The 1953 Manitoba general election was held on June 8, 1953 to elect Members of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Manitoba, Canada. The election produced a majority government for the Liberal-Progressive party led by Douglas Campbell. His party won thirty-two of fifty-seven seats although with but 39 per cent of the vote overall. To date this is the last election in which the Liberal Party won a majority of seats in Manitoba.
This was the first election held in Manitoba after the breakup of a ten-year coalition government led by the Liberal-Progressives and Progressive Conservatives. The coalition, which began in 1940, was ended in 1950 when the Progressive Conservatives crossed to the opposition side.
Prior to the 1949 election, Winnipeg's single at-large 10-member district was broken up into three four-member districts. The new districts, named Winnipeg Centre, Winnipeg North and Winnipeg South, elected four members each, through STV.
St. Boniface elected two members through STV.
(The 1953 election was to be the last provincial election in Manitoba to have multi-member districts and election by STV. After that election all Manitoba MLAs were elected through First-past-the-post voting in single-member districts.)
Each of the other districts elected one MLA using Instant-Runoff Voting. This was to be the last provincial election in Manitoba to use Instant-Runoff Voting in these districts.
The result of the election was a convincing victory for the Liberal-Progressive government of Premier Douglas Campbell, which won thirty-two of fifty-seven seats although with but 39 per cent of the vote overall.
Three Independent Liberal-Progressives were also elected.
The Progressive Conservatives, led by Errick Willis, saw their representation in the legislature increase from nine to twelve members. This was a disappointing result for many in the party. Willis had been a prominent cabinet minister in the coalition government, and many questioned the sincerity of his new-found opposition to Campbell's ministry. The following year, he lost the leadership of the party to Dufferin Roblin.
The social democratic Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF) suffered a disappointment under new leader Lloyd Stinson, falling from seven seats to five. Its 17 per cent of the vote made it due about eight seats proportionally.
During the campaign, the Winnipeg Free Press newspaper devoted considerable attention to the return of the Social Credit Party in Manitoba. The party had not contested the previous provincial election, but was buoyed by the recent Social Credit victory in British Columbia and ran several candidates. The Free Press, which supported the Liberal-Progressives, and played up the threat of a Social Credit victory to rally popular support for the government. The actual threat posed by Social Credit was minimal: only two of its candidates were elected, although it did receive 13 per cent of the vote.
The Communist Labor-Progressive Party also won representation in the legislature, with party incumbent Bill Kardash taking one of the four constituency seats in Winnipeg North. This was the last time that a Communist candidate won election to the Manitoba legislature, or indeed to any provincial legislature in Canada.
Two independent candidates were elected. Stephen Juba, the mayor of Winnipeg, was one of them.
Results
PartyParty leader# ofcandidatesSeatsPopular vote1949Elected% Change#%% Change Douglas Campbell 50 25 32 104,97639.22 Independent Liberal-Progressive 7 3 12,9114.82 Total Government 57 35 117,88744.05 Progressive Conservative Errick Willis 38 9 12 56,27821.03 Co-operative Commonwealth Lloyd Stinson 25 7 5 44,33216.56 Social Credit none 43 2 2 35,75013.36 William Cecil Ross 1 1 1 3,8121.42 Independent 11 5 2 9,5773.58 Total175 57 57 267,636100
See also List of Manitoba political parties
Constituency results
Single-member constituencies
Arthur:
PartyCandidateVotes%±%Progressive ConservativeJ. Arthur Ross1,92057.14Total valid votes3,360100.00Rejected votes65Turnout3,42578.88
Assiniboia:
First Count
PartyCandidateVotes%±%Co-operative Commonwealth FederationAlvin H. Mackling3,07835.62Progressive ConservativeGeorge E. Fournier1,52817.68Social CreditFlorence M. Bloomfield6777.83Total valid votes8,642100.00Rejected votes56Turnout8,69857.50
Fournier and Bloomfield were eliminated, and their votes were distributed as follows: Wightman 837, Mackling 768. 600 votes were non-transferable.
