1970 Prince Edward Island general election

The 1970 Prince Edward Island general election was held on May 11, 1970.^[1]

1970 Prince Edward Island general election

← 1966 May 11, 1970 (1970-05-11) 1974 →
← outgoing members members →
All 32 seats in the Legislative Assembly of Prince Edward Island 17 seats needed for a majority
First party Second party   Lib PC Leader Alex Campbell George Key Party Liberal Progressive Conservative Leader since December 11, 1965 September 21, 1968 Leader's seat 5th Prince Ran in 2nd Prince (lost) Last election 17 seats, 50.5% 15 seats, 49.5% Seats won 27 5 Seat change 10 10 Popular vote 64,484 46,015 Percentage 58.4% 41.6 Swing 7.9pp 7.9pp
Seats won by each party per district. Voters elect two members (one Councillor and Assemblyman) from each of the 16 districts.
Premier before election Alex Campbell Liberal Premier after election Alex Campbell Liberal

The incumbent Liberal government of Alex Campbell was easily re-elected, gaining a total of 7.9% in the popular vote on the Tories, who dropped by the identical amount, as only the two parties ran any candidates in both the 1970 and 1966 elections.^[2]

Jean Canfield, the first woman ever elected to the Legislative Assembly of Prince Edward Island, was a victorious candidate in 1st Queens in this election.^[3]

Party standings

↓

27	5
Liberal	PC

Party		Party Leader	Seats			Popular Vote
			1966	Elected	Change	#	%	Change
	Liberal	Alex Campbell	17	27	+10	64,484	58.4%	+7.9%
	Progressive Conservative	George Key	15	5	-10	46,015	41.6%	-7.9%

Popular vote Liberal   58.36% PC   41.64%

Seats summary Liberal   84.38% PC   15.62%

Members elected

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 were elected in the same manner as Assemblymen.^[4]

Kings

District	Assemblyman		Party	Councillor		Party
1st Kings		Bruce L. Stewart	Liberal		Daniel J. MacDonald	Liberal Progressive Conservative
2nd Kings		Walter Dingwell	Progressive Conservative		Leo Rossiter	Progressive Conservative
3rd Kings		William Bennett Campbell	Liberal		Bud Ings	Liberal
4th Kings		Lorne Bonnell	Liberal		Gilbert R. Clements	Liberal
5th Kings		Arthur J. MacDonald	Liberal		George J. Ferguson	Liberal

Prince

District	Assemblyman		Party	Councillor		Party
1st Prince		Russell Perry	Liberal		Robert E. Campbell	Liberal
2nd Prince		George Dewar	Progrsesive Conservative		Joshua MacArthur	Liberal
3rd Prince		William Gallant	Liberal		Edward Clark	Liberal
4th Prince		Robert Schurman	Liberal		Frank Jardine	Liberal
5th Prince		Earle Hickey	Progressive Conservative		Alexander B. Campbell	Liberal

Queens

District	Assemblyman		Party	Councillor		Party
1st Queens		Jean Canfield	Liberal		Ralph Johnstone	Liberal
2nd Queens		Sinclair Cutcliffe	Liberal		Lloyd MacPhail	Progressive Conservative
3rd Queens		Cecil A. Miller	Liberal		Levi McNally	Liberal
4th Queens		J. Stewart Ross	Liberal		Daniel Compton	Progressive Conservative
5th Queens		Gordon L. Bennett	Liberal		Elmer Blanchard	Liberal
6th Queens		Allison MacDonald	Liberal		John H. Maloney	Liberal

Sources

1. (PDF). Elections PEI. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 6, 2016. Retrieved May 25, 2015.
2. "Big Grit Win in PEI (Pt. 1)". Ottawa Journal. May 12, 1970. p. 1. Retrieved March 1, 2015 – via Newspapers.com.  
3. "Big Grit Win (Pt. 2)". Ottawa Journal. May 12, 1970. p. 25. Retrieved March 1, 2015 – via Newspapers.com.  
4. Fred Driscoll. "History and Politics of Prince Edward Island" (PDF). Canadian Parliamentary Review.

Further reading

• Saywell, John, ed. (1971). Canadian Annual Review for 1970. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. ISBN 978-0-8020-1818-2.