# 1979 Prince Edward Island general election

The 1979 Prince Edward Island general election was held on April 23, 1979.
The election was held just one year after the 1978 election, which featured a 17–15 split in MLAs in the legislature. Following the resignation of former premier Alex Campbell from his seat, the legislature was in a 15–15 tie in voting members (the Liberal Speaker, Russell Perry, could not cast active votes in his role), the new Premier Bennett Campbell decided to call an election in an effort to regain his lost majority. The gambit failed, and instead the Progressive Conservatives led by Angus MacLean formed a strong majority government.
The campaign was the first to feature a female party leader running in PEI, with Doreen Sark serving as interim leader of the NDP. The campaign was also the only one in which the "Draft Beer Party of PEI" ran, with one candidate in 5th Queens.

## Party standings

| 21 | 11 |
| PC | Liberal |
| Party | Party | Party Leader | Seats | Seats | Seats | Popular Vote | Popular Vote | Popular Vote |
| Party | Party | Party Leader | 1978 | Elected | Change | # | % | Change |
| | Progressive Conservative | Angus MacLean | 15 | 21 | +6 | 68,440 | 53.3% | +5.2% |
| | Liberal | Bennett Campbell | 17 | 11 | -6 | 58,174 | 45.3% | -5.4% |
| | New Democratic | Doreen Sark (interim) | 0 | 0 | - | 1,655 | 1.3% | +0.4% |
| | Draft Beer Party | - | - | 0 | - | 200 | 0.2% | +0.2% |
Popular vote
PC
53.27%
Liberal
45.28%
New Democratic
1.29%
Others
0.16% :
Seats summary
PC
65.63%
Liberal
34.37% :

## Members elected

The Legislature of Prince Edward Island had two levels of membership from 1893 to 1996 - Assemblymen and Councillors. This was a holdover from when the Island had a bicameral legislature, the General Assembly and the Legislative Council.
In 1893, the Legislative Council was abolished and had its membership merged with the Assembly, though the two titles remained separate and were elected by different electoral franchises. Assembleymen were elected by all eligible voters of within a district. Before 1963, Councillors were only elected by landowners within a district, but afterward they were elected in the same manner as Assemblymen.

### Kings

| District | Assemblyman | Party | Councillor | Party |
| 1st Kings | Ross "Johnny" Young | Liberal | Albert Fogarty | Progressive Conservative |
| 2nd Kings | Roddy Pratt | Progressive Conservative | Leo Rossiter | Progressive Conservative |
| 3rd Kings | William Bennett Campbell | Liberal | Bud Ings | Liberal |
| 4th Kings | Pat Binns | Progressive Conservative | Gilbert R. Clements | Liberal |
| 5th Kings | Arthur J. MacDonald | Liberal | Lowell Johnston | Progressive Conservative |

### Prince

| District | Assemblyman | Party | Councillor | Party |
| 1st Prince | Russell Perry | Liberal | Robert E. Campbell | Liberal |
| 2nd Prince | George R. Henderson | Liberal | Allison Ellis | Liberal |
| 3rd Prince | Léonce Bernard | Liberal | Edward Clark | Liberal |
| 4th Prince | William MacDougall | Progressive Conservative | Prowse Chappel | Progressive Conservative |
| 5th Prince | George McMahon | Progressive Conservative | Peter Pope | Progressive Conservative |

### Queens

| District | Assemblyman | Party | Councillor | Party |
| 1st Queens | Marion Reid | Progressive Conservative | Leone Bagnall | Progressive Conservative |
| 2nd Queens | Gordon Lank | Progressive Conservative | Lloyd MacPhail | Progressive Conservative |
| 3rd Queens | Horace B. Carver | Progressive Conservative | Fred Driscoll | Progressive Conservative |
| 4th Queens | J. Angus MacLean | Progressive Conservative | Daniel Compton | Progressive Conservative |
| 5th Queens | James M. Lee | Progressive Conservative | Wilfred MacDonald | Progressive Conservative |
| 6th Queens | Barry Clark | Progressive Conservative | Jim Larkin | Progressive Conservative |

## Sources

* ↑ "Provincial General Election Results, 1979" (PDF). Elections PEI. Archived from the original (PDF) on October 20, 2016. Retrieved October 20, 2016.
* ↑ "Woman leads Nova Scotia NDP". The Toronto Star. Toronto. Canadian Press. November 17, 1980. p. A5.
* ↑ Fred Driscoll. "History and Politics of Prince Edward Island" (PDF). Canadian Parliamentary Review.