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1927 Manitoba general election

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FieldValue
election_name1927 Manitoba general election
countryManitoba
flag_year1921
typeparliamentary
previous_election1922 Manitoba general election
previous_year1922
outgoing_members[elected members](17th-manitoba-legislature)
next_election1932 Manitoba general election
elected_members18th Manitoba Legislature
next_year1932
election_dateJune 28, 1927
seats_for_election55 seats of the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba
majority_seats27
image1John Bracken circa 1941.jpg
image1_sizex150px
colour1
leader1John Bracken
leader_since1August 8, 1922
party1
leaders_seat1The Pas
last_election128
seats1**29**
seat_change11
popular_vote152,805
percentage132.4%
swing10.4pp
colour2
leader2Fawcett Taylor
leader_since2April, 1922
party2Conservative
leaders_seat2Portage la Prairie
last_election27
seats215
seat_change28
popular_vote244,320
percentage227.2%
swing211.7pp
image4Hugh Amos Robson - 1916.jpg
image4_sizex150px
colour4
leader4Hugh Robson
leader_since41927
party4
leaders_seat4Winnipeg
last_election48
seats47
seat_change41
popular_vote433,852
percentage420.7%
swing42.5pp
colour5
leader5John Queen
leader_since51923
party5Independent Labour
leaders_seat5Winnipeg
last_election56
seats53
seat_change53
popular_vote517,133
percentage510.5%
swing50.6pp
map_caption
titlePremier
before_electionJohn Bracken
before_party
posttitlePremier after election
after_electionJohn Bracken
after_party

The 1927 Manitoba general election was held on 28 June 1927 to elect Members of the Legislative Assembly of the province of Manitoba, Canada. The result was a second consecutive victory for Manitoba farmers, following its 1922 win.

This was the first election in Manitoba history to elect MLAs through casting of ranked ballots in all districts. Ten MLAs were elected in Winnipeg through Single transferable vote, as they had done since 1920. The other districts now began to elect MLAs through Instant-runoff voting.

The Progressive Party of Manitoba, led by Premier John Bracken, won a second consecutive majority government in 1927. Progressive candidates won twenty-nine seats out of fifty-five to win their second majority government. During the campaign, the Progressives stressed that they were not a party in the traditional sense and promised "A business (not a party) government". Many Progressive candidates simply described themselves as Bracken supporters. The Progressive Party was supported by the powerful United Farmers of Manitoba organization.

The Conservatives won fifteen seats under the leadership of Fawcett Taylor, an improvement from seven in the election of 1922. This election re-established the Conservatives as the leading opposition party in Manitoba, and made the party a credible challenger for government in the next election.

The Manitoba Liberal Party was unable to regain the support it had lost to the Progressive Party in the previous election. The Liberals won seven seats under the new leadership of Hugh Robson, down one from their 1922 total. After the election, many senior Liberals began to work for an electoral alliance with the Progressives. Robson, who opposed this plan, was persuaded to resign as leader in 1930. The alliance was formalized in 1932.

The Independent Labour Party fell to three seats, down from six in the previous election. All three members, including party leader John Queen, were elected in the city of Winnipeg. Candidates of four separate parties - Liberal, Conservative, ILP and Progressive - plus an Independent - were elected to fill that city's ten seats. Winnipeg seats were filled using a form of proportional representation, Single transferable voting.

Jacob Penner ran in Winnipeg as a Communist candidate, but was not successful. He lasted 19 rounds of transfers but picked up very few votes so was eliminated.

Independent candidate John Edmison was re-elected in Brandon.

The proportion of the vote received by the Progressive Party (based on first-preference votes) was enough to assure a functioning government, but it was one of lowest in Canadian history.

The Legislature experienced a significant turnover of members, with 23 seats electing new MLAs. Twelve incumbents (one in Winnipeg, and 11 more in other ridings) went down in defeat, six failed to be renominated, and five chose not to stand for reelection.

