page_title: Electoral history of Arthur Meighen
section_title: Summary
hierarchical_section_title: Electoral history of Arthur Meighen / Summary
caption_attribution_description: Map of the provinces and territories of Canada as they were between 1927 and 1949. On March 1 1927, a court transferred a disputed portion of Quebec to the Dominion of Newfoundland. On March 31 1949, Newfoundland joined Canada as a province. Made by User:Golbez.
context_page_description: The article is the Electoral history of Arthur Meighen, the ninth Prime Minister of Canada.
  A Conservative, he served two short terms as prime minister. He became prime minister upon the resignation of Sir Robert Borden in 1921, and again upon the resignation of Mackenzie King in 1926. His first term was just over one year, and the second for only a few months.
  He led his party in three general elections and lost all three to King. Appointed to the Senate in 1932, he attempted an electoral come-back in 1942, but was defeated in his attempt to re-enter Parliament.
  Meighen stood for election to the House of Commons of Canada nine times, winning six times and losing three times. He was acclaimed once. His defeat in his constituency in the 1921 election was the first time in Canada that a sitting prime minister lost his seat. He lost his seat again in the 1926 election, becoming the only sitting Canadian prime minister to lose his seat twice.
context_section_description: Meighen ranks seventeenth out of twenty-three prime ministers for time in office, serving two short terms.  He was prime minister for one year and 172 days in 1920-1921, and then again for 88 days in 1926.
  Meighen was the second of four prime ministers to serve non-consecutive terms, the others being Sir John A. Macdonald, King, and Pierre Trudeau.
  Meighen is the only prime minister from Manitoba.
  Meighen served in several positions in the government of Sir Robert Borden from 1913 to 1920. When Borden announced his retirement, Meighen was chosen as party leader by Borden, after extensive consultations with the Conservative caucus.  As leader of the majority party in the Commons, Meighen automatically became prime minister, and did not call a general election immediately on taking office in 1920.  When he called the general election the next year, in 1921, he was defeated by Mackenzie King and the Liberals.  Meighen became Leader of the Opposition.  However, since he had been defeated in his own riding of Portage la Prairie, he had to be elected in a by-election before he could re-enter Parliament.  This was the first time in Canada that a sitting prime minister lost his seat.
  Four years later, in the general election of October 1925, Meighen again led the Conservatives and was again defeated by Mackenzie King.  However, in the spring of the next year, a procurement scandal in the federal government led to King's resignation.  Because the election had been so recent and the state of the parties in the Commons was fluid, Governor-General Byng appointed Meighen to succeed King as prime minister, rather than call a general election, as King had requested. Byng's refusal to call the election on King's request triggered a constitutional crisis, the King-Byng affair.  The Meighen government fell shortly afterwards his appointment on a motion of non-confidence and the Governor-General then called an election, which King won by a majority.  For the second time, Meighen did not win his seat in the general election and resigned immediately as leader of the Conservatives.
  Meighen served in the Senate of Canada from 1932 to 1942.
  In 1942, Meighen attempted a political comeback and was elected leader of the Conservatives.  He stood for election in a by-election, but was defeated.  He resigned the leadership and retired from politics.
  Meighen began his political career in the federal election of 1908.  He stood for election to the House of Commons of Canada nine times (1908, 1911 1913, 1917, 1921, 1922, 1925, 1926, and 1942), primarily in the constituency of Portage la Prairie, Manitoba.  He was elected six times (1908, 1911, 1913, 1917, 1922 and 1925) and defeated three times (1921, 1926 and 1942).
caption: Canada had nine provinces and two territories during Meighen's time in office.
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