1979 Canadian federal election

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1979 Canadian federal election

← 1974 May 22, 1979 1980 →
← outgoing members elected members →
282 seats in the House of Commons 142 seats needed for a majority
Opinion polls
Turnout	75.7%[1] (4.7pp)
First party Second party   Leader Joe Clark Pierre Trudeau Party Progressive Conservative Liberal Leader since February 22, 1976 April 6, 1968 Leader's seat Yellowhead Mount Royal Last election 95 seats, 35.46% 141 seats, 43.15% Seats before 98 133 Seats won 136 114 Seat change 38 19 Popular vote 4,111,606 4,595,319 Percentage 35.89% 40.11% Swing 0.43pp 3.04pp   Third party Fourth party   SC Leader Ed Broadbent Fabien Roy Party New Democratic Social Credit Leader since July 7, 1975 March 30, 1979 Leader's seat Oshawa Beauce Last election 16 seats, 15.44% 11 seats, 5.06% Seats before 17 9 Seats won 26 6 Seat change 9 3 Popular vote 2,048,988 527,604 Percentage 17.88% 4.61% Swing 2.45pp 0.46pp
Popular vote by province, with graphs indicating the number of seats won. As this is an FPTP election, seat totals are not determined by popular vote by province but instead via results by each riding.
The Canadian parliament after the 1979 election
Prime Minister before election Pierre Trudeau Liberal Prime Minister after election Joe Clark Progressive Conservative

The 1979 Canadian federal election was held on May 22, 1979, to elect members of the House of Commons of Canada of the 31st Parliament of Canada. It resulted in the defeat of the Liberal Party of Canada after 16 years in power, 11 of them under Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau. Joe Clark led the Progressive Conservative Party to power but with only a minority of seats in the House of Commons. The Liberals, however, beat the Progressive Conservatives in the overall popular vote by more than 400,000 votes (40.11% to 35.89%). Taking office on the eve of his 40th birthday, Clark became the youngest prime minister in Canadian history.