Under the instant-runoff voting used to elect 45 MLAs, the leader in the first count of the district's votes was the one elected in all but three districts,so the final results in the districts outside Winnipeg were almost the same as under First-past-the-post voting .

Of the 45 single-member ridings, two MLAs were returned by acclamation. Twenty-one were decided solely on first-preference votes, with no vote transfers conducted. The remainder (22) went to runoff counts. There were only three "turn-overs" where the first count leader did not win due to vote transfers - in Minnedosa, Morden & Rhineland and Springfield. The Progressive candidate was leading on the first count in all three districts but after vote transfers, Conservatives won two of them and Liberals won one.

Seventeen seats in the single-member districts went to parties different from the previous election. Eleven rural incumbents running for re-election under their old party label were defeated. Three other incumbents changed their party label and were re-elected. Three open seats flipped to another party.

Results

PartyLeaderFirst-preference votesSeatsVotes% FPvCand.[1922](1922-manitoba-general-election)ElectedChange
John Bracken52,42332.124428262Fawcett Taylor44,32027.15
Valid163,212100.001535555
Rejectedn/a
Total votes cast163,212
Registered voters/Turnoutnumber is for contested ridings only233,45369.9

Results by riding

Bold names indicate members returned by acclamation. Incumbents are marked with *.

Seats changing hands

In the single-member ridings, 17 seats changed allegiance:

Progressive to Conservative

  • Killarney
  • Manitou
  • Minnedosa

Progressive to Liberal

  • Mountain
  • Springfield

Progressive to Independent-Farmer

  • Ethelbert

Progressive to Independent-Progressive

  • Iberville
  • Rupertsland

Liberal to Progressive

  • Fairford
  • Gimli

Liberal to Conservative

  • Dauphin

ILP to Conservative

  • Assiniboia
  • Kildonan & St. Andrews

Independent to Progressive

  • St. Clements
  • Ste. Rose

Independent to Conservative

  • St. Boniface

Independent-Farmer to Progressive

  • Emerson

:(Italics indicate that incumbent changed allegiance)

In Winnipeg, the seat distribution was changed as follows:

Party19221927change
1212
ILP43
**Total**1010

Turnovers on runoff

In the single-member ridings, there were three cases where the first-place candidate on first-preference votes failed to win:

|- ! rowspan="2" colspan="2"|Party ! rowspan="2"|Candidate ! colspan="2"|First-preference votes ! colspan="3"|Maximum votes |- style="text-align:right; background-color:#E9E9E9; text-align:center" ! Votes ! % FPv ! Votes ! Round ! Initial vs transfer votes mix | 1,405 | 41.89 | 1,581 | 2 | 1,377 | 41.06 | 1,595 | 2 | 572 | 17.05 | 572

1
3,354
100.00
-
178
5.31%
}

|- ! rowspan="2" colspan="2"|Party ! rowspan="2"|Candidate ! colspan="2"|First-preference votes ! colspan="3"|Maximum votes |- style="text-align:right; background-color:#E9E9E9; text-align:center" ! Votes ! % FPv ! Votes ! Round ! Initial vs transfer votes mix | 1,075 | 41.20 | 1,132 | 2 | 1,016 | 38.94 | 1,252 | 2 | 518 | 19.85 | 518

1
2,609
100.00
-
225
8.62%
}

|- ! rowspan="2" colspan="2"|Party ! rowspan="2"|Candidate ! colspan="2"|First-preference votes ! colspan="3"|Maximum votes |- style="text-align:right; background-color:#E9E9E9; text-align:center" ! Votes ! % FPv ! Votes ! Round ! Initial vs transfer votes mix | 1,459 | 43.70 | 1,489 | 2 | 1,389 | 41.60 | 1,507 | 2 | 491 | 14.70 | 491

1
3,339
100.00
-
343
10.27%
}

First-preference votes by riding

: = won on first-preference votes, by receiving majority of valid votes in the first count. The candidate in the winning position in the first count won in the end in every district, except in the Minnedosa, Morden and Springfield districts, where the winner is indicated by his or her first count vote tally being in bold. (Note: that vote count was not the winner's final vote count.)

