1936 Manitoba general election
The 1936 Manitoba general election was held July 27, 1936 to elect Members of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Manitoba, Canada. The Liberal-Progressives won minority government in this election, taking 23 seats out of 53 and 35 percent of the vote. This was the second election in Manitoba after the formation of a Liberal-Progressive alliance in 1932. The Progressive Party, which had governed the province since 1922, forged an alliance with the Liberal Party just prior to the 1932 provincial election to prevent the Conservative Party from winning. This alliance won the  1932 election under Premier John Bracken's leadership, and the two parties had effectively become united by 1936. The Liberal-Progressives faced opposition from a variety of parties in the 1936 election. The Conservative Party remained the dominant opposition group, and the most serious challenge to the government. On the left, the Independent Labour Party (ILP) formed an alliance with the national Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF), and contested the election as the ILP-CCF. The Communist Party also fielded a strong candidate in Winnipeg, while the upstart Social Credit League also ran candidates, hoping to repeat William Aberhart's  surprising victory in Alberta the previous year. Despite economic hardships in the province, Bracken expected that his government would be returned with another majority. He was mistaken. Although the Liberal-Progressives won the election, they could claim only twenty-two seats out of 53 after the initial results were declared. The Conservative party, under its new leader, former federal Member of Parliament (MP) Errick Willis, finished a close second with sixteen. The ILP-CCF won seven seats, while the Social Credit League unexpectedly won five. One independent Liberal was also elected. A number of rural ridings, which had previously supported  Liberal-Progressive candidates, shifted to the Conservatives or to Social Credit in this poll. The greatest surprise of the election occurred in the Winnipeg constituency, which elected ten members via a single transferable ballot. Former judge Lewis Stubbs, an independent leftist, received an astounding 24,805 votes on the first ballot, almost 20,000 more than his nearest competitor. The second-place candidate, moreover, was James Litterick, the first openly declared communist to win election at the state or federal level in North America. After the election, Bracken attempted to persuade Errick Willis to form a four-year alliance of the Liberal -Progressive and Conservative parties, so as to provide a stable government for the province. Willis rejected the offer the same day, claiming his caucus was unwilling to accept it. The provincial impasse continued until August 13, when the Social Credit League unexpectedly announced that it would provide support to Bracken's government in the legislature. Social Credit did not formally join with the Liberal-Progressives in a coalition government, but provided critical support to Bracken's minority government for the next four years. Ironically, Bracken's own constituency of The Pas was the site of one of the two deferred  elections. He was re-elected, while a second Independent Liberal was returned in Rupertsland. Including the Social Credit MLAs, Bracken's government could count on the support of only 28 members out of 55. He was nonetheless able to keep his government intact for four years, and in late 1940 formed a new wartime coalition government with the Conservatives, CCF and Social Credit. This coalition contested the 1941 election, and won a landslide majority. The Communist Party was not included in this coalition, as it had been declared illegal after the start of World War II. James Litterick was expelled  from the legislature in 1940 and went into hiding. He and CPC leader Tim Buck surrendered themselves to police in 1942 and spent time in the Don Jail, being released in 1942 or 1943. Litterick's whereabouts after the war are unknown. His disappearance has been the cause of speculation in the Canadian left. Some say that he was a spy for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, and that he was killed as a traitor during the war by other members of the Communist Party. This has never been verified, however. Like the previous Manitoba elections, all the voters cast  preferential votes. Ten