Final Count
PartyCandidateVotes%Co-operative Commonwealth FederationAlvin H. Mackling3,84644.50Exhausted votes6006.94
Birtle:
PartyCandidateVotes%±%Progressive ConservativeFrancis Macdonald Manwaring95730.82Total valid votes3,105100.00Rejected votes15Turnout3,12066.97
Brandon City:
First Count
PartyCandidateVotes%±%Progressive Conservative(incumbent)Reginald Lissaman3,51446.04Social CreditW.A. Wyborn1,05613.83Total valid votes7,633100.00Rejected votes143Turnout7,77661.82
Wyborn was eliminated, and his votes were distributed as follows: Lissaman 272, Creighton 138. 646 votes were non-transferable.
Second Count
PartyCandidateVotes%Progressive Conservative(incumbent)Reginald Lissaman3,78649.60Votes Not Transferred6468.46
Carillon:
PartyCandidateVotes%±%Social CreditK.T. Kroeker1,06524.52Total valid votes4,343100.00Rejected votes111Turnout4,45469.44
Cypress:
First Count
PartyCandidateVotes%±%Progressive ConservativeDr. Roderick George Hurton1,19830.46Social CreditMarcel Philippe95024.15Total valid votes3,933100.00Rejected votes50Turnout3,98370.78
Ferg was subsequently declared elected on transfers from Philippe.
Dauphin:
First Count
PartyCandidateVotes%±%Social CreditWilliam Bullmore1,66832.19Progressive Conservative(incumbent)Ernest N. McGirr1,23523.83Co-operative Commonwealth FederationFrank Fulbrook78515.15Total valid votes5,182100.00Rejected votes205Turnout5,38777.48
Bullmore was subsequently elected on transfers.
Deloraine-Glenwood:
PartyCandidateVotes%±%Progressive Conservative(incumbent)James O. Argue1,86253.88Total valid votes3,456100.00Rejected votes16Turnout3,47272.76
Dufferin:
First Count
PartyCandidateVotes%±%Social CreditGeorge Loeppky1,32932.63Progressive ConservativeEarl Collins91122.37Total valid votes4,073100.00Rejected votes163Turnout4,23672.96
McDonald was subsequently elected on transfers from Collins.
Emerson:
First Count
PartyCandidateVotes%±%Social CreditGeorge J. Friesen2204.68Total valid votes4,704100.00Rejected votes93Turnout4,79783.40
Solomon was subsequently declared elected on transfers from Friesen.
Ethelbert:
PartyCandidateVotes%±%Co-operative Commonwealth FederationHarry Basaraba1,36835.84Progressive ConservativeJohn L. Solomon2767.23Social CreditHarry Dyck2255.89Total valid votes3,817100.00Rejected votes102Turnout3,91975.99
Fairford:
First Count
PartyCandidateVotes%±%Social CreditFred G. Cook65929.06Progressive ConservativeDaniel McFadyen28812.70Co-operative Commonwealth FederationJohn A. McDonald24910.98Total valid votes2,268100.00Rejected votes58Turnout2,32667.26
Joseph H. Kacher entered the contest as an Independent Liberal-Progressive, but withdrew before election day. Anderson was subsequently elected on transfers.
Fisher:
PartyCandidateVotes%±%IndependentLeon W. Michalchuk70526.97Co-operative Commonwealth FederationElsie Lyon2118.07Social CreditDavid Heindrichs1445.51Total valid votes2,614100.00Rejected votes134Turnout2,74858.87
Gilbert Plains:
First Count
PartyCandidateVotes%±%Co-operative Commonwealth FederationRobert J. Wilson98931.57Social CreditE.P. Brown69522.18Progressive ConservativeBardette Elliott38012.13Total valid votes3,133100.00Rejected votes50Turnout3,18378.11
Brown and Elliott were eliminated, and their votes were transferred as follows: Mitchell 239, Wilson 222. 614 votes were non-transferable.
Final Count
PartyCandidateVotes%±%Co-operative Commonwealth FederationRobert J. Wilson1,21138.65Votes Not Transferred61419.60
Gimli:
PartyCandidateVotes%±%Social CreditE.H. Fitch86726.17IndependentJohn Firman1945.86Total valid votes3,313100.00Rejected votes48Turnout3,36154.15
Gladstone:
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Hamiota:
First Count
PartyCandidateVotes%±%Progressive ConservativeEdward P. Venables1,22736.62Social CreditFred Charles52515.67Total valid votes3,351100.00Rejected votes39Turnout3,39065.68
Charles was eliminated, and his votes were distributed as follows: Venables 123, Shuttleworth 88. 314 votes were non-transferable.