RidingProgConLibILPIndInd-FrmInd-ModInd-ProgCommTotalMBProgressive}}MBConservative}}MBLiberal}}MBCCF}}MBIndependent}}MBFarmer}}MBIndependent}}MBProgressive}}MBCommunist}}Rural single-member ridingsWinnipeg (multi-member riding)Provincewide
Arthur1,2269022,128
Assiniboia4711,3805201,3205664,257
Beautiful Plains1,3609655112,836
Birtle1,1346357422,511
Brandon City4891,2883,5265,303
Carillon1,6044582,062
Cypress1,0911,2353112,637
Dauphin9201,0226472,589
Deloraine1,1741,0143692,557
Dufferin1,7901,0473073,144
Emersonmultiple Independent candidates7953136528142,574
Ethelbert9171,3022,219
Fairford4372963581,091
Fisher754310179121,255
Gilbert Plains1,0215923151,928
Gimli1,0261988018462,871
Gladstone1,3116241,935
Glenwood7215441,0722,337
Hamiota1,0865204622,068
Iberville***Acclaimed***
Kildonan and St. Andrews1,1341,3871,1593,680
Killarney9341,1892,123
Lakeside1,4421,2742,716
Lansdowne5501,9472,497
La Verendrye1,0744405812,095
Manitou1,0971,3305412,968
Minnedosa1,405**1,377**5723,354
Morden and Rhineland1,075**1,016**5182,609
Morris1,6632851,948
Mountain1,4941,5783,072
Norfolk1,3411,3072,648
Portage la Prairie1,5807952,375
Roblin7341,0572702,061
Rockwood1,486719474662,745
Rupertsland81145216442
Russell1,2279369032543,320
St. Boniface1,1881,9901,7901,4696,437
St. Clements2,1464401,4364,022
St. George5244668141,804
Ste. Rose1,0558313582,244
Springfield1,459491**1,389**3,339
Swan River1,2137975462,556
The Pas5824541,036
Turtle Mountain9461,1672,113
Virden***Acclaimed***
Winnipeg8,79413,36211,02911,4703,2008362,01550,706
**Total**52,42344,32033,85215,9878,4951,3023,2001,6182,015163,212

Winnipeg

Eligible voters 67,124 Valid votes 50,706 Turnout: 76%

10 seats. Quota: 4,610

Elected: 2 Progressive Party, 3 Conservatives, 2 Liberals, 3 ILP (listed in same order as in above table)

Rogers and Ivens passed quota in Round 21. Their surpluses were not transferred as they could not possibly have bridged the gap between the least-popular remaining candidate and the other two remaining contenders. With their election, there were only three remaining candidates and two remaining open seats. Downes was then declared defeated - his votes were not transferred as Tobias and Montgomery were the only ones still standing and there were two seats left to be filled Tobias and Montgomery were elected with partial quota, as the field of candidates had been thinned to the number of remaining open seats.

|- ! rowspan="2" colspan="2"|Label ! rowspan="2"|Candidate ! colspan="2"|First-preference votes ! colspan="3"|Maximum votes |- style="text-align:right; background-color:#E9E9E9; text-align:center" ! Votes ! % FPv ! Votes ! Round ! Initial vs transfer votes mix | 5,108 | 10.07 | 5,108 | 1 | 4,862 | 9.59 | 4,862 | 1 | 4,551 | 8.98 | 4,800 | 3 | 3,985 | 7.86 | 4,631 | 9 | 3,713 | 7.32 | 5,142 | 14 | 3,497 | 6.90 | 5,376 | 13 | 2,236 | 4.41 | 3,960 | 22 | 2,047 | 4.04 | 3,411 | 21 | 2,015 | 3.97 | 2,229 | 19 | 1,687 | 3.33 | 4,114 | 22 | 1,604 | 3.16 | 1,791 | 16 | 1,582 | 3.12 | 4,764 | 21 | 1,435 | 2.83 | 4,700 | 21 | 1,362 | 2.69 | 1,669 | 13 | 1,271 | 2.51 | 2,173 | 18 | 1,241 | 2.45 | 1,291 | 10 | 1,191 | 2.35 | 1,410 | 11 | 1,153 | 2.27 | 1,218 | 9 | 1,075 | 2.12 | 2,408 | 20 | 999 | 1.97 | 1,049 | 7 | 993 | 1.96 | 1,691 | 14 | 941 | 1.86 | 1,116 | 8 | 836 | 1.65 | 842 | 6 | 761 | 1.50 | 792 | 5 | 561 | 1.11 | 562

