1978 Prince Edward Island general election

The 1978 Prince Edward Island general election was held on April 24, 1978.[1]

1978 Prince Edward Island general election

← 1974 April 24, 1978 (1978-04-24) 1979 →

All 32 seats in the Legislative Assembly of Prince Edward Island
17 seats needed for a majority
  First party Second party
 
Lib
Leader Alexander B. Campbell Angus MacLean
Party Liberal Progressive Conservative
Leader since December 11, 1965 September 25, 1976
Leader's seat 5th Prince 4th Queens
Last election 26 seats, 54.0% 6 seats, 39.9%
Seats won 17 15
Seat change Decrease9 Increase9
Popular vote 64,133 60,878
Percentage 50.7% 48.1%
Swing Decrease3.3pp Increase8.2pp

Seats won by each party per district. Voters elect two members (one Councillor and Assemblyman) from each of the 16 districts.

Premier before election

Alexander B. Campbell
Liberal

Premier after election

Alexander B. Campbell
Liberal

The election was one of the closest in P.E.I. history, with the governing Liberals of Premier Alexander B. Campbell losing a number of seats to their Progressive Conservative rivals. The decrease of the 26 to 6 Liberal majority to a slim 17 to 15 lead over the PC, and the resignation of Alex Campbell, led to an unstable legislature, and another election was held just one year later in 1979.

Party standings

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17 15
Liberal PC
Party Party Leader Seats Popular Vote
1974 Elected Change # % Change
  Liberal Alex Campbell 26 17 -9 64,133 50.7% -3.3%
  Progressive Conservative Angus MacLean 6 15 +9 60,878 48.1% +8.2%
  New Democratic Aquinas Ryan 0 0 - 1,173 0.9% -5.3%
  Independent - 0 - 257 0.2% +0.2%
Popular vote
Liberal
50.72%
PC
48.15%
New Democratic
0.93%
Others
0.20%
Seats summary
Liberal
53.13%
PC
46.87%

Members elected

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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. Before 1963, Councillors were only elected by landowners within a district, but afterward they were elected in the same manner as Assemblymen.[2]

Kings

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District Assemblyman Party Councillor Party
1st Kings     Ross "Johnny" Young Liberal     James Fay Liberal
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
    Johnnie Williams Progressive
Conservative
5th Kings     Arthur J. MacDonald Liberal     Lowell Johnston Progressive
Conservative

Prince

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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
    Alexander B. Campbell Liberal

Queens

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District Assemblyman Party Councillor Party
1st Queens     Jean Canfield Liberal     Ralph Johnstone Liberal
2nd Queens     David Ford Liberal     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
    George Proud Liberal
6th Queens     Barry Clark Progressive
Conservative
    John H. Maloney Liberal

Sources

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  1. ^ "Provincial General Election Results, 1978" (PDF). Elections PEI. Archived from the original (PDF) on September 23, 2015. Retrieved May 25, 2015.
  2. ^ Fred Driscoll. "History and Politics of Prince Edward Island" (PDF). Canadian Parliamentary Review.