1974 Prince Edward Island general election

1974 Prince Edward Island general election

April 29, 1974 (1974-04-29)
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 Melvin McQuaid Party Liberal Progressive Conservative Leader since December 11, 1965 February 3, 1973 Leader's seat 5th Prince 1st Kings Last election 27 seats, 58.4% 5 seats, 41.6% Seats won 26 6 Seat change 1 1 Popular vote 64,212 47,470 Percentage 54.0% 39.9% Swing 4.4pp 1.7pp
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 1974 Prince Edward Island general election was held on April 29, 1974.

This election was the first that the New Democratic Party contested as a provincial party on PEI, and the first third party to run candidates since the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation, the NDP's predecessor, contested their last election in 1951.

Party standings

↓

26	6
Liberal	PC

Party		Party Leader	Seats			Popular Vote
			1966	Elected	Change	#	%	Change
	Liberal	Alex Campbell	27	26	-1	64,212	54.0%	-4.4%
	Progressive Conservative	Melvin McQuaid	5	6	+1	47,470	39.9%	-1.7%
	New Democratic	Aquinas Ryan	-	0	-	7,327	6.2%	+6.2%

Popular vote Liberal   53.96% PC   39.89% New Democratic   6.16%

Seats summary Liberal   81.25% PC   18.75%

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.

Kings

District	Assemblyman		Party	Councillor		Party
1st Kings		Bruce L. Stewart	Liberal		Melvin J. McQuaid	Progressive Conservative Liberal
2nd Kings		Walter Dingwell	Progressive Conservative		Leo Rossiter	Progressive Conservative
3rd Kings		William Bennett Campbell	Liberal		Bud Ings	Liberal
4th Kings		Charles Fraser	Liberal		Gilbert R. Clements	Liberal
5th Kings		Arthur J. MacDonald	Liberal		Waldron Lavers	Liberal

Prince

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

Queens

District	Assemblyman		Party	Councillor		Party
1st Queens		Jean Canfield	Liberal		Ralph Johnstone	Liberal
2nd Queens		David Ford	Liberal		Lloyd MacPhail	Progressive Conservative
3rd Queens		Cecil A. Miller	Liberal		Levi McNally	Liberal
4th Queens		Vernon MacIntyre	Progressive Conservative		Daniel Compton	Progressive Conservative
5th Queens		Gordon L. Bennett	Liberal Progressive Conservative		George Proud	Liberal
6th Queens		Allison MacDonald	Liberal		John H. Maloney	Liberal

Further reading

• Saywell, John, ed. (1976). Canadian Annual Review of Politics and Public Affairs, 1974. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. ISBN 9780802021960.