Prince Edward Island general election, 1979

Prince Edward Island general election, 1979
Prince Edward Island
April 23, 1979 (1979-04-23)

All 32 seats in the Legislative Assembly of Prince Edward Island
17 seats needed for a majority
  First party Second party
 
Lib
Leader Angus MacLean Bennett Campbell
Party Progressive Conservative Liberal
Leader since September 25, 1976 December 9, 1978
Leader's seat 4th Queens 3rd Kings
Last election 15 seats, 48.1% 17 seats, 50.7%
Seats won 21 11
Seat change +6 -6
Popular vote 68,440 58,175
Percentage 53.3% 45.3%
Swing +5.2pp -5.4pp

Map of PEI's ridings coloured in based on how they voted

Premier before election

Bennett Campbell
Liberal

Premier-designate

Angus MacLean
Progressive Conservative

The 55th Prince Edward Island general election was held on April 22, 1979.[1]

The election was held just one year after the 1978 election, which featured a 17-15 split in MLAs in the legislature. Following the resignation of former premier Alex Campbell from his seat, the Legislature was in a 15-15 tie in voting members (the Liberal Speaker, Russell Perry, could not cast active votes in his role), the new Premier Bennett Campbell decided to call an election in an effort to regain his lost majority. The gambit failed, and instead the Progressive Conservatives led by Angus MacLean formed a strong majority government.

The campaign was the first to feature a female party leader running in PEI, with Doreen Sark serving as interim leader of the NDP.[2] The campaign was also the only one in which the "Draft Beer Party of PEI" ran, with one candidate in 5th Queens.

Party Standings

21 11
PC Liberal
Party Party Leader Seats Popular Vote
1978 Elected Change # % Change
     Progressive Conservative Angus MacLean 15 21 +6 68,440 53.3% +5.2%
     Liberal Bennett Campbell 17 11 -6 58,174 45.3% -5.4%
     New Democratic Doreen Sark (interim) 0 0 - 1,655 1.3% +0.4%
     Draft Beer Party - - 0 - 200 0.2% +0.2%

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, while Councillors were only elected by landowners within a district.[3]

Kings

District Assemblyman Party Councillor Party
1st Kings     Ross "Johnny" Young Liberal     Albert Fogarty Progressive
Conservative
2nd Kings     Roddy Pratt Progressive
Conservative
    Leo Rossiter Progressive
Conservative
3rd Kings     William Bennett Campbell Liberal     Bud Ings Liberal
4th Kings     Pat Binns Progressive
Conservative
    Gilbert R. Clements Liberal
5th Kings     Arthur J. MacDonald Liberal     Lowell Johnston Progressive
Conservative

Prince

District Assemblyman Party Councillor Party
1st Prince     Russell Perry Liberal     Robert E. Campbell Liberal
2nd Prince     George R. Henderson Liberal     Allison Ellis Liberal
3rd Prince     Léonce Bernard Liberal     Edward Clark Liberal
4th Prince     William MacDougall Progressive
Conservative
   
Prowse Chappel Progressive
Conservative
5th Prince     George McMahon Progressive
Conservative
    Peter Pope Progressive
Conservative

Queens

District Assemblyman Party Councillor Party
1st Queens     Marion Reid Progressive
Conservative
    Leone Bagnall Progressive
Conservative
2nd Queens     Gordon Lank Progressive
Conservative
    Lloyd MacPhail Progressive
Conservative
3rd Queens     Horace B. Carver Progressive
Conservative
    Fred Driscoll Progressive
Conservative
4th Queens     J. Angus MacLean Progressive
Conservative
    Daniel Compton Progressive
Conservative
5th Queens     James M. Lee Progressive
Conservative
    Wilfred MacDonald Progressive
Conservative
6th Queens     Barry Clark Progressive
Conservative
    Jim Larkin Progressive
Conservative

Sources

  1. "Provincial General Election Results, 1979" (PDF). Elections PEI.
  2. "Woman leads Nova Scotia NDP". The Toronto Star. Toronto. Canadian Press. November 17, 1980. p. A5.
  3. Fred Driscoll. "History and Politics of Prince Edward Island" (PDF). Canadian Parliamentary Review.
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