# 1949 Canadian federal election

The 1949 Canadian federal election was held June 27, 1949, to elect members of the House of Commons of Canada of the 21st Parliament of Canada.
The Liberal Party of Canada was re-elected with its fourth consecutive government, winning 191 seats (73 percent of the seats in the House of Commons), with just under 50 percent of the popular vote.
It was the Liberals' first election in almost thirty years not under the leadership of William Lyon Mackenzie King. King had retired in 1948, and was replaced as Liberal leader and Prime Minister by Louis St. Laurent.
It was the first federal election with Newfoundland voting, having joined Canada in March of that year. It was also the first election since 1904 in which part of the remaining parts of the Northwest Territories were granted representation, following the partitioning off of the provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan.
The Liberal Party victory won the largest majority in Canadian history to that point. As of 2025, it remains the third largest majority government in Canadian history, and the largest in the party's history (the Progressive Conservative Party won larger seat majorities in 1958 and 1984).
The Progressive Conservative Party, led by former Premier of Ontario George Drew, gained little ground in this election. The party lost over a third of their seats.
Smaller parties, such as the social democratic Co-operative Commonwealth Federation, and Social Credit, a party that advocated monetary reform, lost support to the Liberals and, to a lesser extent, the Conservatives.

## Opinion polling

Evolution of voting intentions at national level :
| Polling firm | Last day of survey | LPC | PC | CCF | SC | BP | Other | Undecided | ME | Sample |
| Election 1949 | June 27, 1949 | 49.15 | 29.65 | 13.42 | 2.31 | — | 5.47 | | | |
| Gallup | June 1949 | 49 | 29 | 15 | — | — | 6 | 22 | — | — |
| Gallup | May 1949 | 49 | 29 | 16 | — | — | 6 | 18 | — | — |
| Gallup | April 1949 | 42 | 32 | 17 | 5 | — | 4 | 22 | — | — |
| Gallup | January 1949 | 40 | 33 | 18 | — | — | 9 | 23 | — | — |
| Gallup | October 1948 | 39 | 27 | 21 | 7 | — | 6 | — | — | — |
| Gallup | August 1948 | 41 | 28 | 20 | 6 | — | 5 | — | — | — |
| Gallup | June 1948 | 41 | 28 | 19 | 6 | — | 6 | — | — | — |
| Gallup | February 1948 | 43 | 28 | 15 | 7 | — | 7 | — | — | — |
| Gallup | January 1948 | 42 | 28 | 16 | 6 | — | 8 | 26 | — | — |
| Gallup | October 1947 | 43 | 28 | 16 | 6 | — | 7 | — | — | — |
| Gallup | July 1947 | 42 | 27 | 16 | 6 | — | 9 | — | — | — |
| Bloc populaire dissolved (July 6, 1947) ||||||||||||
| Gallup | May 1947 | 43 | 26 | 16 | 6 | — | 9 | — | — | — |
| Gallup | February 1947 | 41 | 27 | 18 | 7 | 4 | 3 | — | — | — |
| Gallup | December 1946 | 41 | 26 | 18 | 6 | 5 | 4 | — | — | — |
| Gallup | September 1946 | 41 | 27 | 17 | 5 | — | 10 | — | — | — |
| Gallup | May 1946 | 44 | 26 | 16 | 4 | — | 10 | — | — | — |
| Gallup | January 1946 | 45 | 24 | 16 | 4 | — | 10 | — | — | — |
| Gallup | November 1945 | 44 | 26 | 17 | 4 | — | 9 | — | — | — |
| Election 1945 | June 11, 1945 | 39.78 | 27.62 | 15.55 | 4.05 | 3.29 | 9.71 | | |

## National results

| Party | Party | Party leader | # of candidates | Seats | Seats | Seats | Popular vote | Popular vote | Popular vote |
| Party | Party | Party leader | # of candidates | 1945 | Elected | % Change | # | % | Change |
| | Liberal | Louis St. Laurent | 258 | 117 | 191 | +63.2% | 2,874,813 | 49.15% | +9.37pp |
| | Progressive Conservative | George Drew | 249 | 65 | 41 | -21.5% | 1,734,261 | 29.65% | +2.03pp |
| | Co-operative Commonwealth | M.J. Coldwell | 180 | 28 | 13 | -53.6% | 784,770 | 13.42% | -2.13pp |
| | Social Credit | Solon Low | 28 | 13 | 10 | -23.1% | 135,217 | 2.31% | -1.74pp |
| | Independent | Independent | 28 | 6 | 4 | -33.3% | 119,827 | 2.05% | -2.84pp |
| | Union of Electors | Réal Caouette | 56 | - | - | - | 86,087 | 1.47% | +1.46pp |
| | Labor–Progressive | Tim Buck | 17 | 1 | - | -100% | 32,623 | 0.56% | -1.58pp |
| | Independent Liberal | Independent Liberal | 15 | 8 | 1 | -87.5% | 30,407 | 0.52% | -1.27pp |
| | Liberal-Labour | | 2 | - | 1 | | 11,730 | 0.20% | +0.19pp |
| | Liberal–Progressive | | 1 | 1 | 1 | - | 9,192 | 0.16% | +0.04pp |
| | Independent PC | Independent PC | 6 | 1 | - | -100% | 8,195 | 0.14% | -0.14pp |
| | Farmer-Labour | | 1 | - | - | - | 6,161 | 0.11% | -0.07pp |
| | National Unity | Adrien Arcand | 1 | * | - | * | 5,590 | 0.10% | * |
| | Nationalist | | 1 | * | - | * | 4,994 | 0.09% | * |
| | Independent Social Credit | Independent Social Credit | 2 | * | - | * | 4,598 | 0.08% | * |
| | Labour | | 2 | - | - | - | 415 | 0.01% | x |
| | Socialist Labour | | 1 | * | - | * | 271 | x | * |
| Total | Total | Total | 848 | 245 | 262 | +7.8% | 5,849,151 | 100% | |
| Sources: http://www.elections.ca -- History of Federal Ridings since 1867 Archived 2008-12-04 at the Wayback Machine ||||||||||
Notes:
* The party did not nominate candidates in the previous election.
x - less than 0.005% of the popular vote