MLAs were elected in Winnipeg through Single transferable votes; all others were elected through Instant-runoff voting. Results by electoral division. Arthur: Assiniboia: "First Count" Sanders was eliminated. Morton was eliminated after the second count with 981 votes. "Third Count" Beautiful Plains: "First Count" Duffy was eliminated. "Second Count" Birtle: "First Count" Cameron was eliminated. "Second Count" Brandon City: "First Count" Spafford was eliminated. "Second Count" Carillon: Cypress: Dauphin: "First Count" Moore was eliminated. "Second Count" Deloraine: Dufferin: Emerson: "First Count" Wachna was eliminated. Podolsky was eliminated after the second count with 1144 votes. "Third Count" Ethelbert : Fairford: Fisher: Gilbert Plains: Gimli: "First Count" Magnacca was eliminated. Oddson was eliminated after the second count with 1066 votes. "Third Count" Gladstone: Glenwood: Hamiota: Iberville: Kildonan & St. Andrews: "First Count" Wise was eliminated. "Second Count" Killarney: Lakeside: Lansdowne: "First Count" De Gagne was eliminated. "Second Count" La Verendrye: Manitou: Minnedosa: "First Count" Morton was eliminated. "Second Count" Morden and Rhineland: Morris: Mountain: Norfolk: "First Count" Burrows was eliminated. "Second Count" Portage la Prairie: Roblin: "First Count" Barber was eliminated. "Second Count" Rockwood: Rupertsland (deferred to 22 August 1936): Russell: St. Boniface: "First Count" Jodoin was eliminated. McLean was eliminated  after the second count with 2890 votes. "Third Count" St. Clements: "First Count" Bates was eliminated. "Second Count" St. George: Ste. Rose: "First Count" Zaplitny was eliminated. "Second Count" Springfield: "First Count" Barefoot was eliminated. "Second Count" Swan River: "First Count" Holmes was eliminated. "Second Count" The Pas (deferred to 26 August 1936): Turtle Mountain: Virden: Winnipeg. Winnipeg: Final seat count: 1 Independent, 1 Communist, 2 Liberals, 3 Conservatives, 3 ILP. Names of elected candidates are italicized. Total votes cast: about 79,000 votes Quota: 7214 votes First Count (Stubbs declared elected) Second Count (transfer of Stubbs surplus; Litterick and Webb  declared elected) Third Count (transfer of Litterick's surplus) Webb's surplus should be transferred next but not done until 13th Count. Fourth Count (Stewart eliminated, transfer of his votes) Fifth Count (Brigden eliminated, transfer of her votes) Sixth Count (Benjamin eliminated, transfer of his votes) Seventh Count (Bardal eliminated, transfer of his votes) Eighth Count (Streuber eliminated, transfer of his votes) Ninth Count (Rice-Jones eliminated, transfer of his votes) Tenth Count (Ivens eliminated, transfer of his votes. Queen declared elected) Queen's surplus should be transferred next but not done until 14th Count. Eleventh Count (Thorvaldson eliminated, transfer  of his votes) Twelfth Count (Smith eliminated, transfer of his votes. Farmer declared elected) Farmer's surplus should be transferred next but not done until 15th Count. Thirteenth Count (transfer of Webb's surplus) Fourteenth Count (Queen's surplus transferred) Fifteenth Count (Farmer's surplus transferred) Sixteenth Count (Swail eliminated, transfer of his votes.) With Ketchen and Barry declared elected, it is now clear who will be elected to the last remaining open seats. There are only four candidates left and three remaining open seats. The least popular candidate will be eliminated as a matter of course, leaving just enough  candidates for the number of seats so all the other candidates are declared elected, even if not have quota. Seventeenth Count Dyma was eliminated. Ketchen, Barry, McDiarmid, Major and Hyman declared elected. Dyma's votes transferred although they did not make any difference to the election. Final numbers determined although not important. 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 for Glenwood, but the other two sources are more comprehensive 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. The ILP-CCF parliamentary group became known as CCF after the election. Winnipeg (dec. Marcus Hyman, 1938). Winnipeg (James Litterick disqualified from the legislature, 1940). Lewis Stubbs was initially the only member of the legislature to remain in opposition when a four-party coalition was formed in 1940. He  was later joined by Salome Halldorson of Social Credit, as well as John Poole and Huntly Ketchen of the Conservatives.