Election Oddities - the running, the voting, the electing -- the odd and the quaint of past Canadian elections

Running in multiple districts was a thing

I believe it is still possible as a candidate does not need to live in the district where they run so no restriction on how many places you may run as far as I know.

Being elected to two districts at the same time:

Wilfred Laurier (1896) and at least one MLA (Cross in Alberta 1913) ran and were elected in two districts at the same time.

Cross actually represented both districts for the full term in office.

Running in more than one district is actually not the most extreme oddity of our political history -

Many districts in past held more than one member.

12 ridings at different times elected two MPs at a time.

Every province and two Territories used multi-member districts at one time or another. (Quebec in the pre-Confederation period only)

PEI never elected a MLA in a general election in single-member district until 1995. (I'll have to check this)

Only Nunavut has never used MMDs.

The district of Winnipeg set the record for Canada of electing 10 MLAs at a time in a single district for almost 30 years.

Usually these MMDs were city-wide districts.

Winnipeg was broken into four three-member districts in 1949. Those three districts also used in 1952.

Alberta in the early period when it was part of the NWT, was allowed a member for the Territorial Council in any place that had 1000 people in a 1000 square miles. Much of the Territorial district did not have that density so the people there had no elected representative.

Representing no exact district:

Alberta elected two military MLAs in WWI and three MLAs in WWII, by voters spread across Canada and Europe, and into Asia.

Soldiers voted in home district

Army soldiers and nurses in WWI could vote in their home district even while overseas in the 1917 federal election. The charge was made that Borden's government placed the army vote where it would aid government candidates, and it seems likely as some Laurier candidates who won the civilian vote found themselves denied a seat when the army vote was counted.

Edmonton city elections never used single-winner First Past The Post prior to 2010, except for by-elections.

Edmonton also allowed non-residents to vote if they owned property in Edmonton.

And in the City of Strathcona (1907-1912), voters could cast different number of votes depending on how much property they owned.

Cities with different wards sometimes allowed voters to vote in any ward where they owned property. This gave some voters more votes than others.

Plural Voting where a voter could vote wherever he owned property. This gave some voters more votes than others -- PEI in early 1900s.

Block Voting election system where voter could cast as many votes as the number of members to be elected -

five members (and five votes for each voter) being the record for this type of election.

Single Transferable Voting (STV) election system used at provincial level in Alberta and Manitoba - the deepest experience of PR in Canada and U.S. too.

multiple members elected in a district but each voter had just one vote but could mark back-up preferences using a preferential ballot.

Ranked voting in the form of the Instant-Runoff Voting election system was used in Alberta, Manitoba to elect one member in a district.

Ranked voting in the form of the Instant-Runoff Voting election system was used in BC to elect one member in a district, and in those same elections (1952, 1953) IRV was used in multi-member districts, by conducting separate contests to elect each of the members in the same district.

First Past The Post was used in multi-member districts, by conducting separate contests to elect each of the members in the same district - Winnipeg in 1914.

Cumulative Voting (each voter had multiple votes and could lump them on one candidate) -- Toronto city officials 1900-ish

Limited Voting (each voter had two voters in contest electing three members) -- Toronto 1886, 1890

PEI districts where some voters could vote for one member and a different number of voters could vote for a different member, both members to serve in same chamber -- 1870 to 1995

Elections where women could vote but not run as candidates...

and elections where women ran anyway.

Men in BC voting in a 1916 referendum about whether or not to extend the vote to women - they voted yes.

Un-elected officials sitting in legislative chambers in colonial and Territorial administrations

Various voting methods -- using Xs, numbers, coloured pencils (the "Oliver" vote), oral votes.

plural voting -

Edmonton and Calgary voters could cast up to five votes each in 1921.

Medicine Hat over could cast jump to two votes.

because voters in other districts could cast only one, the party shares of voter support are practically undecipherable.

Independents

common pre-1921, before the emergence In a big way of a "third parties" (parties other than the big two - Liberal and Conservative)

Seven Independent candidates ran in 1905, none elected.

Independent MLA Edward Michener was elected in 1909 in Red Deer. He became a Conservative MLA (perhaps Alberta's first example of floor crossing) and was twice re-elected. He was named to the Senate in 1918. His son served as Governor General.

