1980 Canadian federal election

Process by which the Canadian people chose their 33rd Parliament

The 1980 Canadian federal election was held on February 18, 1980, to elect members of the House of Commons of Canada of the 32nd Parliament of Canada.

1980 Canadian federal election

← 1979 February 18, 1980 1984 →
← 31st Canadian Parliament
32nd Canadian Parliament →

282 seats in the House of Commons
142 seats needed for a majority
Turnout69.3%[1] (Decrease6.4pp)
  First party Second party
 
Leader Pierre Trudeau Joe Clark
Party Liberal Progressive Conservative
Leader's seat Mount Royal Yellowhead
Last election 114 seats, 40.11% 136 seats, 35.89%
Seats before 114 136
Seats won 147 103
Seat change Increase33 Decrease33
Popular vote 4,855,425 3,552,994
Percentage 44.34% 32.45%
Swing Increase4.23pp Decrease3.44pp

  Third party Fourth party
 
SC
Leader Ed Broadbent Fabien Roy
Party New Democratic Social Credit
Leader's seat Oshawa Beauce (lost re-election)
Last election 26 seats, 17.88% 6 seats, 4.61%
Seats before 27 5
Seats won 32 0
Seat change Increase5 Decrease5
Popular vote 2,165,087 185,486
Percentage 19.77% 1.70%
Swing Increase1.89pp Decrease2.91pp

Popular vote by province, with graphs indicating the number of seats won. As this is an FPTP election, seat totals are not determined by popular vote by province but instead via results by each riding.

Prime Minister before election

Joe Clark
Progressive Conservative

Prime Minister after election

Pierre Trudeau
Liberal

National results

change
Party Party leader # of
candidates
Seats Popular vote
1979 Dissolution Elected % Change # % Change
  Liberal Pierre Trudeau 282 114 114 147 +28.9% 4,855,425 44.34% +4.23pp
  Progressive Conservative Joe Clark 282 136 136 103 -24.3% 3,552,994 32.45% -3.44pp
  New Democratic Party Ed Broadbent 280 26 27 32 +23.1% 2,165,087 19.77% +1.89pp
Social Credit Fabien Roy 81 6 5 - -100% 185,486 1.70% -2.91pp
Rhinoceros Cornelius I 121 - - -   110,597 1.01% +0.46pp
Marxist–Leninist Hardial Bains 177 - - - - 14,728 0.13% +0.01pp
Libertarian   58 - - - - 14,656 0.13% -0.01pp
Union populaire   54 - - - - 14,474 0.13% -0.04pp
  Independent 55 - - - - 14,472 0.13% -0.13pp
  Unknown 41 - - - - 12,532 0.11% -0.07pp
Communist William Kashtan 52 - - - - 6,022 0.05% -0.02pp
  No affiliation 14 - - - - 3,063 0.03% +0.03pp
Total 1,497 282 282 282 - 10,949,536 100%  

Sources: Elections Canda,History of Federal Ridings since 1867

Notes:

"% change" refers to change from previous election.

Changes to party standings from previous election: Social Credit MP Richard Janelle crossed the floor to join the PC Party. PC MP John Diefenbaker died during the parliamentary session. A New Democrat was elected in the subsequent by-election.

147 103 32
Liberal Progressive Conservative NDP

Vote and seat summaries

change
Popular vote
Liberal
44.34%
PC
32.45%
NDP
19.77%
Social Credit
1.70%
Others
1.74%
Seat totals
Liberal
52.13%
PC
36.52%
NDP
11.35%

Results by province

change
Party name BC AB SK MB ON QC NB NS PE NL NT YK Total
  Liberal Seats: - - - 2 52 74 7 5 2 5 - - 147
  Popular Vote: 22.2 22.2 24.3 28.0 41.9 68.2 50.1 39.9 46.8 47.0 35.8 39.6 44.3
  Progressive Conservative Seats: 16 21 7 5 38 1 3 6 2 2 1 1 103
  Vote: 41.5 64.9 38.9 37.7 35.5 12.6 32.5 38.7 46.3 36.0 24.7 40.6 32.4
  New Democratic Party Seats: 12 - 7 7 5 - - - - - 1 - 32
  Vote: 35.3 10.3 36.3 33.5 21.8 9.1 16.2 20.9 6.6 16.7 38.4 19.8 19.8
Total seats: 28 21 14 14 95 75 10 11 4 7 2 1 282
Parties that won no seats:
Social Credit Vote: 0.1 1.0 xx   xx 5.9             1.7
Rhinoceros Vote: 0.4 0.7 0.1 0.4 0.2 3.0 0.5 0.2     1.1   1.0
Marxist–Leninist Vote: 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.2 0.1 0.2 xx xx xx 0.1     0.1
Libertarian Vote:     xx   0.3 0.1 xx           0.1
Union populaire Vote:           0.5             0.1
  Independent Vote: 0.3 0.3 0.1 xx 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.4 0.3 0.1     0.1
  Non-Affiliated Vote: xx 0.5 0.2 0.1 xx 0.2 0.3     0.1     0.1
Communist Vote: 0.1 0.1 xx 0.1 0.1 xx             0.1
  No affiliation Vote:         xx 0.1 0.1           xx

xx - less than 0.05% of the popular vote.

References

change
  1. Pomfret, R. "Voter Turnout at Federal Elections and Referendums". Elections Canada. Elections Canada. Retrieved 11 January 2014.