1932 Manitoba general election

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1932 Manitoba general election
Flag of Manitoba.svg
← 1927 June 16, 1932 1936 →
55 seats of the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba
27 seats needed for a majority
  First party Second party Third party
  John Bracken circa 1941.jpg
Leader John Bracken Fawcett Taylor John Queen
Party Liberal–Progressive Progressive Conservative Independent Labour
Leader since August 8, 1922 April 5, 1922 1923
Leader's seat The Pas Portage la Prairie Winnipeg
Last election 36 15 3
Seats won 38 10 5
Seat change Increase2 Decrease5 Increase2
Popular vote 101,286 92,660 41,963
Percentage 39.6% 35.4% 16.5%
Swing Decrease13.5pp Increase8.2pp Increase6.0pp
Premier before election

John Bracken
Liberal–Progressive

Premier after election

John Bracken
Liberal–Progressive

The 1932 Manitoba general election was held on June 16, 1932 to elect Members of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Manitoba, Canada. A Liberal-Progressive majority government was elected.

This was the second election in Manitoba where two types of preferential voting was used in all electoral divisions. Winnipeg elected ten members through single transferable ballot, while all other constituencies elected one member by instant runoff voting.

The election was called soon after the announcement of an alliance between the governing Progressive Party of John Bracken and the Liberal Party led by Murdoch Mackay. These parties were ideologically similar, and had a common interest in preventing the Conservative Party from coming to power. National Liberal leader William Lyon Mackenzie King supported this alliance, out of concern that a Conservative victory would strengthen the hand of Conservative Prime Minister Richard Bennett.

Bracken tried to bring the Conservatives into his coalition, but was rebuffed by Conservative leader Fawcett Taylor. Taylor's refusal to consider a consensus government was used against him in the campaign.

The election was also contested by the social democratic Independent Labour Party, under the leadership of John Queen. Though it was the second-largest party in the legislature after the 1920 election, Labour had slumped to only three seats in 1927 amid a general period of decline in the Canadian left. While the ILP was poised to improve its showing in the 1932 campaign, it was not a serious contender for government. In the event it elected only five MLAs, four in Winnipeg and one in St. Boniface, evidence of the benefits of preferential balloting to a minority party.

Some members of the provincial Liberal Party opposed the Liberal-Progressive alliance, and contested the election as "continuing Liberals". Their leader was David Campbell, the mayor of St. Boniface.

Leslie Morris and Jacob Penner of the Communist Party campaigned in the city of Winnipeg, and other Communist candidates ran in the outlying areas. As the Communist Party was under legal restrictions at the time, they ran as "United Front Workers" candidates. Former Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) George Armstrong ran as a candidate of the Socialist Party, and campaigned as a labour candidate unaffiliated with the ILP.

The result was a resounding victory for the governing alliance, as Liberals, Progressives and their allies won 38 out of 55 seats. The Conservatives fell from fifteen seats to ten. Having lost his third consecutive election, Fawcett Taylor resigned as Conservative leader in 1933. The Independent Labour Party managed a modest recovery after its poor showing in 1927, increasing its caucus to five members. No other parties' candidates were elected, although two former Progressives were elected as independents. The Continuing Liberals fared especially poorly, and disappeared after the election.

Leslie Morris came 309 votes short of winning the tenth seat in Winnipeg. Had he won, he would have been the first Communist elected to a provincial legislature in Canada.

Results[]

Party Party Leader # of
candidates 		Seats Popular Vote
1927 Elected Change # % % Change
  Liberal-Progressive John Bracken 53 36 38 +2   39.6% -13.5%
  Conservative Fawcett Taylor 49 15 10 -5   35.4% +8.2%
  Independent Labour John Queen 15 3 5 +2   16.5% +6.0%
  Continuing Liberal David Campbell 13 - 0 -   2.0% n/a
  United Front 4 0 0 -      
Socialist 1 0 0 -      
  Independent 11 1 2 +1      
Total   55 55     100%  
Popular vote
Liberal-Progressive
 
 39.60%
Conservative
 
 35.40%
Ind. Labour
 
 16.50%
Others
 
 8.50%
Seats summary
Liberal-Progressive
 
 69.09%
Conservative
 
 18.18%
Ind. Labour
 
 9.09%
Others
 
 3.64%
Preceded by
1927 Manitoba election 		List of Manitoba elections Succeeded by
1936 Manitoba election

Of the 17 opposition MLAs, 7 were elected in Winnipeg through STV.