The idea of an Independent non-Independent also emerged in 1909. A. J. McLean, an "Independent Liberal", ran in Lethbridge and was elected.

in 1982 two former Social Credit MLAs, running as Independents, were both re-elected. After the election, wanting to compete with the two-person NDP caucus for the role of Official Opposition, they formed the Representative Party but were denied the win as during the campaign they had made it clear they were not connected.

Third parties

Labour candidate first ran in 1909 in Lethbridge by-election D. McNab, MLA lost his seat in the 1909 general election just a few short months later.

A Socialist Party of Canada activist Charlie O'Brien was elected in 1909.

SPC candidate George Howell also ran in Calgary but was not elected.

Political reformer and author of an utopian novel John Galbraith ran in Edmonton but was not elected. His book In the New Capital features time travel to a future Ottawa of 1999 when the city is run along Single tax/temperance lines.

A UFA candidate was elected In a provincial by-election in 1920?

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floor crossers

Edward Michener was first to cross the floor back in 1913ish

many that crossed floor were not re-elected - they apparently lost support from both their old supporters and did not pick much (or not enough anyway) from the party that they had belatedly joined.

Others, like Michener, were re-elected after their change-over.

les of Re-elected Floor-Crossers

• Gene Zwozdesky: Crossed from the Liberals to the Progressive Conservatives (PCs) in 1998 and was re-elected as a PC in four subsequent elections (2001, 2004, 2008, and 2012).

• Bridget Pastoor: Crossed from the Liberals to the PCs in 2011 and was re-elected as a PC in 2012.

• Raj Sherman: Crossed from the PCs to sit as an Independent in 2010, then became the Liberal leader, and was re-elected as a Liberal in 2012.

• Stan Woloshyn: elecgted as an NDP MLA, he crossed the floor to the PCs and was re-elected as a PC.

• Rob Anderson: Swapped parties multiple times (PC to Wildrose in 2010, and back to PC in 2014). He was re-elected as a Wildrose MLA in 2012, after his first floor crossing. 

But was not re-elected after the change back to Conservative.

Seven other Wildrose MLAs went with Anderson back into the Conservative fold, including Danielle Smith (later United Conservative Party premier). None of them were re-elected after the move to the Conservatives.

What is so progressive about Progressive-Conservatives?

merging of two parties the Conservative party and the old Farmer based Progressive party of the organized Farmer movement of the post WWI days..

By that time most of the Progressive Party adherents had moved to the leftist CCF and the Progressive Party was a mouthpiece of conservative-minded farmers.

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A Government elected "out of the blue"

When the Social Credit government was elected in 1935, it had never held a seat in the Alberta legislature. this was also the first SC government in the world.

The UFA at least had had one seat captured in a by-election before its general election victory in 1921.

Lougheed's Conservatives were already well on their way when they took government in 1971, having elected 6 in 1967.

The Liberals of the 1905 government had had no chance to take a provincial seat prior to election as A the province of Albert had not existed prior to 1905. But several MLAs elected in 1905, including the first Liberal premier, Rutherford, had held office in the NWT Assembly.

The first premier that went from leader of Official Opposition to post of premier

Lougheed was first to do this.

Alberta had only two government changes prior to 1971, and Greenfield and Aberhart had not held the post of Official Opposition prior to being catapulted into the premiership.

Rachel Notley's NDP was first to go from fourth rank in the Legislature to government in one step

check it

prior to 2006 every government Albert had had was led by three premiers

three Liberals

three UFA

three Social Credit

three Conservatives

After 2006 the Conservatives went on to have four more before succumbing to an NDP wave in 2015.

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Printed ballot and ballots where the voter had to write preferred candidate's name.

By-elections using X; by-elections using numbers (the ranked vote)

Louis Riel, while on the run, was elected MP twice in a Manitoba district but was never able to sit in the House of Commons for fear of incarceration. It is said he ventured into the Parliament Building and signed his names as MP, then hightailed it out of there before authorities got on to him.

Yukon -- 1900 two elected at-large (as well, 6 men were appointed to the Council)

This election of just two members was the smallest general election in the history of Canada.

Alberta voters voting to choose people for appointment as Senators

Referendums on a variety of subjects from drinking and gambling to conscription, separation from Canada, and constitutional arrangements.

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