Second Count
PartyCandidateVotes%Progressive ConservativeEdward P. Venables1,35040.29Votes Not Transferred3149.37
Iberville:
First Count
PartyCandidateVotes%±%Progressive Conservative(incumbent)John McDowell1,44238.68Co-operative Commonwealth FederationJohn C. Hilgenga66517.41Social CreditC.F. Rempel3749.79Total valid votes3,728100.00Rejected votes91Turnout3,81963.13
Hilgenga and Rempel were eliminated, and their votes were distributed as follows: Jarvis 207, McDowell 195. 637 votes were non-transferable.
Final Count
PartyCandidateVotes%Progressive Conservative(incumbent)John McDowell1,63743.91Votes Not Transferred63717.09
Kildonan—Transcona:
First Count
PartyCandidateVotes%±%Co-operative Commonwealth FederationRussell Paulley5,77047.68Social CreditDr. L.G. Carson1,1179.23IndependentSteve Melnyk8206.78Total valid votes12,101100.00Rejected votes247Turnout12,34861.91
Although Melnyk ran as an independent, he was supported by the local Progressive Conservative association.
Both Carson and Melnyk were eliminated after the first count. Paulley received 275 additional votes on transfers, while Bodie received 163. It is assumed that all of these transfers came from Melynk's total, and that Paulley was declared elected before Carson's ballots were scrutinized. For the purposes of this article, Carson's final vote total is listed under "votes not transferred".
Second Count
PartyCandidateVotes%Co-operative Commonwealth FederationRussell Paulley6,04549.95Votes Not Transferred1,49917.09
Killarney:
First Count
PartyCandidateVotes%±%Progressive Conservative(incumbent)Abram Harrison1,78648.51Social CreditG. Glen Paterson66618.09Total valid votes3,682100.00Rejected votes51Turnout3,73375.70
Harrison was subsequently elected on transfers from Paterson.
Lakeside:
PartyCandidateVotes%±%Social CreditJames William Lee Tully78619.26Progressive ConservativeCharles H. Spence66216.23Co-operative Commonwealth FederationHazel C. Allan3428.38Total valid votes4,080100.00Rejected votes79Turnout4,15972.34
Lansdowne:
First Count
PartyCandidateVotes%±%Progressive Conservative(incumbent)Thomas H. Seens1,56336.47Social CreditR.W. Doherty70916.54Total valid votes4,286100.00Rejected votes29Turnout4,31565.99
Sutherland was subsequently elected on transfers from Doherty. The Winnipeg Free Press of June 12, 1953, indicates that Sutherland had 2,160 votes on the second count.
La Verendrye:
PartyCandidateVotes%±%Social CreditDamase Dufresne1,57641.70Total valid votes3,779100.00Rejected votes53Turnout3,83262.93
Manitou-Morden:
First Count
PartyCandidateVotes%±%Progressive Conservative(incumbent)Hugh Morrison1,60646.99Social CreditAlbert O'Donnell75822.18Total valid votes3,418100.00Rejected votes68Turnout3,48664.20
Morrison was subsequently elected on transfers from O'Donnell.
Minnedosa:
First Count
PartyCandidateVotes%±%Social CreditGilbert Hutton1,40136.10Progressive ConservativeJohn A. Burgess1,04726.98Total valid votes3,881100.00Rejected votes71Turnout3,95277.46
Hutton was subsequently elected on transfers from Burgess.
Morris:
First Count
PartyCandidateVotes%±%Independent(incumbent)Harry Shewman1,52842.89Social CreditWilbert James Tinkler84423.69Total valid votes3,563100.00Rejected votes117Turnout3,68065.27
Tinkler was eliminated, and his votes were distributed as follows: Shewman 432, Beaubien 58. 354 votes were not transferred.
Second Count
PartyCandidateVotes%Independent(incumbent)Harry Shewman1,96055.01Votes Not Transferred3549.94