See also[]

  • List of Manitoba political parties

Results by electoral division[]

(LP/P = Liberal Party/Progressive) L = continuing Liberal group led by Campbell (45 single-member seats, winner determined through ; 10 Winnipeg seats, winners determined through STV)

Arthur:

Assiniboia:

First Count

Smith was eliminated.

Second Count

:

Birtle:

  • (x)John Pratt (Ind/P) 1954
  • William C. Wroth (C) 1315

Brandon City:

First Count

Cater was eliminated. Clement was eliminated on the second count with 1555 votes.

Third Count

  • George Dinsdale (C) 3021
  • Harry Spafford (ILP) 2192

Carillon:

Cypress:

Dauphin:

First Count

Wicks was eliminated.

Second Count

  • Robert Hawkins (LP) 1861
  • Ernest N. McGirr (C) 1595

:

Dufferin:

Emerson:

First Count

Kolodzinski was eliminated.

Second Count

  • (x)Robert Curran (LP) 2028
  • William Richard Johnston (C) 1788

Ethelbert:

Fairford:

Fisher:

First Count

Hamilton was eliminated. Note that one source lists Hamilton as a Continuing Liberal.

Second Count

  • (x)Nicholas Bachynsky (LP/P) 851
  • W.N. Kolisnyk (United Front Workers) 388
  • W.E. Hodgins (C) 388

Gilbert Plains:

  • (x)Arthur Berry (LP/P) 1601
  • (C) 1312

Gimli:

First Count

Ewanchuk was eliminated. Kapusta was eliminated on the second count with 716 votes, and Thorvaldson was eliminated on the third count with 858 votes.

Fourth Count

  • Einar Jonasson (LP/L) 1704
  • (x)Ingimar Ingaldson (LP/P) 1410

Gladstone:

:

Hamiota:

Iberville:

  • (x)Arthur R. Boivin (LP/Ind) 1488
  • (C) 807
  • (L) 304

Kildonan and St. Andrews:

First Count

Cook was eliminated.

Second Count

  • (x)James McLenaghen (C) 2664
  • W.H. Gibbs (LP/L) 2625

Killarney:

Lakeside:

Lansdowne:

La Verendrye:

First Count

Ramsay was eliminated.

Second Count

  • Philippe Adjutor Talbot (LP/P) 1627
  • R.J.E. Arpin (C) 1551

Manitou:

Minnedosa:

First Count

St. John was eliminated.

Second Count

  • (x)Earl Rutledge (C) 2432
  • Neil Cameron (LP) 2378

Morris:

Mountain:

Morden and Rhineland:

:

Portage la Prairie:

Roblin:

Rockwood:

First Count

Lewis was eliminated.

Second Count

  • (x)William McKinnell (LP/P) 2667
  • H. Hannesson (C) 1250

Rupertsland (16 July):

First Count

  • Ewan McPherson (LP/L) 312
  • (x)Herbert G. Beresford (LP/P) 215
  • Capt. (Ind) 111

Atkinson was eliminated.

Second Count

  • Ewan McPherson (LP/L) 319
  • (x)Herbert G. Beresford (LP/P) 229

Russell:

St. Boniface: Harold Lawrence (ILP) elected at end of vote count process

Valid votes: 11,359 majority required to win on First Count: 5680

First Count

2nd Count Campbell was eliminated. His 1116 votes were transferred to other candidates according to voters' marked preferences or put aside as "exhausted." 3rd Count Gagnon was eliminated. His 3560 votes were transferred.

After 3rd Count

  • Harold Lawrence (ILP) 4954
  • (x)Joseph Bernier (C) 4470

Lawrence with a majority of the remaining votes in the district was declared elected. At the end there were 9424 votes still in play. The others were "exhausted." They had run out of marked preferences so were no longer in use.

St. Clements:

First Count

Smith was eliminated. Dunn was eliminated after the second count with 1824 votes.

Second Count

  • (x)Robert Hoey (LP/P) 3655
  • R.J. Bate (C) 2285

St. George:

Ste. Rose:

Springfield:

First Count

Matheson was eliminated. McRury and Grant were eliminated after the second count with 1113 and 251 votes, respectively.