4
50,706
100.00
-
5,508
10.86%
}

Transfers of surplus votes belonging to elected Conservatives Haig and Evans went in large numbers to Tobias, helping him take a seat although he was not in top ten in the first count. Communist candidate Penner's vote tally was not large enough for him to win a seat and he received few vote transfers, but many of his votes were transferred to help elect Ivens, the last ILP member to be elected. The Independent-Moderationist candidate Downes received some vote transfers from supporters of candidates running under other labels, but not enough to maintain a lead over party candidates (Rogers and Ivens) who although initially lower ranking compared to Downes, received many vote transfers from elected or eliminated candidates of the same party. In each party the most popular candidates maintained their position visa vis other candidates of the same party all the way through. The question was how many quota each party had at the start (taking all the party candidates together) and how many they would pick up from cross-party transfers - this set up how many seats each party would take. The seats were filled by the candidates in popularity order set by the voters. Party lists, if they had been used as in Party-list proportional representation, might have dictated that different persons would have filled the seats that were indirectly allocated to each party than were the choice of voters in this election.

Sources

The first ballot results for Winnipeg and results for all other constituencies are taken from an official Manitoba government publication entitled "Manitoba elections, 1920–1941", cross-referenced with the 1928 Canadian Parliamentary Guide, and an appendix to the Manitoba government's report of the 2003 provincial election.

All ballot results for Winnipeg after the first count are taken from reports in the Winnipeg Free Press newspaper. It is possible that some errors appeared in the original publication.

Post-election changes

Birtle (John Pratt leaves the government side, early in the parliament).

Lansdowne (res. Tobias Norris, 1928), 10 November 1928:

  • Donald McKenzie (Liberal/Progressive) 1527
  • Harvey Hicks (C) 1260

Morris (William Clubb to new cabinet post, 18 May 1929), 30 May 1929:

  • William Clubb (P) accl.

Turtle Mountain (dec. Richard G. Willis, February 1929), 22 June 1929:

  • Alexander Welch (C) 1327
  • W.E. Campbell (P) 995

Winnipeg (res. Hugh Robson, January 1930)

Mountain (dec. Irving Cleghorn, 1930), 20 January 1930:

  • Ivan Schultz (L [endorsed by Progressives]) accl.

The Liberals formed an alliance with the governing Progressives in 1932.

Brandon City (dec. John H. Edmison, 22 March 1932)

References

References

  1. (1998). "Canadian Guide of Leadership and Electoral History - Analytical Supplement". W.D. Madden.
  2. . (July 4, 1927). ["18th Legislature Will Have Many New Faces"](https://digitalcollections.lib.umanitoba.ca/islandora/object/uofm:1645904).
  3. . ["Eighteenth General Election Held June 28, 1927 - Summary of Results"](https://www.electionsmanitoba.ca/downloads/HistoricalResultsSummaries/1927.pdf). *[[Elections Manitoba]]*.
  4. Winnipeg Tribune, June 30, 1927
  5. . (July 2, 1927). ["As Winnipeg Votes Were Counted"](https://digitalcollections.lib.umanitoba.ca/islandora/object/uofm%3A1646356). *[[The Winnipeg Tribune]]*.
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