1970 Prince Edward Island general election

Canadian provincial election

← 1966

May 11, 1970 (1970-05-11)

1974 →

← outgoing members

members →

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	George Key
Party	Liberal	Progressive Conservative
Leader since	December 11, 1965	September 21, 1968
Leader's seat	5th Prince	Ran in 2nd Prince (lost)
Last election	17 seats, 50.5%	15 seats, 49.5%
Seats won	27	5
Seat change	10	10
Popular vote	64,484	46,015
Percentage	58.4%	41.6
Swing	7.9pp	7.9pp

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 1970 Prince Edward Island general election was held on May 11, 1970.^[1]

The incumbent Liberal government of Alex Campbell was easily re-elected, gaining a total of 7.9% in the popular vote on the Tories, who dropped by the identical amount, as only the two parties ran any candidates in both the 1970 and 1966 elections.^[2]

Jean Canfield, the first woman ever elected to the Legislative Assembly of Prince Edward Island, was a victorious candidate in 1st Queens in this election.^[3]

Party standings

↓
27	5
Liberal	PC

Party		Party Leader	Seats			Popular Vote
Party		Party Leader	1966	Elected	Change	#	%	Change
	Liberal	Alex Campbell	17	27	+10	64,484	58.4%	+7.9%
	Progressive Conservative	George Key	15	5	-10	46,015	41.6%	-7.9%

Popular vote

Liberal			58.36%
PC			41.64%

Seats summary

Liberal			84.38%
PC			15.62%

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.^[4]

Kings

District		Party		Party
1st Kings	Bruce L. Stewart	Liberal	Daniel J. MacDonald	Liberal Progressive Conservative
2nd Kings	Walter Dingwell	Progressive Conservative	Leo Rossiter	Progressive Conservative
3rd Kings	William Bennett Campbell	Liberal	Bud Ings	Liberal
4th Kings	Lorne Bonnell	Liberal	Gilbert R. Clements	Liberal
5th Kings	Arthur J. MacDonald	Liberal	George J. Ferguson	Liberal

Prince

District		Party		Party
1st Prince	Russell Perry	Liberal	Robert E. Campbell	Liberal
2nd Prince	George Dewar	Progrsesive Conservative	Joshua MacArthur	Liberal
3rd Prince	William Gallant	Liberal	Edward Clark	Liberal
4th Prince	Robert Schurman	Liberal	Frank Jardine	Liberal
5th Prince	Earle Hickey	Progressive Conservative	Alexander B. Campbell	Liberal

Queens

District		Party		Party
1st Queens	Jean Canfield	Liberal	Ralph Johnstone	Liberal
2nd Queens	Sinclair Cutcliffe	Liberal	Lloyd MacPhail	Progressive Conservative
3rd Queens	Cecil A. Miller	Liberal	Levi McNally	Liberal
4th Queens	J. Stewart Ross	Liberal	Daniel Compton	Progressive Conservative
5th Queens	Gordon L. Bennett	Liberal	Elmer Blanchard	Liberal
6th Queens	Allison MacDonald	Liberal	John H. Maloney	Liberal

Sources

^ "Provincial General Election Results, 1970" (PDF). Elections PEI. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 6, 2016. Retrieved May 25, 2015.
^ "Big Grit Win in PEI (Pt. 1)". Ottawa Journal. May 12, 1970. p. 1. Retrieved March 1, 2015 – via Newspapers.com.
^ "Big Grit Win (Pt. 2)". Ottawa Journal. May 12, 1970. p. 25. Retrieved March 1, 2015 – via Newspapers.com.
^ Fred Driscoll. "History and Politics of Prince Edward Island" (PDF). Canadian Parliamentary Review.