A. McDonald	249	10.98
Total valid votes			2,268	100.00
Rejected votes			58
Turnout			2,326	67.26

Joseph H. Kacher entered the contest as an Independent Liberal-Progressive, but withdrew before election day. Anderson was subsequently elected on transfers.

Fisher:

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Independent	Leon W. Michalchuk	705	26.97		Co-operative Commonwealth Federation	Elsie Lyon	211	8.07		Social Credit	David Heindrichs	144	5.51
Total valid votes			2,614	100.00
Rejected votes			134
Turnout			2,748	58.87

Gilbert Plains:

First Count

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Co-operative Commonwealth Federation	Robert J. Wilson	989	31.57		Social Credit	E.P. Brown	695	22.18		Progressive Conservative	Bardette Elliott	380	12.13
Total valid votes			3,133	100.00
Rejected votes			50
Turnout			3,183	78.11

Brown and Elliott were eliminated, and their votes were transferred as follows: Mitchell 239, Wilson 222. 614 votes were non-transferable.

Final Count

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Co-operative Commonwealth Federation	Robert J. Wilson	1,211	38.65		Votes Not Transferred		614	19.60

Gimli:

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Social Credit	E.H. Fitch	867	26.17		Independent	John Firman	194	5.86
Total valid votes			3,313	100.00
Rejected votes			48
Turnout			3,361	54.15

Gladstone:

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%

Hamiota:

First Count

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Progressive Conservative	Edward P. Venables	1,227	36.62		Social Credit	Fred Charles	525	15.67
Total valid votes			3,351	100.00
Rejected votes			39
Turnout			3,390	65.68

Charles was eliminated, and his votes were distributed as follows: Venables 123, Shuttleworth 88. 314 votes were non-transferable.

Second Count

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	Progressive Conservative	Edward P. Venables	1,350	40.29	Votes Not Transferred		314	9.37

Iberville:

First Count

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Progressive Conservative	(incumbent)John McDowell	1,442	38.68		Co-operative Commonwealth Federation	John C. Hilgenga	665	17.41		Social Credit	C.F. Rempel	374	9.79
Total valid votes			3,728	100.00
Rejected votes			91
Turnout			3,819	63.13

Hilgenga and Rempel were eliminated, and their votes were distributed as follows: Jarvis 207, McDowell 195. 637 votes were non-transferable.

Final Count

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	Progressive Conservative	(incumbent)John McDowell	1,637	43.91	Votes Not Transferred		637	17.09

Kildonan—Transcona:

First Count

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Co-operative Commonwealth Federation	Russell Paulley	5,770	47.68		Social Credit	Dr. L.G. Carson	1,117	9.23		Independent	Steve Melnyk	820	6.78
Total valid votes			12,101	100.00
Rejected votes			247
Turnout			12,348	61.91

Although Melnyk ran as an independent, he was supported by the local Progressive Conservative association.

Both Carson and Melnyk were eliminated after the first count. Paulley received 275 additional votes on transfers, while Bodie received 163. It is assumed that all of these transfers came from Melynk's total, and that Paulley was declared elected before Carson's ballots were scrutinized. For the purposes of this article, Carson's final vote total is listed under "votes not transferred".

Second Count

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	Co-operative Commonwealth Federation	Russell Paulley	6,045	49.95	Votes Not Transferred		1,499	17.09

Killarney:

First Count

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Progressive Conservative	(incumbent)Abram Harrison	1,786	48.51		Social Credit	G. Glen Paterson	666	18.09
Total valid votes			3,682	100.00
Rejected votes			51
Turnout			3,733	75.70

Harrison was subsequently elected on transfers from Paterson.

Lakeside:

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Social Credit	James William Lee Tully	786	19.26		Progressive Conservative	Charles H. Spence	662	16.23		Co-operative Commonwealth Federation	Hazel C. Allan	342	8.38
Total valid votes			4,080	100.00
Rejected votes			79
Turnout			4,159	72.34

Lansdowne:

First Count

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Progressive Conservative	(incumbent)Thomas H. Seens	1,563	36.47		Social Credit	R.W. Doherty	709	16.54
Total valid votes			4,286	100.00
Rejected votes			29
Turnout			4,315	65.99

Sutherland was subsequently elected on transfers from Doherty. The Winnipeg Free Press of June 12, 1953, indicates that Sutherland had 2,160 votes on the second count.

