Manitoba general election, 1922

Manitoba's general election of July 18, 1922 was held to elect Members of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Manitoba, Canada.

As in the previous election of 1920, the city of Winnipeg elected ten members by the single transferable ballot. All other constituencies elected one member by first-past-the-post balloting.

This election was a watershed moment in Manitoba's political history. Since the formal introduction of partisan government in 1888, Manitoba had been governed alternately by the Liberal Party and the Conservative Party. Although the previous election of 1920 sustained the Liberals in power, it also saw the two-party dichotomy weakened by the rise of farmer and labour parliamentary blocs. In 1922, the old system was entirely swept away by the rise of the United Farmers of Manitoba (UFM).

The UFM had existed for several years as a farmer's organization, but some of its members ran as "Independent-Farmers" in the 1920 election. In 1921, however, the UFM announced it would field candidates during the 1922 campaign. The UFM was opposed to partisanship, and its most prominent members insisted that it was not a "party" in the traditional sense. UFM candidates often highlighted their lack of experience in partisan politics, and promised to govern the province in a restrained and responsible manner if elected to office.

The UFM membership was also heterogeneous. Although many supporters were free-trade agrarian Liberals before 1920, a number were also Conservatives. Some prominent UFM figures were also notable members of Manitoba's francophone community, which generally supported the Conservative Party before 1920.

The United Farmers fielded candidates in rural constituencies, and also endorsed candidates of the Progressive Association in Winnipeg. Even with these endorsements, the UFM operated on a shoestring budget, and was only able to field candidates in two-thirds of the ridings. However, in a major upset, the UFM and Progressives won 25 seats out of 52. Elections in three northern seats were deferred until later.

Not even the UFM had expected to win government. Indeed, its expectations were so low that it had not had a formal leader during the campaign. Thus, when the UFM caucus met for the first time after the election, its first task was to choose a leader who would become the province's next premier. After Thomas Crerar and Robert Hoey declined the invitation to govern, the caucus selected medical doctor John Bracken, president of the Manitoba Agricultural College. Although he had no political experience, Bracken accepted the nomination. He ran for a deferred election in The Pas, and was duly elected. The UFM also won deferred elections in Ethelbert and Rupertsland, giving them a narrow majority in the legislature. The UFM's political arm branded itself as the Progressive Party of Manitoba.

The other parties fared poorly in the 1922 campaign. The Liberals, led by outgoing premier Tobias C. Norris, fell from twenty-one seats to eight. The Conservatives, under their newly chosen leader Fawcett Taylor, fell from eight seats to seven.

The Independent Labour Party also experienced difficulties. In the 1920 election, Manitoba's various left-wing and working-class groups submerged their differences to run a united campaign. This cooperation was successful, and eleven labour candidates were elected to form the second-largest parliamentary bloc. By the 1922 election, however, the Labour Party was beset by long-standing divisions among socialists, communists and conservative trade unionists.

A total of thirteen labour candidates ran for ten seats in Winnipeg. Six were members of the ILP, and a seventh, former Social Democrat John Queen, ran as an "Independent Workers" candidate allied with the ILP. The other candidates were divided among themselves. The banned Communist Party ran three candidates under its legal front, the Workers Party. These candidates disrupted meetings of Socialist incumbent George Armstrong, and accused him of selling out his principles to moderates and social gospellers. Two conservative trade-unionists also ran as Union Labour candidates, opposing radicalism in the labour movement.

Five ILP candidates were elected, and John Queen was also elected in Winnipeg. Labour leader F. J. Dixon topped the poll in Winnipeg for a second time, although by a reduced margin from 1920. George Armstrong lost his Winnipeg seat, and no other labour parties candidates were elected.

Six independent candidates were also elected. After the election, the United Farmers governed as the "Progressive Party of Manitoba".

