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
April 24, 1978 (1978-04-24)
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 on records, with the governing Liberals of Premier Alexander B. Campbell losing a number of seats to their Progressive Conservative rivals. The razor thin result and the resignation of Alex Campbell led to an unstable legislature and another election was held just one year later in 1979.

Party standings
↓
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

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
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
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
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
  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.
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