La Verendrye:

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Social Credit	Damase Dufresne	1,576	41.70
Total valid votes			3,779	100.00
Rejected votes			53
Turnout			3,832	62.93

Manitou-Morden:

First Count

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Progressive Conservative	(incumbent)Hugh Morrison	1,606	46.99		Social Credit	Albert O'Donnell	758	22.18
Total valid votes			3,418	100.00
Rejected votes			68
Turnout			3,486	64.20

Morrison was subsequently elected on transfers from O'Donnell.

Minnedosa:

First Count

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Social Credit	Gilbert Hutton	1,401	36.10		Progressive Conservative	John A. Burgess	1,047	26.98
Total valid votes			3,881	100.00
Rejected votes			71
Turnout			3,952	77.46

Hutton was subsequently elected on transfers from Burgess.

Morris:

First Count

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Independent	(incumbent)Harry Shewman	1,528	42.89		Social Credit	Wilbert James Tinkler	844	23.69
Total valid votes			3,563	100.00
Rejected votes			117
Turnout			3,680	65.27

Tinkler was eliminated, and his votes were distributed as follows: Shewman 432, Beaubien 58. 354 votes were not transferred.

Second Count

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	Independent	(incumbent)Harry Shewman	1,960	55.01	Votes Not Transferred		354	9.94

Mountain:

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Social Credit	Dollard E. Lafreniere	894	28.44		Independent	John A. Mabon	399	12.69
Total valid votes			3,144	100.00
Rejected votes			25
Turnout			3,169	65.48

Norfolk-Beautiful Plains:

First Count

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Social Credit	Charles J. McKinnon	1,394	28.50		Progressive Conservative	Harold A. Nelson	1,365	27.90
Total valid votes			4,892	100.00
Rejected votes			44
Turnout			4,936	59.96

Nelson was eliminated, and his votes were distributed as follows: McKinnon 342, Burch 257. 766 votes were not transferred.

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Social Credit	Charles J. McKinnon	1,736	35.49		Votes Not Transferred		766	15.66

Portage la Prairie:

First Count

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Progressive Conservative	William C. Warren	1,329	35.29		Social Credit	Bernie H. Rempel	784	20.82
Total valid votes			3,766	100.00
Rejected votes			121
Turnout			3,887	73.97

Rempel was eliminated, and his votes were transferred as follows: Warren 200, Greenlay 94. 490 votes were non-transferable.

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	Progressive Conservative	William C. Warren	1,529	40.60	Votes Not Transferred		490	13.01

Rhineland:

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Social Credit	Victor Peters	964	30.73		Progressive Conservative	Leo A. Recksiedler	565	18.01
Total valid votes			3,137	100.00
Rejected votes			86
Turnout			3,223	67.09

Roblin:

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Co-operative Commonwealth Federation	Joseph Perchaluk	866	29.53		Social Credit	Earl D. McIntyre	366	12.48		Progressive Conservative	Fred E. Cowan	227	7.74
Total valid votes			2,933	100.00
Rejected votes			116
Turnout			3,049	75.66

Rockwood:

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Progressive Conservative	H.J. Langrell	656	21.89		Social Credit	C.E. Toutant	389	12.98
Total valid votes			2,997	100.00
Rejected votes			47
Turnout			3,044	71.34

Russell:

First Count

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Co-operative Commonwealth Federation	Michael Sotas	1,190	28.83		Progressive Conservative	Keith Porter	723	17.51		Social Credit	Charles H. Beswatherick	511	12.38
Total valid votes			4,128	100.00
Rejected votes			56
Turnout			4,184	80.37

Clement was subsequently elected on transfers.

