1970 Prince Edward Island general election

The 1970 Prince Edward Island general election was held on May 11, 1970.[1]

1970 Prince Edward Island general election

May 11, 1970 (1970-05-11)

All 32 seats in the Legislative Assembly of Prince Edward Island
17 seats needed for a majority
  First party Second party
 
Lib
PC
Leader Alex Campbell George Key
Party Liberal Progressive Conservative
Leader since December 11, 1965 September 21, 1968
Leader's seat 5th Prince Ran in 2nd Prince (lost)
Last election 17 seats, 50.5% 15 seats, 49.5%
Seats won 27 5
Seat change 10 10
Popular vote 64,484 46,015
Percentage 58.4% 41.6
Swing 7.9pp 7.9pp

Seats won by each party per district. Voters elect two members (one Councillor and Assemblyman) from each of the 16 districts.

Premier before election

Alex Campbell
Liberal

Premier after election

Alex Campbell
Liberal

The incumbent Liberal government of Alex Campbell was easily re-elected, gaining a total of 7.9% in the popular vote on the Tories, who dropped by the identical amount, as only the two parties ran any candidates in both the 1970 and 1966 elections.[2]

Jean Canfield, the first woman ever elected to the Legislative Assembly of Prince Edward Island, was a victorious candidate in 1st Queens in this election.[3]

Party standings

27 5
Liberal PC
Party Party Leader Seats Popular Vote
1966 Elected Change # % Change
  Liberal Alex Campbell 17 27 +10 64,484 58.4% +7.9%
  Progressive Conservative George Key 15 5 -10 46,015 41.6% -7.9%
Popular vote
Liberal
58.36%
PC
41.64%
Seats summary
Liberal
84.38%
PC
15.62%

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 were elected in the same manner as Assemblymen.[4]

Kings

District Assemblyman Party Councillor Party
1st Kings     Bruce L. Stewart Liberal     Daniel J. MacDonald Liberal

Progressive
Conservative

2nd Kings     Walter Dingwell Progressive
Conservative
    Leo Rossiter Progressive
Conservative
3rd Kings     William Bennett Campbell Liberal     Bud Ings Liberal
4th Kings     Lorne Bonnell Liberal     Gilbert R. Clements Liberal
5th Kings     Arthur J. MacDonald Liberal     George J. Ferguson Liberal

Prince

District Assemblyman Party Councillor Party
1st Prince     Russell Perry Liberal     Robert E. Campbell Liberal
2nd Prince     George Dewar Progrsesive
Conservative
    Joshua MacArthur Liberal
3rd Prince     William Gallant Liberal     Edward Clark Liberal
4th Prince     Robert Schurman Liberal    
Frank Jardine Liberal
5th Prince     Earle Hickey Progressive
Conservative
    Alexander B. Campbell Liberal

Queens

District Assemblyman Party Councillor Party
1st Queens     Jean Canfield Liberal     Ralph Johnstone Liberal
2nd Queens     Sinclair Cutcliffe Liberal     Lloyd MacPhail Progressive
Conservative
3rd Queens     Cecil A. Miller Liberal     Levi McNally Liberal
4th Queens     J. Stewart Ross Liberal     Daniel Compton Progressive
Conservative
5th Queens     Gordon L. Bennett Liberal     Elmer Blanchard Liberal
6th Queens     Allison MacDonald Liberal     John H. Maloney Liberal

Sources

  1. "Provincial General Election Results, 1970" (PDF). Elections PEI. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-03-06. Retrieved 2015-05-25.
  2. "Big Grit Win in PEI (Pt. 1)". Ottawa Journal. May 12, 1970. p. 1. Retrieved March 1, 2015 via Newspapers.com.
  3. "Big Grit Win (Pt. 2)". Ottawa Journal. May 12, 1970. p. 25. Retrieved March 1, 2015 via Newspapers.com.
  4. Fred Driscoll. "History and Politics of Prince Edward Island" (PDF). Canadian Parliamentary Review.
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