1962 Canadian federal election

1962 Canadian federal election

← 1958 June 18, 1962 1963 →
← outgoing members elected members →
265 seats in the House of Commons 133 seats needed for a majority
Turnout	79.0%[1] (0.4pp)
First party Second party   Leader John Diefenbaker Lester B. Pearson Party Progressive Conservative Liberal Leader since December 14, 1956 January 16, 1958 Leader's seat Prince Albert Algoma East Last election 208 seats, 53.66% 48 seats, 33.40% Seats before 205 50 Seats won 116 99 Seat change 89 49 Popular vote 2,865,542 2,846,589 Percentage 37.22% 36.97% Swing 16.35pp 3.57pp   Third party Fourth party   Leader Robert N. Thompson Tommy Douglas Party Social Credit New Democratic Leader since July 7, 1961 August 3, 1961 Leader's seat Red Deer ran in Regina City (lost) Last election 0 seats, 2.59% 8 seats, 9.51%[a] Seats before 0 9 Seats won 30 19 Seat change 30 10[b] Popular vote 894,931 1,044,754 Percentage 11.62% 13.57% Swing 9.02pp 4.06pp[c]
The Canadian parliament after the 1962 election
Prime Minister before election John Diefenbaker Progressive Conservative Prime Minister after election John Diefenbaker Progressive Conservative

The 1962 Canadian federal election was held on June 18, 1962, to elect members of the House of Commons of Canada of the 25th Parliament of Canada. The governing Progressive Conservative (PC) Party won a plurality of seats in this election, and its majority government was reduced to a minority government.

When the election was called, PC Prime Minister John Diefenbaker had governed for four years with the largest majority until then in the House of Commons in Canadian history.

This election reduced the PCs to a tenuous minority government as a result of economic difficulties such as high unemployment and a slumping Canadian dollar, as well as unpopular decisions such as the cancellation of the Avro Arrow. Despite the Diefenbaker government's difficulties, the Liberal Party, led by Lester B. Pearson, was unable to make up enough ground in the election to defeat the government. For Social Credit, routed from the Commons just four years earlier, this election proved to be their most successful ever since they would never better the 30 seats won; for example, they lost seats in 1963 despite gaining a slightly better share of the vote.

This was the first election in which all adult Indigenous Canadians had the right to vote after the passage on March 31, 1960 of a repeal of certain sections of the Canada Elections Act.^[2]

For the first time ever, the entire landmass of Canada was covered by federal electoral districts (the former Mackenzie River riding was expanded to cover the entire Northwest Territories).

This was also the first general election contested by the New Democratic Party.

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