St. Andrews:

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Progressive Conservative	Keith H. Robson	1,366	26.57		Co-operative Commonwealth Federation	Ernest Draffin	838	16.30
Total valid votes			5,142	100.00
Rejected votes			93
Turnout			5,235	65.08

St. Clements:

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Co-operative Commonwealth Federation	Edgar E. Smee	1,495	25.77		Social Credit	Osborne A. Earle	959	16.53		Progressive Conservative	Walter H. Whyte	378	6.51
Total valid votes			5,802	100.00
Rejected votes			259
Turnout			6,061	60.66

Fred Klym entered the contest as an Independent Liberal Progressive candidate, but withdrew before election day.

St. George:

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Social Credit	E.H. Hartfield	321	15.92
Total valid votes			2,016	100.00
Rejected votes			36
Turnout			2,052	63.10

Halldorson was also supported by the St. George Progressive Conservative Association.

Springfield:

First Count

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Social Credit	William G. Storsley	1,365	35.50		Progressive Conservative	A.H. Watt	643	16.72
Total valid votes			3,845	100.00
Rejected votes			215
Turnout			4,060	51.68

Watt was eliminated, and his votes were distributed as follows: Storsley 206, Lucko 128. 309 votes were not transferred.

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	Social Credit	William G. Storsley	1,571	40.86	Votes Not Transferred		309	8.04

Swan River:

First Count

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Progressive Conservative	(incumbent)George Renouf	2,383	49.32		Social Credit	Delbert L. Downs	1,508	31.21		Co-operative Commonwealth Federation	Sam Einarson	757	15.67		Independent	George E. Scalf	184	3.81
Total valid votes			4,832	100.00
Rejected votes			64
Turnout			4,896	65.00

Renouf was subsequently elected on transfers.

The Pas:

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Social Credit	William H. Calvert	1,668	20.67		Co-operative Commonwealth Federation	Arthur W. Thompson	1,526	18.91
Total valid votes			8,069	100.00
Rejected votes			177
Turnout			8,246	61.42

Turtle Mountain:

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Progressive Conservative	(incumbent)Errick Willis	1,777	56.11		Social Credit	C.A. Ferguson	507	16.01
Total valid votes			3,167	100.00
Rejected votes			57
Turnout			3,224	78.61

Virden:

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Progressive Conservative	John Thompson	2,182	57.38
Total valid votes			3,803	100.00
Rejected votes			31
Turnout			3,834	75.40

Eric Bailey was nominated for the Social Credit Party, but withdrew before election day. Herman Scheel was nominated in his place, but also withdrew after discovering that some electors who had signed his nomination papers believed they were endorsing Bailey.

Multi-member constituencies

St. Boniface

Two members elected

Valid votes in total = 19,557

Quota (amount that ensures election but not necessary to be elected) = 6,519

Template:STV Election box begin2 Template:STV Election box candidate2 Canada Template:STV Election box candidate2 Canada Template:STV Election box candidate2 Canada Template:STV Election box candidate2 Canada Template:STV Election box candidate2 Canada Template:STV Election box candidate2 Canada Template:STV Election box candidate2 Canada Template:STV Election box candidate2 Canada Template:STV Election box end2 At the end there were 3954 exhausted votes, votes that were no longer in play, either because there were no back-up preferences marked or because the candidates that were marked had already been eliminated.

Two Liberal-Progressive candidates were declared elected when the field of candidates narrowed through eliminations of lowest-ranking candidates to the point where these two were the last remaining candidates to fill the two seats, which had still not been filled by that point. Being the last ones remaining, they were elected even though they did not have quota.

Winnipeg Centre

The surpluses of Swailes and Juba were not transferred, as they were too small to affect the final candidate order. Scott was declared elected to the fourth position, despite finishing below the quota.

Winnipeg North

Kardash and Turk were declared elected to the third and fourth positions, even though both finished below the quota. Because of vote transfers from Lib-Prog Brotman and from Prog-Conservative Carrick, Lib-Prog Turk passed Lib-Prog Kozoriz who was in fourth place to take a seat.

