Canadian federal election, 1867

August 7–September 20, 1867

1872 →

180 seats in the 1st Canadian Parliament
91 seats needed for a majority

	First party	Second party	Third party

Leader	John A. Macdonald	George Brown (unofficial)	Joseph Howe
Party	Conservative	Liberal	Anti-Confederation
Leader's seat	Kingston	Ontario South (lost)	Hants
Seats won	100	62	18
Popular vote	92,722	60,818	21,239
Percentage	34.5%	22.7%	7.9%

Prime Minister before election

John A. Macdonald
Conservative

Prime Minister-designate

John A. Macdonald
Conservative

The Canadian federal election of 1867, held from August 7 to September 20, was the first election for the new nation of Canada. It was held to elect members to the Canadian House of Commons, representing electoral districts in the provinces of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Ontario and Quebec in the 1st Parliament of Canada. The provinces of Manitoba (1870) and British Columbia (1871) were created during the term of the 1st Parliament of Canada and were not part of the Canadian federal election of 1867.

Sir John A. Macdonald had been sworn in as prime minister by the Governor General, Lord Monck, when the new Canadian nation was founded on 1 July 1867. As leader of the Conservative Party of Canada (concurrently known as the Liberal-Conservative Party until 1873), he led his party in this election and continued as Prime Minister of Canada when the Conservatives won a majority of the seats in the election, including majority of the seats (and votes) in the new provinces of Ontario and Quebec.

The Liberal Party of Canada won the second largest number of seats overall, including a majority of the seats (and votes) in the province of New Brunswick. The Liberals did not have a party leader in the election. George Brown, who was leader of the Liberal Party of Ontario, was considered the "elder statesman" of the national party. Brown ran concurrently for seats in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario and the Canadian House of Commons, and might well have been Prime Minister in the unlikely event that the Liberals prevailed over the Conservatives in the national election. Brown failed to win a seat in either body, and the national Liberals remained officially leaderless until 1873.

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