Canadian federal election, 1958

Canadian federal election, 1958

← 1957 March 31, 1958 1962 →
← outgoing members
265 seats in the 24th Canadian Parliament 133 seats needed for a majority
Turnout	79.4% (5.3pp)
First party Second party   Leader John Diefenbaker Lester B. Pearson Party Progressive Conservative Liberal Leader since December 14, 1956 January 16, 1958 Leader's seat Prince Albert Algoma East Last election 111 104 Seats won 208 48 Seat change 97 56 Popular vote 3,910,852 2,459,700 Percentage 53.67% 33.75% Swing 14.64pp 8.58pp   Third party Fourth party   Leader Major James Coldwell Solon Earl Low Party Co-operative Commonwealth Social Credit Leader since March 22, 1942 April 6, 1944 Leader's seat Rosetown—Biggar (lost re-election) Peace River (lost re-election) Last election 25 19 Seats won 8 0 Seat change 17 19 Popular vote 692,398 188,717 Percentage 9.50% 2.59% Swing 1.21pp 4.03pp
Prime Minister before election John Diefenbaker Progressive Conservative Prime Minister-designate John Diefenbaker Progressive Conservative

John Diefenbaker
Progressive Conservative

John Diefenbaker
Progressive Conservative

The Canadian federal election of 1958 was the 24th general election in Canada's history. It was held to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons of the 24th Parliament of Canada on March 31, 1958, just nine months after the 23rd election. It transformed Prime Minister John Diefenbaker's minority into the largest majority government in Canadian history and the second largest percentage of the popular vote. Although the Tories would surpass their 1958 seat total in the 1984 election, the 1958 result (achieved in a smaller House) remains unmatched both in terms of percentage of seats (78.5%) and the size of the Government majority over all opposition parties (a 151 seat majority). Voter turnout was 79.4%.

Diefenbaker called a snap election and capitalized on three factors:

Notes:

"Previous" refers to standings at previous election, not to standings in the House of Commons at dissolution.

* The party did not nominate candidates in the previous election.

x - less than 0.005% of the popular vote

xx - less than 0.05% of the popular vote

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