2480 exhausted votes at the end.

Winnipeg South

Stinson's surplus of 146 was not transferred, as it would not have affected the candidate order.

Deferred elections

The election in Rupertsland was deferred to July 6, due to the difficulties of enumeration in this vast northern constituency. The election in Ste. Rose was also deferred to July 6, after incumbent Liberal-Progressive candidate Maurice Dane MacCarthy died on the eve of the general election.

The election did not technically end until July 21, 1953, when the final results for Rupertsland were announced.

Rupertsland (deferred to July 6, 1953):

First Count

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Independent	Charles Leo Abbott	186	8.07
Total valid votes			2,304	100.00
Rejected votes			92
Turnout			2,396	57.10

The Progressive Conservatives initially nominated E.G. Perry, but he withdrew from the contest and endorsed Brown. Brown was declared elected following transfers from Abbott. The official Elections Manitoba report of this constituency lists Boulette as an official Liberal-Progressive candidate, but newspaper reports from the period indicate that he was an Independent Liberal-Progressive.

Ste. Rose:

First Count

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Social Credit	Antoine Pineau	891	26.65
Total valid votes			3,343	100.00
Rejected votes			76
Turnout			3,419	69.32

Pineau was eliminated, and his votes were transferred as follows: Molgat 192, Fletcher 83. 616 votes were not transferred.

Second Count

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	Votes Not Transferred		616	18.43

Sources

Results for the first ballot counts for all constituencies are taken from the 1954 Canadian Parliamentary Guide, and from Election Manitoba's "Historical Summaries" (printed as an appendix to the 2003 election results).

There are minor discrepancies between these sources for the Social Credit vote count in Brandon City, Manitou-Morden, Rockwood and Swan River. The sources also disagree as to the candidate order for Minnedosa on the first count (although both agree that Gilbert Hutton was subsequently elected). In each case, the "Historical Summaries" entry has been taken as more reliable.

All results after the first ballot are taken from reports in the Winnipeg Free Press. This paper made an obvious error in reporting Lloyd Stinson's fifth-vote count, which has been corrected here. Other than this, the results for multi-member constituencies may be taken as accurate and verifiable. For the single-member constituencies, it possible that Free Press reports differed from the final results in some particulars.

Post-election changes

Ivan Schultz (Mountain, LP) resigned his seat in the first half of 1955, while James O. Argue (Deloraine-Glenwood, PC) died in the same period. By-elections for both constituencies were held on June 27, 1955. The CCF concluded that it did not have a chance of victory in either seat, and declined to nominate candidates. Social Credit also planned to stay out of the elections, until Roger Poiron entered the Mountain poll without consulting the provincial party. Although not technically an official candidate, he still received support from the Social Credit organization.

The Winnipeg Free Press's coverage indicates that the Campbell government was concerned with the results of the 1955 by-elections. Mountain had previously been regarded as one of the safest Liberal-Progressive seats in the province, and Boulic's performance was unexpectedly strong. Many leading government figures had campaigned for Clark in the campaign's final days, to ensure his victory. Clark received most of his support from Mountain's Anglophone majority and large Flemish community, while Boulic did well among French Canadians, who made up about one third of the voters.

St. George (dec. Christian Halldorson, 1956), December 30, 1956:

• Elman Guttormson (LP) 1214
• Magnusson (PC) 707
• Allen (CCF) 510

Emerson (res. John Solomon, 1957), November 14, 1957:

• John Tanchak (LP) 2183
• Frank Casper (PC) 2008

[Note: These figures are taken from the Winnipeg Free Press, with 31 of 32 polls reporting. The outstanding poll was too small to affect the final result.]

Manitou-Morden (dec. Hugh Morrison, 1957), November 14, 1957:

• Maurice Ridley (PC) 2240
• David Lumgair (L) 1057

Gladstone (dec. William Morton, early 1958)

Dauphin (William Bullmore left the Social Credit party in either 1957 or 1958)

Arthur (dec. J. Arthur Ross, April 1, 1958)