The 1911 Canadian election is presented as a great trouncing of Laurier's Liberals. But a deeper look tells a more nuanced story.
The Liberal leader, Prime Minister Wilfred Laurier, had the support of western farmers who wanted imports of cheap U.S. farm implements.
Canada's manufacturers, mostly located in Eastern Canada, wanted protection from U.S. competition.
The Tories under Robert Borden gained 47 seats to take a majority of seats in the House of Commons and to form the next government.
That is the way the story is usually presented, but a look at the stats tells us the lopsided, un-balanced and haphazard results that election, held using the undependable First Past the Post system.
The Conservative party only got two percent more of the vote than it got in 1908 but it took 47 more seats.
Liberals took only 3 percent fewer votes than 1908 but lost 48 seats.
Conservatives took 633,000 votes in 1911, up from 539,000 in 1908.
Liberals took 573,000 votes in 1911, down from 597,000 in 1908.
In 1911, Conservative party took 60 percent of the seats with 49 percent of the vote.
Liberal party took 38 percent of the seats with 46 percent of the vote.
Proportionally, the seat tallies of the two parties should have been about 6 seats apart but due to FPTP their seat tallies were more than 50 seats apart.
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