## Vote and seat summaries

Popular vote
Liberal
49.15%
PC
29.65%
CCF
13.42%
Social Credit
2.31%
Labor-Progressive
0.56%
Others
4.91% :
Seat totals
Liberal
72.90%
PC
15.64%
CCF
4.96%
Social Credit
3.81%
Others
2.67% :

## Results by province

| Party name | Party name | Party name | BC | AB | SK | MB | ON | QC | NB | NS | PE | NL | Terr | Total |
| | Liberal | Seats: | 11 | 5 | 14 | 11 | 55 | 68 | 8 | 10 | 3 | 5 | 1 | 191 |
| | Liberal | Popular Vote: | 36.7 | 33.8 | 43.4 | 45.1 | 45.1 | 60.4 | 53.8 | 52.7 | 49.2 | 71.9 | 49.0 | 49.1 |
| | Progressive Conservative | Seats: | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 25 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2 | - | 41 |
| | Progressive Conservative | Vote: | 27.9 | 16.8 | 14.4 | 22.0 | 37.4 | 24.5 | 39.4 | 37.5 | 48.4 | 27.9 | | 29.7 |
| | Co-operative Commonwealth | Seats: | 3 | - | 5 | 3 | 1 | - | - | 1 | - | - | - | 13 |
| | Co-operative Commonwealth | Vote: | 31.5 | 10.0 | 40.9 | 25.9 | 15.2 | 1.1 | 4.2 | 9.9 | 2.4 | 0.2 | 17.0 | 13.4 |
| | Social Credit | Seats: | - | 10 | - | | - | | | | | | | 10 |
| | Social Credit | Vote: | 0.5 | 37.4 | 0.9 | | 0.2 | | | | | | | 2.3 |
| | Independent | Seats: | 1 | | | - | - | 3 | - | | | | | 4 |
| | Independent | Vote: | 2.6 | | | 2.1 | 0.1 | 6.1 | 0.2 | | | | 34.0 | 2.1 |
| | Independent Liberal | Seats: | | | | | 1 | - | - | | | | | 1 |
| | Independent Liberal | Vote: | | | | | 0.3 | 1.3 | 1.4 | | | | | 0.5 |
| | Liberal-Labour | Seats: | | | | | 1 | - | | | | | | 1 |
| | Liberal-Labour | Vote: | | | | | 0.6 | xx | | | | | | 0.2 |
| | Liberal-Progressive | Seats: | | | | 1 | | | | | | | | 1 |
| | Liberal-Progressive | Vote: | | | | 2.9 | | | | | | | | 0.2 |
| Total Seats | Total Seats | Total Seats | 18 | 17 | 20 | 16 | 83 | 73 | 10 | 13 | 4 | 7 | 1 | 262 |
| Parties that won no seats: |||||||||||||||
| | Union of Electors | Vote: | | | | | 0.1 | 5.1 | 1.0 | | | | | 1.5 |
| | Labor–Progressive | Vote: | 0.8 | 0.7 | 0.4 | 2.0 | 0.7 | 0.3 | | | | | | 0.6 |
| | Independent PC | Vote: | | | | | xx | 0.5 | | | | | | 0.1 |
| | Farmer-Labour | Vote: | | | | | 0.3 | | | | | | | 0.1 |
| | National Unity | Vote: | | | | | | 0.4 | | | | | | 0.1 |
| | Nationalist | Vote: | | | | | | 0.3 | | | | | | 0.1 |
| | Independent Social Credit | Vote: | | 1.4 | | | | | | | | | | 0.1 |
| | Labour | Vote: | | | | | xx | xx | | | | | | xx |
| | Socialist Labour | Vote: | | | | | xx | | | | | | | xx |
* xx - less than 0.05% of the popular vote