Variations in Party Support in Federal and Provincial Elections: Some Hypotheses

Abstract

A persistent peculiarity of Canadian politics is the variation in patterns of party support between federal and provincial elections. This variation is manifest in both numbers of seats won and lost and proportions of the popular vote. Its effect is best illustrated by the first indicator. In the eight federal elections between 1949 and 1968 there were always at least five provinces in which the party that won the largest number of seats did not hold the largest number of seats in the provincial legislature.