Results

Party Party leader # of
candidates		 Seats Popular vote
1920 Elected % Change # % % Change
United Farmers -   12 28 +133%   32.8%  
     Liberal Tobias C. Norris   21 8 -61.9%   33.2% -1.9%
     Conservative Fawcett Taylor   8 7 -12.5%   15.5% -3.0%
     Independent Labour F. J. Dixon     6     15.9%  
     Independents/others   3 6 +200%   2.6%  
Total   55 55 -   100%  
Preceded by
1920 Manitoba election		 List of Manitoba elections Succeeded by
1927 Manitoba election

See also

Riding results

Arthur:

Assiniboia:

Beautiful Plains:

Birtle:

Brandon City:

Carillon:

Cypress:

Dauphin:

Deloraine:

Dufferin:

Emerson:

Fairford:

Fisher:

Gilbert Plains:

Gimli:

Gladstone:

Glenwood:

Hamiota:

Iberville:

Kildonan & St. Andrews:

Killarney:

Lakeside:

Lansdowne:

La Verendrye:

Manitou:

Minnedosa:

Morden & Rhineland:

Morris:

Mountain:

Norfolk:

Portage la Prairie:

Roblin:

Rockwood:

Russell:

St. Boniface:

St. Clements:

St. George:

Ste. Rose:

Springfield:

Swan River:

Turtle Mountain:

Virden:

Winnipeg (ten members):

First Count (quota: 4030; Dixon and Jacobs elected)

Second Count (Dixon surplus)

Third Count (McPhail eliminated)

Fourth Count (McCartney eliminated)

Fifth Count (Munro eliminated)

Sixth Count (Hammond eliminated)

Seventh Count (Simpkin eliminated)

Eighth Count (Morden eliminated)

Ninth Count (Puttee eliminated)

Tenth Count (McGill eliminated)

Eleventh Count (Hilson eliminated; Downes declared elected)

Twelfth Count (Downes surplus)

Thirteenth Count (MacLean eliminated)

Fourteenth Count (Henderson eliminated)

Fifteenth Count (Dubienski eliminated)

Sixteenth Count (Hample eliminated)

Seventeenth Count (Brown eliminated)

Eighteenth Count (Cutler eliminated)

Nineteenth Count (McCallum eliminated)

Twentieth Count (Cartwright eliminated)

Twenty-First Count (McLean eliminated)

Twenty-Second Count (Newcombe eliminated)

Twenty-Third Count (Winning eliminated)

Twenty-Fourth Count (Henry eliminated)

Twenty-Fifth Count (Tupper eliminated)

Twenty-Sixth Count (Eggertson eliminated)

Twenty-Seventh Count (McTavish eliminated)

Twenty-Eighth Count (Donovan eliminated)

Twenty-Ninth Count (Popovitch eliminated)

Thirtieth Count (Milton eliminated)

Thirty-First Count (Trueman eliminated)

Thirty-Second Count (Chipman eliminated; numbers not listed)

Thirty-Third Count (Sullivan eliminated; Evans declared elected; numbers not listed)

Thirty-Fourth Count (Evans surplus; Haig declared elected; numbers not listed)

Thirty-Fifth Count (Haig surplus; numbers not listed)

Thirty-Sixth Count (Armstrong eliminated; Queen and Farmer declared elected)

Thirty-Seventh Count (Murray eliminated; Ivens, Rogers and Craig declared elected)

Deferred elections and early by-elections

Arthur (Duncan Lloyd McLeod appointed to cabinet, August 8, 1922), August 26, 1922:

Ethelbert (deferred election, August 26, 1922):

Minnedosa (Neil Cameron appointed to cabinet, August 8, 1922), August 26, 1922:

Morris (William Clubb appointed to cabinet, August 8, 1922), August 26, 1922:

Rupertsland (deferred election, September 13, 1922):

The Pas (deferred election, October 5, 1922):

Sources

The first ballot results for Winnipeg and results for all other constituencies are taken from an official Manitoba government publication entitled "Manitoba elections, 1920-1941" (cross-referenced with an appendix to the government's report of the 2003 provincial election). The Canadian Parliamentary Guide for 1921 lists slightly different results for Assiniboia, Dufferin and Gilbert Plains; the other two sources contain more information, however, and may be taken as more reliable.

All ballot results for Winnipeg after the first count are taken from reports in the Winnipeg Free Press newspaper. It is possible that some errors appear in the original publication.

Post-election changes

Winnipeg (res. F. J. Dixon, July 27, 1923)

Mountain (Charles Cannon appointed to cabinet, December 3, 1923), December 24, 1923:

Carillon (Albert Prefontaine appointed to cabinet, December 3, 1923), December 24, 1923:

Assiniboia (William Bayley leaves the Labour Party on January 8, 1924)

Lansdowne (res. Tobias C. Norris, 1925), December 9, 1925:

St. Boniface (res. Joseph Bernier, September 1, 1926)

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