Third Count

  • Clifford Barclay (Ind/Farmer-Labour) 3192
  • (x)Murdoch Mackay (LP/L) 2540

Swan River:

First Count

Goodman was eliminated.

Second Count

Turtle Mountain:

The Pas (deferred):

Virden:

Winnipeg[]

Winnipeg (ten members):

Valid votes: 76,991 Quota: 7000 votes

First Count: Evans and Queen declared elected


Second Count: transfer of Evans' surplus

Third Count: transfer of Queen's surplus

Fourth count: Fulton and Gargan eliminated

Fifth count: Elcheshen eliminated (378 votes; Haig elected, 7019 votes)

Sixth count: transfer of Haig's surplus

Seventh count: Keith eliminated (588 votes)

Eighth count: Cameron eliminated

Ninth count: Reid eliminated (812 votes)

Tenth count: Armstrong eliminated (880 votes)

Eleventh count: Brigden eliminated (1084 votes; Farmer elected, 7105 votes)

Twelfth count: transfer of Farmer's surplus

Thirteenth count: Penner eliminated

Fourteenth count: Hermanson eliminated (1331 votes)

Fifteenth count: Anderson eliminated

Sixteenth count: Russell eliminated (1570 votes)

Seventeenth count: MacLennan eliminated (2082 votes; Major elected, 7044 votes)

Eighteenth count: transfer of Major's surplus

Nineteenth count: Montgomery eliminated (2177 votes)

Twentieth count: Tobias eliminated (2425 votes)

Twenty-first count: Andrusychen eliminated (2923 votes)

Twenty-second count: Swail eliminated (3457 votes; Ketchen elected, 7486 votes)

Twenty-third count: transfer of Ketchen's surplus


Twenty-fourth count: Barry eliminated (4780 votes)

  • (x)William Evans (C) 7000 elected
  • (x)John Queen (ILP) 7000 elected
  • (x)John Haig (C) 7000 elected
  • (x)Seymour Farmer (ILP) 7000 elected
  • (x)William Major (LP/P) 7000 elected
  • Huntly Ketchen (C) 7000 elected
  • Marcus Hyman (ILP) 6593
  • John McDiarmid (LP/L) 6060
  • (x)William Ivens (ILP) 5470
  • Ralph Maybank (LP/L) 5268
  • Leslie Morris (United Front Workers) 4959

After the twenty-fourth count: Morris was eliminated, leaving Hyman (ILP), John McDiarmid (LP/L), William Ivens (ILP) and Ralph Maybank (LP/L) to take the last empty seats. Morris's votes were not transferred because only four candidates remained to fill the four remaining open seats.

These were elected:

  • (x)William Evans (C) 7000
  • (x)John Queen (ILP) 7000
  • (x)John Haig (C) 7000
  • (x)Seymour Farmer (ILP) 7000
  • (x)William Major (LP/P) 7000
  • Huntly Ketchen (C) 7000
  • Marcus Hyman (ILP) 6593
  • John McDiarmid (LP/L) 6060
  • (x)William Ivens (ILP) 5470
  • Ralph Maybank (LP/L) 5268

(Only Ivens had not been among the ten most-popular candidates in the First Count.) The successful candidates had a total of about 65,000 votes. Adding in Morris's 5000 votes, the total means there were about 7000 exhausted votes.

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 an appendix to the government's report of the 2003 provincial election. The Canadian parliamentary guide lists slightly different results from Kildonan & St. Andrews, Lansdowne, La Verendrye, Morris, Springfield and Turtle Mountain; the other two sources are more comprehensive, however, and may be taken as more reliable.

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[]

Portage la Prairie (res. Fawcett Taylor, 1933), November 27, 1933:

Arthur (dec. Duncan McLeod, May 10, 1935), June 24, 1935:

Russell (Isaac Griffiths to cabinet, May 28, 1935), July 4, 1935:

Carillon (dec. Albert Prefontaine, 1935), July 4, 1935:

Gimli (res. Einar Jonasson, 1935)

Winnipeg (res. Ralph Maybank, October 1, 1935)

Winnipeg (res. John Thomas Haig, 1935)

Further reading[]

  • The Editors, ed. (1933). The Canadian Annual Review of Public Affairs, 1932. Toronto: The Annual Review Company. {{cite book}}: |editor= has generic name (help)
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