1891 Canadian election

Canadian federal election, 1891

← 1887

March 5, 1891

1896 →

215 seats in the 7th Canadian Parliament
108 seats needed for a majority

	First party	Second party

Leader	John A. Macdonald	Wilfrid Laurier
Party	Conservative	Liberal
Leader since	1867	1887
Leader's seat	Kingston	Quebec East
Last election	122 seats, 47.4%	80 seats, 43.1%
Seats won	117	90
Seat change	5	10
Popular vote	376,518	350,512
Percentage	48.6%	45.2%
Swing	1.2%	2.1%

Prime Minister before election

John A. Macdonald
Conservative

Prime Minister-designate

John A. Macdonald
Conservative

The Canadian federal election of 1891 was held on March 5 to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons of the 7th Parliament of Canada. It was won by the Conservative Party of Prime Minister Sir John A. Macdonald.

The main issue of the 1891 campaign was Macdonald's National Policy, a policy of protective tariffs. The Liberals supported reciprocity (free trade) with the United States.

Macdonald led a conservative campaign emphasizing stability, and retained the Conservatives' majority in the House of Commons. It was a close election and he campaigned hard. Macdonald died a few months after the election, which led to his succession by four different Conservative Prime Ministers until the 1896 election.

Senator John Abbott succeeded Macdonald as Conservative leader and Prime Minister after Macdonald's death on June 6, 1891. Abbott's most famous political comment was "I hate politics." He had in fact supported John Sparrow David Thompson to succeed Macdonald. Abbott, in failing health, was finally succeeded by Thompson in 1892. Mackenzie Bowell, another senator, succeeded Thompson after his sudden death from a heart attack on December 12, 1894. Bowell was ousted by several of his own cabinet ministers and replaced by Charles Tupper in April 1896, who led the Conservatives in the June 1896 election.

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